Fall forecast: Theater

When shows begin to open bang-bang-bang, you know the fall arts season has begun. The Philadelphia region's four dozen professional theaters will be producing world premieres and pieces never before seen here, plus classics (two local companies make their first forays into Shakespeare) and some chestnuts.

As usual in these sneak-peek lists, I'm not vouching for these productions - most haven't opened yet, and I assembled the choices just before any had. And remember, this grouping represents only the first half of the season; we'll be back in January with our second-half picks.

Curtains On Broadway a few seasons back, this show was a fun curiosity: a murder mystery set to the music of the late John Kander and Fred Ebb, left undone when its script writer, Peter Stone, died. Rupert Holmes finished the work, set in 1959, in which a leading lady is murdered during a curtain call. Whodunit? Much zaniness leads to the answer on the Walnut Street Theatre's main stage, now through Oct. 24. (215-574-3550 or www.walnutstreettheatre.org)

Ghost-Writer This new play by Michael Hollinger (Opus) gets a world premiere at Arden Theatre Company, where Hollinger has been, in essence, the Arden's playwright in residence. After a novelist dies in midsentence, his secretary simply continues to take dictation. Maybe she's a gifted writer, maybe she's a common fraud, and maybe we'll find out. Now through Oct. 31. (215-922-1122 or www.arden theatre.org)

Last Rites The region's newest theater is the Waterfront South, home of the South Camden Theatre Company, which opens with Last Rites by producing artistic director Joseph M. Paprzycki. The play is set in Walt's Cafe - the real Camden bar his grandparents owned and operated - in 1967, the year the New York Shipbuilding Corp. left the city, accelerating Camden's decline. The 96-seat theater is on the site of the former cafe. The play, the first the company produced five seasons back, runs now through Oct. 3. (1-866-811-4111 or www.southcamdentheatre.org)

Macbeth Never, never, never let your spouse snooker you into murdering the king and usurping the throne. And stay away from cockamamie witches who put such ideas in your head. Therein lies the setup for the first Shakespeare play the Wilma Theater has ever produced. Sept. 29-Nov. 7. (215-546-7824 or www.wilmatheater.org)

Jersey Boys Tony's 2006 best musical about the rock-and-rolling Four Seasons finally hits Philadelphia - the tale of the blue-collar Jersey kids who wrote and sang "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," and plenty more in the '60s. It's part of the Kimmel's Broadway national tour series, Sept. 30-Oct. 10 at the Forrest Theatre. (215-893-1999 or www.kimmelcenter.org/broadway)

Carrie Stephen King's 1974 novel inspires Brat Productions' Halloween show, which promises puppets, costumes, special effects, gender bending, and generally bizarre fun. The lesson in the story - stay away from prom night - should be distinctively told, given Brat's last Halloween hit, Haunted Poe. It runs Oct. 2-Nov. 7 at Underground Arts at the Wolf Building on North 12th Street. (215-627-2577 or www.bratproductions.org)

Why I'm Scared of Dance Jen Childs, artistic director of 1812 Productions, provides a lesson about the choreography life gives you, or doesn't. The company's producing its entire season at Plays & Players Theatre, where the show runs Oct. 7-31. (215-592-9560 or www.1812productions.org)

Legacy of Light Eighteenth-century scientist Émilie du Châtelet (Voltaire's lover) and contemporary scientist Olivia have lots in common, including motherhood and middle age. Their lives intersect in Karen Zacarías's play at People's Light and Theatre, Oct. 13–Nov. 7. (610-644-3500 or www.peopleslight.org)

Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom Jennifer Haley's play is about suburban teens addicted to an online horror game, and examines the nature of fear. Azuka Theatre presents it Oct. 14-31 at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater. (215-733-0255 or azukatheatre.org)

Uncle Vanya Lantern Theater marks the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's birth with the Russian master's look at an uncle, his niece, and general dysfunction. Oct. 21-Nov. 21, at St. Stephen's Theater. (215-829-0395 or lanterntheater.org)

Silverhill In a world premiere by Philadelphia playwright Thomas Gibbons, a Christian community that shares its wealth commonly among its members faces the prospect of becoming a corporation. InterAct produces the play at the Adrienne Theatre, Oct. 22-Nov. 14. (215-568-8079 or www.interacttheatre.org)

Run, Mourner, Run Hot young playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney writes about a rural Carolina man caught between the two richest men in town. Produced by Flashpoint Theatre Company under new artistic director Thom Weaver, it's at the Adrienne Theatre Oct. 27-Nov. 20. (215-665-9720 or flashpointtheatre.org)

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later - an Epilogue Moisés Kaufman's groundbreaking Laramie Project examined the 1998 gay-hate murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepherd by drawing on hundreds of interviews, articles, and observations of members of the Tectonic Theater Project, which did the research. This epilogue includes cast members from the original, at the Annenberg Theatre, Nov. 11-13. (215-898-3900 or www.pennpresents.org)

That Pretty Pretty; or, the Rape Play Sheila Callaghan's tale of two ex-strippers on a road trip of revenge looks at sexual identity, courtesy of Theatre Exile at the remodeled Christ Church Neighborhood House, Nov. 11-Dec. 5. (215-218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. You just can't keep a good show down - and Spelling Bee, popular in the region in recent years, is indeed good, a look at the human condition through middle schoolers caught in the intensity of a spelling championship. Two professional stages are taking it on: the up-and-coming Theatre Horizon, at Norristown's Centre Theater now through Oct. 3 (610-283-2230 or www.theatrehorizon.org), and the powerhouse Philadelphia Theatre Company as its holiday show at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Nov. 12-Dec. 12 (215-985-0420 or www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.)

Old Wicked Songs In Jon Marans' play, an American piano prodigy, stuck in his young career, seeks to unblock himself in Vienna and hooks up with a professor who is his total opposite culturally and socially. Musically? We'll see. At Bristol Riverside Theatre, Nov. 16-Dec. 5. (215-785-0100 or www.brtstage.org.)

The Tempest Never, never, never usurp your brother's throne and shunt him and his kid to a far-off island - especially an enchanted one. Therein lies the setup for the first Shakespeare play Ambler's Act II Playhouse has ever produced. It runs Nov. 16-Dec. 12. (215-654-0200 or www.act2playhouse.org)

Other notables.

The first Philly Urban Theatre Festival plans 13 different productions by African American playwrights - a new generation of voices from the black community - in 21 days at the Adrienne Theatre, from Sept. 20-Oct. 10.

My Mother's Italian. My Father's Jewish and I'm in Therapy seems to say it all, in a long run from Sept. 22-Dec. 12 at Society Hill Playhouse.

A revived First World Theatre Ensemble, an African American company performing in the basement of Swarthmore United Methodist Church, is producing Peter DeAnda's Ladies in Waiting, about a young reporter jailed in the penal system she covers. It runs Sept. 23-Oct. 10. (484-461-8748 or www.firstworldtheatre.biz)

The People's Light musical panto this year is The Three Musketeers (The Later Years), sure to be a twisted take on the swordsmen. It runs Nov. 17-Jan. 9. (610-644-3500 or www.peopleslight.org)

Little Orphan Annie is no longer being drawn as a comic strip, so Annie lives in our culture only as the now-classic musical and the movie made from it. Tomorrow, tomorrow? No. It's still a few weeks away, the Media Theatre's holiday offering - featuring TV comedienne Wanda Sykes as Miss Hannigan for a big chunk of the Nov. 23-Jan. 16 run. (610-891-0100 or www.mediatheatre.org)