Theater

John-Boy as John-Man: Hard to believe La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley’s been at his post for a year-and-a-half already—but he and the rest of the Playhouse staff are doing a pretty darn good job at shedding the sins of the past. Ashley’s found ways to temper his background on Broadway (that’s a euphemism for “theme park,” the apparent replacement for the legitimate stage) with relevant, cutting-edge material of mass appeal (and with big names to boot). Case in point: Terrence McNally’s Unusual Acts of Devotion, where little acts of respect add up to big redemption of wayward souls on a Greenwich Village rooftop. It stars five-time Emmy winner Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond), Tony winner Harriet Harris (Cry Baby) and, looking for all the world like he did a generation ago, Richard Thomas (John-Boy of TV’s The Waltons). The play runs June 2 to 28 at The Mandell Weiss Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive. $30-$65. 858-550-1010, www.lajollaplayhouse.com.

A game of inches: When last we spied Hedwig, it was the summer of 2003, and she was running late to her own play. That’s because Cygnet Theatre Company was beset with permitting hassles in mounting the show, thanks to the city’s anal scrutiny of the company’s newly constructed Rolando venue. Undaunted, Cygnet—which has opted out of its lease there beginning next year—is turning back the clock with a reprise of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, an extended monologue centering on Hedwig’s rock act and the unassuming bandmate who goes on to become a wildly famous star. The fall of the Berlin Wall; a botched sex-change operation; a dysfunctional mom; Hedwig’s unlikely marriage and settlement in Junction City, Kan.: The stream of consciousness is actually more like a raging river of insanity, but you’ll love it just the same. With its close, Cygnet assumes the anchor tenancy of The Old Town Theatre in earnest. Hedwig plays June 3 through Aug. 9 at Cygnet’s Rolando venue, 6663 El Cajon Blvd. $24-$34. 619-337-1525, www.cygnettheatre.com.

On the nose: It’s been reported that Savinen de Cyrano’s schnoz was so large he wasn’t allowed aboard watergoing vessels of any kind, for fear the wind would catch his proboscis and alter the craft’s course by mistake. That’s probably just a joke or something. What’s not so funny is that Savinen—whom you all know as Cyrano de Bergerac—was a real person, not just some title fantasy out of Edmond Rostand’s classic play. Hopefully, that’ll cast some light on his life when you see the show during The Old Globe Theatre’s Summer Shakespeare Festival. This is the first time since its resurgence six years ago that the festival is doing a non-Bill play—for that, you can thank festival artistic director Darko Tresnjak, helmer of this piece and still one of the most sought-after theater men in the country. Tresnjak’s got a knack for symmetry in his stage pictures—and if anybody’s nose deserves that kind of adornment, it’s the loveless Cyrano’s. The show runs June 13 to Sept. 27 at The Old Globe’s Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. 619-23-GLOBE, www.theoldglobe.org.