I know it's Christmas and not Easter, but don't let that stop you from seeing Jesus Christ Superstar at The Carnegie Center in Covington. It's a faithful reproduction of Andrew Lloyd Webber's first big hit (back in 1971), a Rock opera that retells the story of the last days of Christ, leading up to his crucifixion. This production features energetic choreography and some solid individual performances, especially Roderick Justice as Judas. He's played the role before, when he was a student at Northern Kentucky University (he was nominated for a 2004 CEA for the role), and he's part of a cast that includes several others who were in that NKU staging, directed by theater program chair Ken Jones.

It's the first week of December and Cincinnati theaters are awash with tinsel, good cheer and holiday shows. Regardless of the kind of theater you like, there's something for you.

If you're looking for a ride in the time machine this weekend, I recommend that you try to score a ticket for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). The 1962 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner satirizes the corporate world of the early 1960s, and there are some echoes that sound pretty funny 56 years later.

Want to get a big dose of new theater? You’ll want to spend some time in Louisville next March and April, when Actors Theatre of Louisville presents its 33rd consecutive Humana Festival of New American Plays. Productions begin on March 1, 2009, and continue through April 11. The 2009 festival will present six full-length plays, a comic anthology showcasing the Actors Theatre Acting Apprentice Company and three 10-minute plays.

What with the economy sputtering and lots of people fretting about how to make ends meet, it's possible that you're thinking theater is a luxury you can't afford. I'd like to suggest that we need a bit of art and perspective more than ever at times like t

Cabaret is a musical form most people connect with New York City, but we have our own local outlet here in Cincinnati: Every Sunday evening at Below Zero Lounge (1122 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine) you'll find cabaret tunes with great local performers around

Halloween seems on its way to being celebrated as a classic holiday, so perhaps it's appropriate that Cincinnati Shakespeare Company has not one but two productions that specifically the give-me-goosebumps crowd.

Sometimes there are just too many theater events in town to feature every one of them in print. But let me bring to your attention one that's happening for just three days, Oct 23-25. Showbiz Players, which usually offers larger musical theater productions is undertaking a piece that's more like a musical cabaret, A … My Name Is Alice, a work conceived in 1983 by Joan Micklin Silver and Julianne Boyd. This show combines the talents of numerous composers, lyricists and writers to create a work with 20 songs and sketches performed by five women who represent a broad spectrum of femininity.

When you see a show like Emma, the Jane Austen musical recently presented at the Cincinnati Playhouse (pictured), do you ever wonder where it came from? If you paid attention to some of the Playhouse’s publicity, you might know it premiered at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Calif., where it was a big box-office hit. In fact, the theater’s artistic director Robert Kelley, who staged the original, and several cast members from the original production came together again in Cincinnati for the Playhouse production.

There's a lot of good theater around right now. Lots of people are telling me they've enjoyed Durango at the Playhouse (which closes on Sunday), and everyone who sees Know Theater's Reefer Madness: The Musical seems to come away laughing. But if there's one show that's a must-see right now, I'd point you to The Seafarer at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati.