Fairs and FestivalsThe International Homecoming FestivalJuly 29 through August 7. The US/Canada border melts away for a week during this annual celebration of all the things that unite Calais, Maine, and St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Events include a street fair, horse show, golf tournament, concerts, a Rotary Club auction, garden tours, and a whole lot more. 207-454-0320.
Bangor State FairJuly 29 through August 7. The old Bangor State Fair promises to hit "Maximum Velocity," this year. Which means lions, alligator wrestling, and motorcross, in addition to the usual award-winning livestock, carnival rides, and fried foods. 207-947-5555.
www.bangorstatefair.com Maine Lobster FestivalAugust 3 to 7. Rockland claims to be the "Lobster Capital of the World," and whether or not that's the case during the rest of the year, it indisputably is during the Maine Lobster Festival, a summer institution for more than fifty years. This year's highlights include comic Don Rickles (Don Rickles! And only $30!), country star Jo Dee Messina, and Cajun stars BeauSoleil. 207-596-0376 or 800-LOB-CLAW.
www.mainelobsterfestival.com Northeast Silent Film FestivalAugust 5 to 7. Northeast Historic Film, known for its collection of fascinating flicks of old Maine and New England, gives Mainers yet another reason to be proud during its annual festival of silent film. This year's event features the work of Portland natives John and Francis Ford - John's 3 Bad Men and The Iron Horse, and The Cruise of the Hellion, starring Francis. Bucksport. 207-469-0924.
www.oldfilm.org Mid-Summer Festival on the MidcoastAugust 5 to 7. The name of this new festival is rather broad - mid-summer, midcoast - and its offerings are just as wide-raging. Events include an art show and benefit auction by the Maine Art Gallery, an auto show by the Maine Obsolete Automobiles League, a melodrama by the Theatre of the Spirit, music by the Nor'easters and the Sheepscot Jazz and Swing Company, and a dog show. Newcastle. 207-563-3350, ext. 14.
www.lincolnhome.org Festival de JoieAugust 5 to 7. In 1860 the Lewiston-Auburn area saw a vast influx of French Canadians who flocked to the city to work in its mills and shoe factories and set up in a section of town called Little Canada. Their collective heritage is the grist for this annual cultural festival that includes Francophonic music, arts, and food - and now features multinational acts as well. Railroad Park, Lewiston. 207-782-6231.
www.festivaldejoie.org WLBZ 2 Sidewalk Art Festival
August 6. The TV station-sponsored sidewalk art festival has become a nationwide tradition - this is the Bangor version. It's the Queen City's largest and most celebrated one-day art festival and showcases more than a hundred artists from Maine, New England, and beyond. 207-942-4821.
Boothbay Boat Builders & Seafood Festival
August 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rain or shine). The Boothbay area remains a hotbed of boat building, and this is their celebration. Tour East Boothbay's famous shipyards, marina, and sail loft, and meet small-time boat builders and their boats. If that doesn't put sea legs under you, then enjoy a gigantic seafood spread, live music, marine exhibits and demonstrations, art show, and a special activities tent for kids. Shipbuilders Park/ Ocean Point Marina, off Route 96, East Boothbay. $15 admission. Sponsored by the Boothbay Region Land Trust. 207-633-4818. www.bbrlt.org
Topsham Fair
August 7 to 13. Ever wonder why that shopping plaza is called the Topsham Fair Mall? The Topsham Fair is one of the state's largest ag fairs, a weeklong carnival during which Brunswick's northerly neighbor pretends it's still a rural riverside community and not a suburb. That's good news for anyone who enjoys agricultural exhibits, midway rides, harness racing, animal pulling events, 4-H crafts, and fireworks. 207-729-1943. www.topshamfair.org
Georgetown Working League Fair
August 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. What exactly is a working league? In this case it's a community organization providing a variety of services to the island village of Georgetown, one of which is a smashing fair now in its ninety-second year. (The inaugural event raised just over $100 to help with repairs at the local Baptist church.) The event features a luncheon with an art gallery, crafts, white elephants, plants, books, children's activities, and the raffle of the annual Georgetown quilt. Georgetown Central School, 52 Bay Point Road. www.georgetownworkingleague.org
Skowhegan State Fair
August 11 to 20. You know a fair has arrived when it has its own jingle. You can listen to the Skowhegan State Fair's country-style anthem ("what fun and excitement's gotta be there") on its Web site, where you'll also find out about the livestock pulling, stage shows, arts and crafts, demolition derby, carnie rides, and harness racing that together have made this one of Maine's biggest fairs since 1819. 207-474-2947. www.skowheganstatefair.com
Maine Antique Festival
August 12 to 14. Maine's antique show of shows brings a wide variety of dealers with all sorts of specialties - everything from seventeenth-century European furniture, to Asian antiques, to 1950s Americana collectibles - to the festive home of the Union Fairgrounds. Deals can be amazing, especially on the last day, because dealers don't want to truck all their unsold stuff home. Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission $7. Early buying Friday at 2 p.m., cost $30. 207-563-1013. www.pauldavisshows.com
Great Falls Balloon Festival
August 19 to 21. Up, up, and away go the beautiful balloons. This high-flying annual rally attracts balloonists from all over to the friendly skies of L-A. And a big party goes on beneath them. Fireworks, too, which might not be what you want to see when you're in the sky. . . . Lewiston-Auburn. 207-782-2637. www.greatfallsballoonfestival.org
Machias Wild Blueberry Festival
August 20 & 21. The highlight of this August staple - the Down East coast produces 85 percent of the world's wild blueberries - has got to be the Blueberry Musical. Past shows have been "Berry the Blues, My Blue Hero," and "It's a Wonderful Blueberry." Get tickets early, as this year's production is sure to sell out. And while you're in town feast on pies, muffins, pancakes, and jams - all blueberry, of course - and enjoy family entertainment, a grand parade, crafts, and games. Machias. 207-255-6665. www.machiasblueberry.com
Union Fair
August 21 to 27. The Union Fair has the unique distinction of having a fair within a fair. Not only does the large fairground host a traditional ag fair every August, with a large midway, crafts, animal pulling events, a he-man competition, and harness racing, but it's also home to the Maine Blueberry Festival, which features cooking competitions and pie-eating contests and runs concurrently. 207-785-3281. www.unionfair.org
The WCSH 6 Sidewalk Art Festival
August 27. The oldest and largest one-day art show in northern New England puts a museum's worth of art (alas, not necessarily museum quality) on the city streets of Portland and some great deals before savvy shoppers. 207-828-6666. www.wcsh6.com/community/article . asp?id=2060
Windsor Fair
August 28 through September 5. Just a stone's throw from the state capital, Windsor hosts a country fair famed for its large midway, animal pulling events, and especially its harness racing. 207-549-5249. www.windsorfair.com
Music and Dance
Summer Music Festival
What a great excuse to get inside the newly reopened Strand Theatre on Rockland's Main Street. Bay Chamber Concerts, which has been bringing top talents to the beautiful Rockport Opera House for decades, will be hosting a Wednesday night series of shows at the fancy new theater in downtown Rockland. On August 10 the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble will be the headliners, and on August 28 it will be Appalachian Highlights, Marc O'Connor's famed Appalachia Waltz Trio. Friday nights will remain in Rockport with the likes of the Vermeer Quartet (August 4), the Young Stars from Maine (August 12), and the First Chair All Stars (August 26), which collects principal players from a multitude of national orchestras into one varsity combo. Bay Chamber Concerts. 207-236-2823 or 888-707-2770. www.baychamberconcerts.org
L-A Arts Music in the Parks
Through August 25. Every city worth its arts budget seems to have free lunchtime concerts these days and L-A is no exception. Brown bag it and enjoy everything from bluegrass to jazz to Celtic to Somali-American music at Festival Plaza, Main Street, Auburn, or Courthouse Plaza, Lisbon Street, Lewiston. L-A Arts. 800-639-2919 or 207-782-7228. www.laarts.org
Arcady Summer Music Festival
July 18 through August 25. The notion of the Shanghai String Quartet or the Vienna Piano Trio filling the Congregational church in Dover-Foxcroft and the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport with world-class sounds is amazing enough. But those are just a couple of stops made by this itinerant summer festival, which performs in Orono and Bar Harbor as well. 207-288-2141. www.arcady.org
Bowdoin International Music Festival
Through August 6. Any Maine classical music fans who have yet to spend a summer evening at the Bowdoin International Music Fest ought to be ashamed of themselves. The Friday night series features the Aeolian Chamber Players, The Ying and Cassatt string quartets, distinguished guest artists, and members of the festival faculty in performances held each week. Some of the better classical musiques in Maine. Check listings for the complete lineup. Bowdoin College, 6300 College Station, Brunswick. 207-373-1400. www.summermusic.org/concerts.htm
Kneisel Hall Festival Concerts
Through August 28. When Austrian violinist - and Boston Symphony Orchestra member - Franz Kneisel started bringing students with him on his vacations to Blue Hill in 1902, he couldn't have known it would be a tradition that would continue into the next century. On Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, classical music students and faculty from some of the finest musical institutions in the world delight Blue Hill audiences with Kneisel Hall's summertime concert series. 207-374-2203. www.kneisel.org
Machias Bay Chamber Concerts
August 2 and 9. The Centre Street Congregational Church, with its soaring white spires towering over the Machias River, has been known to make churchgoers out of non-churchgoers. The Machias Bay Chamber Concerts provide yet another reason to visit, sponsoring shows by The Vermeer Quartet with William Kanengiser on guitar on August 2, and the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble on August 9. Concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. 207-255-6665.
Festival of Cultural Exchange
August 6 & 7. The ethnic diversity of Portland goes on display during this two-day shindig, and it's something to see. Traditional music, dance, performance, food, and visual art transform Congress Square into a party of global proportions. Center for Cultural Exchange, Portland. 207-761-1545. www.centerforculturalexchange.org/calendar.html
Portland Chamber Music Festival
August 18 to 27. Celebrating its twelfth season of summer concerts, this popular performance series is dedicated to bringing classical classics - from Debussy to Mozart to Faure - to wider audiences. Ludke Auditorium, Westbrook College Campus, University of New England, Stevens Avenue, Portland. 800-320-0257.
A Midsummer Night's Dream and Balanchine's Serenade
August 20 at 7 p.m. Maine State Ballet's double-header of the Bard's most popular play and ballet's most contemporary choreographer. Tickets are $25. Merrill Auditorium, Portland. 207-842-0800. www.mainestateballet.org
American Folk Festival
August 26 to 28. The National Folk Festival was a success beyond measure, attracting tens of thousands of people to Bangor for concerts of folk and blues, zydeco and dance, during each of the last three years. The nationally sponsored event has since moved on, and in its place has grown up this local version, with similar events and hopes of becoming a phenomenon of its own. Bangor waterfront. 207-992-2630. www.americanfolkfestival.com
Special Events
Academy Antiques Show
August 4 to 6. What makes an antique an antique? You can ask a number of dealers from along the East Coast while perusing their furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, paintings, silver, and jewelry. A one-time fee of $7 covers admission for all three days. Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. George Stevens Academy, Union Street, Blue Hill. 207-374-5026.
Fine Art Auction of American and European Art
August 5 at 7 p.m. Preview is on August 4 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and August 5 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Portland's Barridoff Galleries' annual Fine Art Auction of American and European Art is always an event, and it always draws a crowd. Some come to bid on paintings by the likes of Beverly Hallam, Stephen Etnier, and John Singer Sargent, while others just come to study the canvases and be entertained by the high-stakes bidding contests. An online preview lets you see the goods whenever you like. Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring Street, Portland. 207-772-5011. www.barridoff.com
TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race
August 6 at 8 a.m. Ah, mergers and acquisitions. If you've always wanted to run in the People's Beach to Beacon race, well, sorry, lost your chance. But you can compete with some of the world's fastest runners in the TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K, which takes place on the same Cape Elizabeth route. 888-480-6940. www.beach2beacon.org
Kennebunk Antiques Show and Sale
August 6 & 7. This well-regarded show is sponsored by the Kennebunk Animal Welfare Society, so if you buy a basket you help a kitty. Kennebunk High School. Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 207-284-8657.
The Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour
August 9 & 10, at 1 and 6 p.m. Talk about running away with the circus. Smirkus is an award-winning, Vermont-based international traveling youth circus of trapeze artists, clowns, acrobats, and aerialists. Children from twenty-one countries have entertained under its big top, which is why some have called Smirkus the "United Nations of the Youth Circus World." Merriconeag Waldorf School, 57 Desert Road, Freeport. Adults $16, children two to twelve $14, and under two (on lap) free. 800-532-7443. www.smirkus.org
Family YMCA Antiques Show and Sale
August 10. This is among Maine's biggest and best, with fifty dealers from around New England displaying furniture, hooked rugs, textiles, toys, silver, books, and art. Wednesday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5. Sponsored by the Bath-area family YMCA, and held at the Bath Middle School. 207-443-8983.
Cumberland Craft Show
August 11 to 14. United Maine Craftsmen has about 700 members now, among them the finest artisans in the state, and about half will be exhibiting at this, its thirty-sixth show. The crafts-only exhibition and sale is the largest of its kind in Maine and features demonstration booths as well as sellables. And with that much talent assembled in one place, you're sure to find what you're looking for. Cumberland Fairgrounds, Blanchard Road. 207-621-2818. www.unitedmainecraftsmen.com
Sudbury Canada Days
August 12 to 14. The Bethel Historical Society's annual heritage festival harks back to days of yore, and features the "Hall Lecture," old time crafts, an art show, historical films, children's parade and games, badminton and croquet tournaments, a log drivers' bean supper, an open house at the Lower Sunday River Schoolhouse, an old-fashioned hymn sing at the Middle Intervale Meetinghouse, and much more. 207-824-2908 or 800-824-2910. www.bethelhistorical . org/events.html
Maine Boats and Harbors Show
August 12 to 14. Boat fever strikes! Maine's finest boat people - artists, architects, builders, furniture makers, craftsmen, designers, marine gear vendors, even musicians - gather for a weekend of seamania in Rockland's Harbor Park. Not for salts only. Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 at the gate. Children twelve and under get in for free. 207-236-8622 or 800-565-4951. www.maineboats.com
River House Centennial Day
August 13. Old York Historical Society is one of Maine's best and busiest preservation outfits, and it's got this history stuff down pat. The society will recognize the anniversary of this Newport-style mansion built in 1905 on the banks of the York River, and it's doing it up right with tours and family activities that are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for teens, and free for twelve and under. Old York Historical Society. 207-363-4974. www.oldyork.org
Guitar Intensive Workshops
August 14 to 20. Ax slingers are no strangers to Maine. Bar Harbor will be invaded by a new variety - guitar players - during these action-packed guitar workshops. Intended for early intermediates to professionals, they'll be taught by such six-string technicians as Howard Morgan, Ernie Hawkins, Tom Zivkovich, and Jim Ferguson. College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor. 888-435-4003. www.guitarintensives.com
Multiple Sclerosis Regatta Harborfest
August 19 to 21. The MS Regatta has become much more than Maine's largest sailing race. In addition to the competition itself, which fills Casco Bay with a fleet fleet, it now features an auction, a tugboat muster, a Powerboat Poker Run, and other waterfront fun. Casco Bay. 800-FIGHTMS. http://nationalmssociety.org/mem/event/event_detail.asp?e=8669
Lumbering in the Maine Woods: Men and Their Machines
August 20, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Though it isn't romanticized much any more, lumbering continues apace in the Maine woods, and the Maine Forest and Logging Museum presents a look at the way the industry has changed over the course of a few centuries. A water-powered sawmill, Lombard Log Haulers, and many more machines of the lumbering trade will demonstrate logging techniques dating back to the 1600s. Leonard's Mills, Bradley. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for children two to twelve. 207-581-2871. www.leonardsmills.com
Maine Highland Games
August 20. Once a year, Thomas Point Beach gets crazy with kilts and haggis and all things Scottish, and it's something to witness. Music, food, dance, and maybe even the opportunity to find out the answer to the age-old question of what does one wear under a kilt? Thomas Point Beach, Brunswick. www.mainehighlandgames.org
Spectacular Maine Auction
August 24 to 26. The auctioneers of James D. Julia Auctions see some fine wares during the course of a year - art, folk art, silver, American and European furniture and accessories - and they save much of the best of it for their end of summer auction spectacular. Samoset Resort, Rockland. 207-453-7125. www.juliaauctions.com
Coastal Maine Antiques Show
August 31. A rustic setting of three large tents, a small one, and two levels of a barn is the venue for this antique bazaar at the Round Top Center for the Arts. 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $7. Round Top Center for the Arts, Business Route 1, Damariscotta. 207-882-7908.
Museums
Portland Museum of Art
One hundred years ago, Rockwell Kent landed on Monhegan, and the island hasn't been the same since. Instead it's become the artist's island, a rocky outpost with a zillion galleries and even more aspiring Kents. Rockwell Kent: The Mythic and the Modern is the museum's summer blockbuster celebrating the renowned artist's arrival on the island. Through October 16. ? Bold, expressionist landscape imagery is the stuff of John Walker: Works on Paper. In addition to large, nearly abstract oils, Walker's large-scale watercolor and oil monotypes and inventive etchings suggest the powerful forces of natural elements: waterfalls, rocks, and tidal estuaries. Through August 28. 7 Congress Square, Portland. 207-775-6148. www.portlandmuseum.org
Farnsworth Art Museum & Wyeth Center
The Maine master was once a gifted apprentice. That's one of the things you'll discover during Andrew Wyeth: Early Watercolors, which runs through September 18. ? American painter, sculptor, and printmaker Alex Katz is one of the most important American artists of his time, and his impressive body of work constitutes a unique version of modern realism. Through October 16. ? Maine Women - Living on the Land: A Photographic Installation by Lauren Shaw profiles ten Mainers who live close to the earth. August 7 through November 13. Rockland. 207-596-6457. www.farnsworthmuseum.org
Ogunquit Museum of Art
Edward Hopper: The Ogunquit Paintings. Four of Hopper's finest paintings from his summers spent painting the southern Maine coastline - The Dories, Ogunquit; Cove at Ogunquit; Rocks and House, Ogunquit; and Sea at Ogunquit - are included here on loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art, as are others by the master. ? The Art of Emily Mason features the abstract expressionist paintings of a contemporary colorist who divides her time between New York and Vermont. Both shows run through August 24. ? Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Associated Press Archives includes more than 120 black and white photographs loaned from the Associated Press Archives. Among the photographs are the famous Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of Marines raising an American flag on Mount Suribachi; the attack on Pearl Harbor; the D-Day landing; and a sailor kissing a woman in Times Square on VJ Day. August 29 through October 15. 543 Shore Road, Ogunquit. 207-646-4909. www.ogunquitmuseum.org
Bates Museum of Art
The Environment of Landscape: Works from the Olivia and Ellwood Straub Collection. A selection of landscape work by such talents as Joel Babb, Dozier Bell, Ann Lofquist, Joseph Haroutunian, and James Linehan from the collection of the Olivia and Ellwood Straub Endowment. Through October 1. ? Tired of Hartley? Had enough Homer? Off the Coast: A Landscape Chronology explores innovations in contemporary Maine landscape art. Where once the Pine Tree State was defined mostly by male artists who glorified it with picturesque archetypes, today a growing and diversifying number of resident artists, such as the photographers Jocelyn Lee, Elke Morris, and Scott Peterman, are changing how people "from away" perceive Maine. Through May 30, 2006. 75 Russell Street, Lewiston. 207-786-6158. www.bates.edu/museum.xml
Colby College Museum of Art
Alex Katz: Collages. The museum's collection of work by Alex Katz is one of its defining features, and it includes examples from the artist's early years when he studied at Skowhegan through his mature work, which he continues to produce in his New York studio and during summers spent in Lincolnville. Through September 18. ? Terry Winters: Prints & Sequences. Terry Winters has continually explored issues of series and continuity in his art, evidenced in his prints from the early Morula lithographs to his most recent works in print media. July 27 through November 6. 5600 Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville. 207-872-3228. www.colby.edu/museum
Center for Maine Contemporary Art
Art Makes a Difference is the CMCA's twenty-eighth annual art auction. July 28 through August 7. ? Boxers and Ballerinas, photographs by John Goodman taken over twenty-five years, explores the extreme physical discipline required of the athlete and artist. August 12 through October 1. ? Water is an exploration and interpretation in diverse mediums of the importance of H20 on Earth and its inhabitants. August 12 through October 1. 162 Russell Avenue, Rockport. 207-236-2875. www.artsmaine.org
Saco Museum
Simple Gifts: The Alfred Shakers 1793 to 1931. Maine was once home to several colonies of Shakers, and this exhibit provides a rare opportunity to see items from the Alfred sect. The show encompasses all aspects of community life including furniture, industries, and religion, and many of the items in the exhibit have never been displayed outside the Sabbathday Lake Community, which holds the largest number of Alfred Shaker material anywhere - and is the only active Shaker community in the world. August 11 through October 30. 371 Main Street, Saco. 207-283-3861. www.sacomuseum.org
Davistown Museum
What Needs to Be Retrieved: The Marriage of Tools, Art, and History celebrates the interrelationships between these seemingly disparate areas of study. The show coincides with the fifth anniversary of the museum, a nifty collection across Liberty's main drag from the equally nifty Liberty Tool. Artists include Alan Magee, Roger Majorowicz, John Whalley, Melita Westerlund, Margo Klass, David McLaughlin, Eric Ziner, Tillman Crane, Donna Just, Kathleen Kelly, and Peter Borelli. Through September 5. 207-589-4900. www.davistownmuseum.org
Owls Head Transportation Museum
More than any other style of car, convertibles symbolize the freedom of the open road - and disheveled hair. This tribute to everyone's "dream car" is a fun-filled look at the history of the not always practical but always appealing top-down vehicles, with more than 200 classic convertibles on display at the Convertible Meet & Antique Aeroplane Show. August 7. ? Two hundred outstanding consigned antique, classic, and special-interest automobiles head to the auction block for the New England Auto Auction. An auction preview is on Friday, August 19, and on the morning of sale. 207-594-4418. www.ohtm.org
Theater
The Grapes of Wrath
July 15 through August 26. Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine sing about Tom Joad, and in case you missed high school English class, this is where they got the idea. Steinbeck's classic about the Joad family and the brutalities of the American Dream. The Theater At Monmouth. 207-933-9999. www.TheaterAtMonmouth.org
Cats
July 20 through August 6. What else can be said about Cats? Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the show has created enough "Memories" to last a lifetime. (How many of its nine lives could the show possibly have left?) The national touring company pays a visit to the Maine State Music Theatre, Brunswick. 207-725-8769. www.msmt.org
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
July 25 through August 6. More than twenty years since the first production of the campy classic, and the troubles in the Chicken Ranch continue. No Burt Reynolds or Dolly Parton in this version, but the material still holds up. Song, dance, and the world's oldest profession. Ogunquit Playhouse. 207-646-5511. www.ogunquitplayhouse.org
The Ramplings
July 28 through August 6 at 8 p.m., July 31 at 4 p.m., and August 3 at 2 and 6:45 p.m. Though it only debuted last March at the Apollo Theatre (the one in West Virginia), this offbeat farce about a quaint hostelry on the coast of Maine is already summering in Maine. See what happens when you hole up with a drunken race-car driver, his cold wife, and a widow who claims to communicate with spirits. Lakewood Theatre, Skowhegan. 207-474-7176. www.lakewoodtheater.org
Sugar: Some Like it Hot
Through August 6. Hot indeed! And you think today's gender climate is confusing. From skirt-chasing musicians to drag queens, this ribald comedy's got it all. Arundel Barn Playhouse. 207-985-5552. www.arundelbarnplayhouse.com
Swing!
August 8 to 20. Once upon a time, Count Basie and Duke Ellington captivated audiences in dance halls along Maine's south coast. Today we have to settle for productions like Swing!, a Broadway song and dance celebration capturing the infectious beat and rollicking good-times of the big band legends of the swinging '30s and '40s. Still, you're gonna wanna dance. Ogunquit Playhouse. 207-646-5511. www.ogunquitplayhouse.org
Mame
August 10 to 27. "Life's a banquet, and most suckers are starving to death." So says the grand dame of the highlife. Maine State Music Theatre, Brunswick. 207-725-8769. www.msmt.org
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
August 11 to 20 at 8 p.m., August 14 at 4 p.m., and August 17 at 2 and 6:45 p.m. The contents of J. Peirpont Finch's little book - an instructional manual for climbing the corporate ladder - seem more contemporary now than ever. Filled with power, sex, ambition, and greed. Lakewood Theatre, Skowhegan. 207-474-7176. www.lakewoodtheater.org .
The History of America (Abridged)
August 11 & 12 at 8 p.m. Six hundred years of American history in 5,400 seconds! From Washington to Watergate, from the Bering Straits to Baghdad, from New World to New World Order, a ninety-minute, roller-coaster ride through American's bumpy history. Deertrees Theatre & Cultural Center, Harrison. 207-583-6747. www.deertreestheatre.org
Hamlet
August 11 to 14. Shakespeare's Danish prince visits Stonington's Opera House. 207-367-2788. www.operahousearts.org
Fiddler on the Roof
August 19 to 28. Tevye tormented. Lewiston-Auburn's Community Little Theatre. 207-783-0958. www.laCLT.com
