Peter Altman's "Last Hurrah" and other highlights

It is only a coincidence that Peter Altman is sharing his last hurrah with James Michael Curley. Altman announced last year that this would be his final one as producing director at the Huntington Theatre Company before accepting a similar post at the Missouri Repertory Company in Kansas City. And when it turned out that the centerpiece of his 18th and last season would be a stage adaptation of "The Last Hurrah," Edwin O'Connor's novel about Boston politics, the symmetry seemed tailor-made.

"The history of this project in terms of the Huntington goes back to long before the decision to make this my last hurrah," said Altman. "But it was quite a project to get the rights, and we explored it with a couple of different adapters. We thought we found the right approach when we started to talk to Eric Simonson, and we commissioned it about two years ago, after `Nomathemba,"' which Simonson also directed for the Huntington.

Although the novel, concerning a mayor based on the legendary Curley, deals with a style of politics that has been eroding, Altman says there's more than a history lesson here - although the history lesson is fascinating in its own right. "I think that even when the novel appeared in the '50s there was a sense that a certain kind of politics was disappearing and, in a way, one of the factors singled out by O'Connor, very presciently, was how television was going to change politics. Tip O'Neill said 'All politics are local' and all politics then were basically personal, about individuals and their needs and were handled one on one by politicians. Now we see politicians who relate more to sound bites and media events, less based on 'I really know this person because he shook my hand.'"

"The Last Hurrah," from Oct. 22 to Nov. 21 is the second production of the season and follows Bernard Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession" with Mariette Hartley and Kate Goehring, now through Oct. 10. The East Coast premiere of Philip Kan Gotanda's "Sisters Matsumoto" opens New Year's Eve and closes Jan. 30. Michael Bloom, who directed "Gross Indecency," does the honors for "Mrs. Warren" while Sharon Ott directs "Sisters."

The American Repertory Theatre has a preseason showing of Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo's "We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!" with Marisa Tomei coming to the Loeb Center, which opened last Friday and continues till Oct. 3. (Will George Costanza be in the audience?) Tomei is actually a much better stage actress than you would think if you've seen her only in "Wait Until Dark." The regular season begins with the late Paul Schmidt's translation of Anton Chekhov's "Ivanov," which runs from Nov. 26 to Jan. 22 and is directed by Yuri Yeremin, artistic director of the Moscow Pushkin Theatre. The Russian connection continues, more or less, with "The Idiots Karamazov," Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato's sendup of more academic approaches to Russian literature, among other things. It runs Dec. 10 to Jan. 16.

The big buzz downtown is Lauren Bacall and the Angry Inch. Bacall heads an all-star cast that includes theater's beloved Rosemarys, Harris and Murphy, as well as Dana Ivey and Barnard Hughes in the American premiere of Noel Coward's "Waiting in the Wings." Playwright Jeremy Sams is "revisiting" the script about actresses in a retirement home. If a "new" Noel Coward play sounds like a throwback to the good old days, so is its mode of presentation. It plays at the Colonial Theatre (Nov. 13-28) before moving on to New York.

It's usually the other way around, these days. "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" has been a huge hit, a la "Blue Man Group" in New York for the past two years, and Broadway in Boston is hoping to find another off-Broadway venue in Boston (along with the Charles, where "Blue Man" still reigns) at the 57 Theatre, which is being renovated to make it feel less like a movie theater than it has for past shows. Written by John Cameron Mitchell with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, "Hedwig" tells the story of song stylist Hedwig Schmidt, from childhood to an affair with rock's greatest icon. You may recognize from the story line that "Hedwig" was inspired by Plato's "Symposium." Then again, you may not.

Broadway in Boston isn't the only entity trying to carve out an off-Broadway niche in Boston. "A Couple of Blaguards," another of the McCourt brothers' accounts of growing up absurd in Ireland and America, opens in the Park Plaza Terrace Room Oct. 20. The Blaguards, we assume, are Frank, the author of "Angela's Ashes" and the soon-to-be-released "'Tis," and Malachy, of "A Monk Swimming." "Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know," a musical parody of Wendy Perrin's Fodor's travel guide, begins a limited engagement at the Copley Theatre Oct. 21 through Nov. 28. Among this year's "Christmas Carol"s will be a one-man show by Gerald Charles Dickens Nov. 27 at the Tremont Temple, where his great-great-grandfather (guess who) performed it 130 years ago.

Back on the Broadway circuit, Richard Chamberlain will be helping to usher in "The Sound of Music" Oct. 19 to Nov. 7 at the Colonial while Chuck Wagner will be creating the sound of mayhem in "Jekyll & Hyde" at the Wang Sept. 28-Oct. 3. Cathy Rigby flies back into town for "Peter Pan" Nov. 9-14, and "Stomp" is back Nov. 19 for a limited run at the Wilbur. "Footloose" starts its dance Dec. 14 at the Colonial. Then there's the pitter-patter of "Cats" at the Shubert Sept. 28-Oct. 17. "Buddy ... the Buddy Holly Story" arrives for a pre-holiday run, Dec. 7-19, at the Shubert Theatre.

Outside of the Boston area, Rip Torn and Betty Buckley star in Tennessee Williams's surrealistic "Camino Real" at Hartford Stage, now through Oct. 10. Long disparaged, the play has had two fine revivals recently, by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Hartford goes for three, and follows it with the East Coast premiere of Lanford Wilson's "Book of Days" Oct. 21 to Nov. 20. Long Wharf Theatre has the world premiere of Allan Knee's "Syncopation" Nov. 16 to Dec. 19. Down the road in New Haven, Preston Sturges's success as a filmmaker sidetracked "A Cup of Coffee" (later "Christmas in July" in the movies) from reaching fruition in 1931. The Yale Repertory Theatre brews a fresh cup Nov. 26 to Dec. 18.

Mrs. Warren isn't plying her trade only in Boston. Trinity Repertory Company has its version Sept. 24 to Nov. 7 after opening its season with "Othello" Sept. 3 to Oct. 10. The Portland Stage Company begins with "Blithe Spirit" Sept. 28-Oct. 24 and a satire imagining Richard Nixon's last presidential meeting with Henry Kissinger, "Nixon's Nixon," Nov. 2-21. Worcester Foothills goes with Neil Simon's "Rumors" Sept. 30 to Oct. 24, and Mark St. Germain's interesting "Camping With Henry and Tom" Oct. 28 to Nov. 21.

In Beverly, "Kiss of the Spider Woman" continues at the North Shore Music Theatre, through Sept. 26, followed by "The Secret Garden," Oct. 5-24, and "Grease," Nov. 2-21.