"It was third grade," says actor Marc Ciemiewicz, recalling his stage debut. "I went to Catholic school, and it was the Christmas pageant, and I was given the solo for my class - 'I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas.' And my mom, to this day, still tells the story of the gentleman in the audience who tried to give me a standing ovation ... but his wife pulled him back down."

Rodney Swain, Brad Hauskins, Jennifer Diab, Andrea Moore, Sara Nicks, Bret Churchill, Jan Schmall, Marc Ciemiewicz, and Laura Hammes in The World Goes 'RoundThe fleet, funny noir opening to the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Bootlegger revue The World Goes 'Round is actually quite misleading, as it bears almost no resemblance to the show that follows. Yet rarely have I been so happy to be misled, because the show that follows is a real beauty - thoughtful and nuanced and serious, and oftentimes boasting a gravity and sadness that, coming from the Circa '21 stage, feels legitimately shocking.

Josh LeFebreve and Dana Moss-Peterson in Bad HabitsNew Ground Theatre's Bad Habits is one of those rare local productions where the focus is on the writers rather than the actors, directors, or technical aspects. While a cast and crew, of course, are involved, the work gathers short plays written by local playwrights. Running a touch more than an hour, Thursday's performance showcased the promise of these local wordsmiths, while also revealing areas on which they need to focus as they work on their next pieces - the most notable being writing as people would actually speak.

It's hard to go wrong with a musical revue of 70's songs. Okay, actually a lot could go wrong: pitch problems, poor song selection, technical difficulties, weak performances. Fortunately, though, the Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse's 8-Track: The Sounds of the 70's suffered only a handful of pitch issues and a few missed microphone cues on Thursday's opening-night performance, and otherwise mirrored the fun of the decade's music.

Wednesday night's preview performance of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Squabbles was never funnier than when its two elder characters were engaged in the titular activity. Unfortunately, they didn't squabble as much as the show's title might lead you to believe. Fortunately, however, the parts of author Marshall Karp's play that are low on humor are high on sentiment, and created a far more touching experience than I expected.