If you’re itching for some good live theater, it’s best to go ahead and scratch. Luckily for you, The Vortex’s production of The Seven Year Itch, running through Sept. 15, is sure to bring relief. This three-act play ultimately became the legendary film starring Marilyn Monroe. (Remember the iconic scene with Monroe’s white dress flying up in a burst of air from a subway grate? Yeah, thought so.) The story focuses on Richard Sherman, whose wife of seven years is traveling with their son. Left home alone, he reads that some men have affairs after seven years of marriage and questions his own union. Then an encounter with an attractive neighbor puts his fidelity in real jeopardy. Sherman invites her for a drink, fancying himself a ladies’ man, and his fantasies build as he spends more time with the object of his infatuation. Eventually Sherman flirts with temptation one too many times, makes a move and must live with the consequences. Can you say “mid-life crisis”? The play is more risqué than Hollywood’s sanitized version and crammed with all the comedy that has endeared it to audiences for decades. So go ahead, scratch. And you’d better hurry—just two weekends remain. At the Vortex (2004 1/2 Central SE) Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $18; visit vortexabq.org or call 247-8600. (Kristi D. Lawrence)
Stage Whispers Ticket To Intrigue
What happens when an infamous theater director is found dead and everyone is suspect? Albuquerque’s own legendary drag troupe The Dolls want to take you on a ride to find out just whodunit. Set in the 1930s on a train that surrealistically has stops including the Orient, Europe and New Mexico, Murder on the Rail Runner is a lively parody of classic murder mysteries. Detective Jessica Fletcher Magnum Cluerot must deduce if the culprit is the countess, the princess or any of the other wacky passengers on board. She’s in for quite the challenge. Murder on the Rail Runner takes the stage at 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 2pm on Sundays at the Aux Dog Theatre (3011 Monte Vista NE) from Sept. 6 through 22. All tickets, including a special Saturday performance on Sept. 14 at the Wheels Museum in Barelas (1100 Second Street SW), are $15. Mature audiences please: The production features intrigue, sexual situations and racy humor—everything you’ve come to expect from The Dolls. (Julian Wolf)
