Whether you are currently in a state of shock or jubilation, you can’t go wrong with the following offerings which will lift you up no matter your state of mind.

Greater Boston Stage Company has opened its 25th Anniversary season with a show well known and performed all over Europe — but this is its New England premiere: DINNER FOR ONE, a sweet, funny two-hander starring the elastically limbed, wildly funny Paul Melendy in a bravura performance as “James, ” dutiful valet to Miss Sophie played with dotty aplomb by Debra Wise. James has been in Miss Sophie’s employ for decades and their relationship has become increasingly elaborate over time, as James exceeds the usual boundaries of a butler. The occasion is Miss Sophie’s 90th birthday and James not only sets the table and serves her guests– but becomes the guests! Watch the trailer here.

There are four  guests in all, each a long-ago beau of Miss Sophie’s, and Melendy as James runs around the dining table in that elegant, dusty old mansion, and impersonates each of them being sure to dazzle and romance Miss Sophie. The premise serves up Melendy’s skills on a platter. Course by course, James becomes increasingly inebriated, pouring and prat falling his way around the delighted Miss Sophie. Melendy’s comic timing sharpens the absurdity of the situation and these cartoonish characters. But Wise and Melendy also manage to communicate the sweet subtext of their bond, his tender regard for her in her dotage, and her gratitude for his understanding and companionship. There’s a role for the audience too! See DINNER FOR ONE at the newly refurbished Greater Boston Stage Company premises through November 17.

Also head over to The Opera House and get ready for Juliet sans Romeo! Broadway in Boston presents  & JULIET a rewrite of Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET after Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway gets hold of the script, decides to change the ending– and Juliet LIVES! The play becomes the battleground for the Shakespeares’ marriage as Anne complains she’s sick of playing second fiddle to Will’s work, has no voice! The result? A jukebox musical pumped up with estrogen and propelled by a cast of killer voices delivering fresh interpretations of pop hits composed by Grammy Award-winning producer/songwriter Max Martin. Hit songs by Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Celine Dion, Ariana Grande, are here employed in ever more witty ways. A highlight early on finds Will and Anne arguing over the script as The Bard intones the Backstreet Boys hit refrain, “I want it that way.”

The book by David West Read leans in on Helen Reddy’s declaration, “I am woman hear me roar,” though thankfully not that lumbering tune. The second act is too long as Romeo is resurrected only to be repeatedly pummeled into submission as a self-proclaimed “douche.” This is a less than nuanced message for women who shouldn’t need anyone to be weak for them to be strong.

That said, the show does work as a first-rate entertainment, beginning with a fiercely talented ensemble dominated by the honey-voiced Rachel Simone Webb who acts as though she could perform this demanding role in her sleep. Other outstanding voices and performances include Kathryn Allison as Juliet’s nurse Angelique, and Nick Drake as Juliet’s non-binary friend May who explodes gender boundaries not unfamiliar in Shakespeare’s day, onstage and off, where men regularly played women’s parts in plots requiring them to double down again as men playing women disguised as men, opposite men playing women. Here as before the binary is blown to bits–to joyous effect.

This hit-saturated musical keeps it moving with non-stop hip hop inflected choreography (Jennifer Weber), costumes (Paloma young) are a glittering mashup of Italian renaissance and 90’s street glam, dazzling sets and video projections, elaborate staging, and whiz bang pacing under Luke Sheppard’s flawless direction. This tragedy has become a woke musical comedy where “All’s Well That Ends Well” “As You (& Juliet) Like it” !  Presented by Broadway In Boston through November 17!