THE STAGE

The Abduction from the Seragllo is probably the first of Mozart's operas that you're likely to love at first acquaintance. It has a rather joyfully ridiculous plot about a talking pasha and his harem and a ferocious servant and a comical Englishwoman and so on, and some remarkable music, and a number of Harvard people are singing in this production, besides. A new translation and full orchestra. Tonight, February 23, and Saturday, March 2, 8 p.m. at the Peabody School Auditorium on Linnean Street.

El Grande de Coca-Cola's original title was El Coca-Cola Grande. Coca-Cola threatened to sue for copyright infringement, so they changed the title. It shows you how reasonable even the largest corporations can be. The show is a pidgin-Spanish parody of a tenth-rate nightclub act, and it got rave reviews, although all my friends who've seen it say it's terrible. Opens tomorrow at 8 p.m. at the Cabaret at the Charles Playhouse in Boston.

Ingmar Bergman's Persona is generally accounted a masterpiece of a movie, but since it evidently relies pretty thoroughly on purely cinematic techniques--it's about two women, one a famous actress who's become deaf and mute, who look very much alike--it's hard to imagine how Sarah Stearns adapted it for the stage. Evidently she has, though. Opens tonight through Saturday, February 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Loeb Ex.

Thesmophoriazousae or The Matron's Revenge is a musical adaptation of Aristophanes, but even though the tunes are for several voices maybe even in counterpoint, John Finley probably won't appear. 8 p.m. at the B.U. Theater, 264 Huntington Avenue in Boston.