LI THEATER

BY STEVE PARKS | steve.parks@newsday.com

May 27, 2007

CRITIC'S PICKS

Smokey Joe's Cafe (June 28-Aug. 5 at the John W. Engeman Theater, Northport). It's not the show so much as the showplace. John William Engeman of East Northport, a theater enthusiast who volunteered for the Army, was killed in Iraq last May. His brother-in-law, Kevin O'Neill of Huntington, a Wall Street investor in theatermania.com, and Richard Dolce of the family that founded BroadHollow Theater Co. are opening the first year-round, Actors' Equity union theater on Long Island in 16 years. They gutted and renovated the Northport Theater, an old Main Street movie house. It will reopen with the Broadway tribute to the music of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who wrote such hits as "On Broadway," "Stand by Me" and Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog."

The Lady in Question (Aug. 14-Sept. 2, Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor). Charles Busch, in his satire of film noir thrillers of the 1940s, recreates the cross-dressing role he wrote for himself of Gertrude Garnet, a glamorous diva and concert pianist on tour in Bavaria - only it's really the Hamptons in summertime, which can be almost as zany. You may want to tune up by checking out Bay Street's previous show, the world premiere of "Turandot: The Rumble for the Ring," a rock opera by the creators of "The Donkey Show," July 10-Aug. 5.

Cirque Dreams: A Jungle Fantasy (Aug. 23-Sept. 8, produced by Gateway Playhouse at Patchogue Theatre). After opening its season with Olympic champion Oksana Baiul in the ice-skating musical "Cold as Ice" (through June 17), Gateway goes for something completely different with Cirque Productions, an American company (not to be confused with Quebec's famous Cirque du Soleil). This music and aerial-ballet show set in an enchanted forest features vine-swinging acrobats, contortionists, strongmen, balancers and other circus types. Yes, even clowns.

Tess: The Musical (June 1-17, produced by Hofstra University's Gray Wig company at the Spiegel Theater, Hempstead). Inspired by Thomas Hardy's then-scandalous 1891 novel, "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," Long Islanders Annie Pasqua and Ed Huether have worked 10 years toward adapting the story of a country girl whose life comes unraveled because of a series of seemingly innocuous decisions. This workshop in the intimate campus playhouse is its first public performance.

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