Wan West

While the Mosaic production is marked by clarity and competence, it completely misses those live-wire underpinnings. The comedy is carefully wrought, but the play's anarchic menace is missing. The four-actor cast is thoroughly competent, but there's little chemistry. Terrell Hardcastle plays Austin as an intelligent, somewhat repressed professional trying to cope with an outlandish situation. It's a solid enough performance but a recycled one. Hardcastle has been doing essentially the same character in the same way in a string of area productions. Michael St. Pierre plays Lee, one in a long line of Shepard's dangerous charismatic drifters, more as a teddy bear than a predator, offering little threat or fire. Linda Bernhard, normally so reliable, seems lost here, bringing little impact to the brief role of the returning mother. As Saul the Hollywood producer, David Vargo fares best, aided by the fact that Shepard flips the usual stereotypes, making the Hollywood producer the most normal character in the bunch.

Most of the problems here must be laid to Richard Jay Simon's naturalistic staging, which offers meticulous detail where manic gonzo energy is required. When Lee destroys the house in his search for a pen or pencil to write with, his search feels carefully staged, not crazed. The same applies to the play's long monologues, extended word riffs that come across as constructed, not booze-fueled improvisations. David Sherman's kitchen set seems decidedly non-L.A., with its tacky Southwestern/Santa Fe décor, but at least the use of Native American pottery and artifacts suggests some mythic elements. The production might have been better off without the languid music score, mostly Allman Brothers and Hank, Jr. at their drowsiest. But the soundtrack says it all. Shepard refers to two external forces in his L.A. nighttime setting, the yin and yang of his tale: the lulling normalcy of crickets and the enticing, spooky menace of prowling coyotes. This Mosaic show has lots of crickets but no coyotes. It whirs and chirps, but there are no howls echoing through them thar L.A. hills.

Onstage

•Barnum: The Musical: P.T. Barnum, who created the "Greatest Show on Earth," is the subject of this musical that features aerial, high wire, and circus acts, 8:00 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, through October 26. Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W. Sample Rd., Coral Springs; 954-344-7765.

•Fell in Love With A Girl: Mad Cat Theatre Company opens its season with a drama about love, friendship, and dating in these modern times, 8:00 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays (no show on October 4), through October 18, 305-576-6377 (details). Miami Light Project, 3000 Biscayne Blvd.; 305-576-4350.

•La Lechuga: A family copes with the difficulties of caring for a relative in a vegetative state in this black comedy presented in Spanish, 8:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. Sundays, through October 9. Teatro 8, 2101 SW Eighth St.; 305-541-4841.

•La Reina, La Lupe: Actress Sully Diaz interprets the life and music of famed Cuban salsa singer "La Lupe" with the backing of a live orchestra, in Spanish, 8:30 p.m. Friday, October 3; in Spanish, 3:00 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, October 4; in English, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, October 5. Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Amaturo Theater, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 954-462-0222.

•Long Day's Journey Into Night: New Theatre revives its 1994 Carbonell Award-nominated production of this Eugene O'Neill play, 8:00 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 1:00 and 6:00 p.m. Sundays, through October 19 (6:00 p.m. show will not be performed on September 21 and October 19). New Theatre, 4120 Laguna St., Coral Gables; 305-443-5909.

•Lord, All Men Can't Be Dogs: This gospel stage comedy portrays an embattled married couple whose relationship is sabotaged by two fallen angels living in their midst, 8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 2, through Saturday, October 4; 3:00 p.m. Saturday, October 4 and Sunday, October 5; 7:30 p.m. Sunday, October 5. Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, 174 E. Flagler St.; 305-374-2444.

•Return to the Forbidden Planet: This 1950s sci-fi musical version of Shakespeare's The Tempest follows the adventures of Captain Tempest and his space crew as they travel toward Planet D'lllyria, call for showtimes, through October 26. The Actors' Playhouse at Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables; 305-444-9293.

•The Exonerated: Lynn Redgrave and Montel Williams tell the stories of real-life death row inmates who were subsequently found innocent, based on the work of married playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, 8:00 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, beginning Tuesday, October 7; 2:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, through October 19, 954-523-3309 (details). Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 954-462-0222.

•Tracers: A collage of scenes follows a group of soldiers through combat in Vietnam and to the eventual realization that the war will forever change their lives, 8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 2, through Saturday, October 4; 7:00 p.m. Sunday, October 5, 305-496-7533 (details). Artemis Performance Space 742, 1165 SW Sixth St.; 305-324-0585.

•True West: Mosaic Theatre presents the classic comedy by Sam Shepard about a rocky relationship between two brothers -- one a Hollywood playwright, the other a small-time criminal, 8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 2, through Saturday, October 4; 3:00 p.m. Saturday, October 4, and Sunday, October 5. American Heritage Center for the Arts, 12200 W. Broward Blvd., bldg 3000, Plantation; 954-577-8243.