Hilarious performances make Cedar Crest Colleges Department of Performing Arts "Ruthless! The Musical" a riotously uproarious evening of theater.

The darkly funny musical, on the stage of Samuels Theater, 100 College Drive, Allentown, through Oct. 1, is a spot-on parody of show business Broadway musicals, such as "Gypsy" and "Mame." There are plenty of shout-outs to other musicals from "A Chorus Line" style line-up to a joke about dancing gang members from "West Side Story."

An original comedy that is humorously quirky with unexpected twists, is being presented by Crowded Kitchen Players at Between the Lines Studio Theatre in Allentown through Oct. 1.

"The Spectre of Death" follows an aging and over-the-hill heavy metal band as they prepare for what they hope will be a comeback concert.

Playwright and composer Charlie Barnett was inspired by real life shock metal band GWAR which was known for their elaborate and grotesque costumes and which had mainstream success in the 1990s. In the show, the band also wears costumes and masks when they perform.

"The Laramie Project" approaches a horrific hate crime by examining the many people who lived in the very ordinary town in which it happened. At Civics Theatre514, this at times excruciatingly painful, at times surprisingly funny play, is always profoundly moving under the deft direction of Williams Sanders and Rae Labadie. "The Laramie Project" is at Civics Theatre 514, 514 N. 19th St., Allentown through through Sept. 24.

The play centers around the brutal 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming.

For anyone who ever played the board game "Clue," the show on stage at Pines Dinner Theatre through Oct. 22. is a playful walk down memory lane. "Clue: The Musical" literally brings the classic game to wacky and colorful life on stage.

The iconic characters from the Hasbro game are all there and each one is more outrageous than the last one, adding to the playful fun, as they skulk around the stage with hilariously oversized weapons and clad in over-the-top Crayola-colored outfits.

Its a funny and engaging concept that works, and the talented cast give their all to each of their crazy roles.