stage

CALLING FOR HELP: A TRAGEDY. Opens tonight at the Old Cambridge Baptist Church, 1151 Mass Ave.

MAN OF LA MANCHA is a show which a lot of people loved. I thought the book was mediocre (that's the book for the show, not Don Quixote), the songs were mediocre, and the show was mediocre. Tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., in MIT's Kresge Auditorium.

PROMISES, PROMISES. I believe the music for this is by Bert Bacharach, and I know it has a catchy title song. Radcliffe Grant-in-Aid's last production was Suffragette, an original musical which went on to win awards and things. This one has previews tonight and tomorrow (half-price), opens Saturday at 8 p.m. at Agassiz.

THE VISIT by Frederick Durenmatt, who's a highly regarded contemporary German playwright, and relizable sources say it's a fine play. It's the first production of an outfit called the New Phoenix Repertory Company. The old Phoenix Repertory Company was good, for whatever that's worth. Opens Monday at 7:30 p.m., at the Shubert Theater in Boston.

WHAT THE BUTLER SAW, by Joe Orton. "Zany sex farce in a psychiatrist clinic where doctors and patients lost their sanity and clothes." I didn't know that CRP had gotten around to those, but I guess nothing is sacred any more. Tonight, tomorrow, Saturday and next weekend, 8:30 p.m. at Dunster House.