What to see, and what's next

"Bus Stop" rolls in at the Huntington.

People are always asking me if there's a good show in town; the answer is always "yes," and usually (unlike with the movies) there's more than one.  Right now there are three (at least): The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Lyric Stage, Camelot down at Trinity Rep in Providence, and especially Bus Stop (above) at the Huntington (which I'll review in a day or two, but which is just about perfect, and certainly Broadway-worthy).

This weekend marks a slew of new openings, though - including one noteworthy production, Young Jean Lee's breakout play The Shipment, which will run only this weekend at the ICA.  The controversial playwright herself will be in attendance to lead post-show discussions.

Elsewhere, the reborn North Shore Music Theatre opens Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the keenly-anticipated ArtsEmerson season (you know, the one that has replaced the A.R.T. in terms of intellectual expectation) kicks off for real with Fraulein Maria (a flash mob warms up the locals for the coming show, below).

Something for everyone, I'd say.