Kimberly Steffen, Kay Francis, Tom Walljasper, Nikki Savitt, and Carrie SaLoutos in A Mighty Fortress Is Our BasementBilled as "the funniest and most tuneful Church Basement Ladies yet," A Mighty Fortress Is Our Basement had me laughing more than I expected to during Friday night's performance. Having had a too-hearty helping of the first two Lutheran-themed kitchen musicals, I couldn't help but have low expectations for the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's production of this fourth show in the series. Yet while this sequel still falls into some of the expected traps, it also had enough humor - and one especially entertaining song - to keep me amused.

Don Denton, Erin Churchill, Janos Horvath, Liz J. Millea, and Bret Churchill in Miss Nelson Has a Field DayIt's been more than 20 years since I read Harry Allard's series of "Miss Nelson" children's books, but it's hard to forget Viola Swamp, "the meanest substitute teacher in the whole world." Miss Nelson Has a Field Day, currently playing at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, features Swamp (Liz J. Millea) as the no-nonsense alter-ego of Miss Nelson, the kindly math teacher at Horace B. Smedley Elementary School. The show is as funny as I remember the books being, and judging from the laughter that was constantly erupting from the audience of mostly elementary-school students at Friday's matinee performance, I wasn't the only one who thought so.

Licia Watson, Nicole Savitt, and Nancy O'Bryan in Church Basement Ladies 2: A Second HelpingThe sequel to Church Basement Ladies, the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's best-selling show (ever!), opened last weekend. And if this second installment, Church Basement Ladies 2: A Second Helping, isn't enough "Uff da!" for audience members, don't worry: Circa '21 is already considering upcoming performances of Away in a Basement and A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement, the next scripts in the series.