stage

BLACK NATIVITY, by Langston Hughes, is a Christmas play with poetry, dance, and gospel music, presented by the Elma Lewis School and National Center of Afro-American Artists, and sponsored by the Mather House Music Society. Elma Lewis is famous, and Langston Hughes is good, and that combination's rare but impressive. Saturday at 8:30 p.m., in Sanders Theater.

H.M.S. PINAFORE, by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Sir William Schwenk Gilbert, is in my opinion the most over-rated of all the Gilbert & Sullivan shows. That doesn't mean it's not good, though, even one of their best, and any G & S production with three principals like Jeffrey Wayne Davies, Lise Landis and Tom Fuller is bound to be excellent. This one is, anyway. Opens tonight at 8:30 in Agassiz Theater; performances this weekend and next with Wednesday and Thursday nights half-price with a Harvard I.D.

MACBETH, by William Shakespeare. The Crimson reviewer liked it. He said Nixon should let the draft resisters come back, though. And he was right. Tonight through Saturday, 8 p.m. at the Loeb.

THE NATIONAL MIME THEATER'S director, Kenyon Martin, is doing a benefit for the 700 neediest Boston families the Salvation Army can find. They say Kenyon Martin is one of the few pure classical mimists in the United States. I wouldn't know, but it sounds like a reasonable enough cause. 1 p.m. Saturday, they didn't tell me where.

STOP THE WORLD--I WANT TO GET OFF. Quincy House sources say that this is a strong candidate for the least publicized show of all time. Never let it be said that The Crimson didn't do its part, however. Opens Saturday at 8:30 p.m. in the Quincy House Dining Hall; also Sunday night and next weekend.

SWALLOWED. Yes, there really are four original one-act plays about people being swallowed in Cambridge, and as a matter of fact, they're all opening tonight. 8 p.m. at Theater two, 196 Broadway, near Kendall Squre. There's a party with wine and cheese and live music afterwards, and I guess everyone is invited.

THE TEETH OF MONS HERBERT, an original musical comedy. Rumor has it that a fuller account appears under "Music" on this very page of this very newspaper. Opens tonight at 8:30 in the Lowell House Junior Common Room; this weekend and next.

THE WINTER'S TALE, by William Shakespeare. This play's last two acts feature an appearance by Autolycus, the snapper-up of unconsidered trifles who's one of the funniest characters in any play. It's also the third Shakespeare play the Loeb's put on in the last two weeks. Opens tonight at 8 at the Loeb Ex.