Tight harmonies, effervescent smiles, and pastel-colored dresses are the highlights of the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's The Taffetas, a jukebox musical featuring songs from the 1950s. Yet it's barely a musical. The production plays out as the titular girls' group makes its national television debut on the Spotlight on Music show - with the Showboat crowd serving as the "live studio audience" for a televised concert - and as there isn't much dialogue, or much plot, The Taffetas is really more of a revue.

A Depression-era band performs an impromptu concert at a small-town theatre, facing off against an overbearing, somewhat inept police officer who later, after getting plastered, takes a shine to them. The group's biggest adversary is a mean-spirited rich woman who, after boo-worthy attacks on the group, gets her comeuppance when her power is pulled out from under her. The story serves as the bridge to performances of early-20th-Century songs performed by this jukebox musical's cast members, who play on string instruments and out-of-the-ordinary percussion sources.

It's a description that fits both Southern Crossroads and the District Theatre's latest debuting production, Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Director Dino Hayz sets the sexual tone for the Center for Living Arts' Spring Awakening right away, as each of the young female cast members appear, one by one, in spotlight, and run their hands along their pubescent characters' newfound curves as if admiring their blossoming womanhood in a mirror. This sensuality, which never crosses over into baser lewdness, carries throughout the production, highlighting the innuendo and double entendres present in playwright and lyricist Steven Sater's and composer Duncan Sheik's musical tale of sexual discovery.

The Playcrafters Barn Theatre's latest production, Dinner with Friends, explores the impact of a marriage-ending extramarital affair on not only the couple involved, but also their best friends. And while what results can be correctly guessed before the finale, playwright Donald Margulies manages to incorporate some unexpected paths along the way, particularly in the evolving responses of the couple's pals. While I did find my mind wandering during Friday's performance due to a lack of interest in some of the longer-winded conversations, I still enjoyed the overall presentation for being thought-provoking regarding relationships, and for offering some great laughs, too.