Blood Wedding Federico García Lorca’s poetic tragedy is transplanted from the author’s beloved Andalusia to California during the Great Depression in this production directed by Daniel Ostling. It’s still the story of nuptials derailed by hate and lust, and the language (translated from Spanish by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata) is still earthy and passionate. But the look is rough-hewn and dusty. With the sole exception of Kareem Bandealy’s fiery take on the bride’s ex (whom she is most assuredly not over), the acting also has the sort of dry, taciturn quality that would be better suited to a Dorothea Lange photo than to Lorca’s full-blooded poetry. When things finally explode into rage and violence in the third act, the results are perplexing instead of shattering. —Zac Thompson

I’ve Got the World on a String The first act of City Lit’s ill-conceived Harold Arlen song cycle, devised by the late Sheldon Patinkin, is a 35-minute nonevent. Into a 1940s Manhattan bar tended by a perpetually happy couple come two ostensibly happy couples who rather quickly switch partners, flirt, get irked, and leave. Rather than meaningful character development, we’re offered a dozen too-obvious Arlen tunes (“Fun to Be Fooled,” “One for My Baby,” “That Old Black Magic”) and the occasional head-scratcher (“Lydia the Tattooed Lady”) shoehorned into a meager, lurching narrative. The cast’s singing ranges from impressive to thrilling, even as musical director and accompanist Kingsley Day inhibits any sense of jazz, blues, or swing, draining the soul from the soulful score. Why the ill-matched couples return together for act two is a mystery. —Justin Hayford

Raggedy And David Valdes Greenwood’s new comedy of political manners, directed by Cecilie Keenan, is refreshingly modern territory for Pride Films & Plays, even if at its heart it’s still a closet story. An acclaimed poet is offered time at the first female president’s upcoming inauguration, to the joy of her newly outed son and the chagrin of her skeptical wife. When a cartoonishly cynical campaign operative (winning Iowa, we’re unironically told, comes down to dress color) tries to exploit her trans status, the family band together to face the public on their own terms. The stakes don’t get much higher than a press release, but Delia Kropp is warm as a mother navigating truly uncharted family territory. —Dan Jakes