This weekend is your final chance to see two of the best bets of the young summer season. Merry-Go-Round Playhouse is wrapping up its production of “All Shook Up” this weekend. The high energy musical is a blast and a half, with terrific direction and performances; a great show for the family. The play closes June 21. MGR follows up with “Les Miserables,” the award-winning musical based on the Victor Hugo classic. It runs from June 25 through July 18. Call 255-1875 for tickets for both productions.

You have until June 29 to see the regional mega-hit, “Menopause the Musical,” at Syracuse Stage. After consistent sellout performances in '06, '07 and this year, it's likely that Syracuse Stage will decide that the play has run its course. Call 443-3275 for tickets.

June 29 is also the end of the run for Kitchen Theatre's bittersweet “Souvenir,” the fact-based story of a woman determined to be an opera diva and blithely oblivious to the fact that she can't sing. Call (607) 273-4497 for tickets.

Both Hangar Theatre of Ithaca and Cortland Repertory Theatre open plays this week. Hangar offers “No Child...,” a one-woman show based on playwright Nilaja Sun's experience as a teaching artist in a Bronx high school. CRT mounts a farce, Ken Ludwig's “Leading Ladies,” about a pair of down and out actors who decide to con an estate out of a rich widow.

Cortland has a definite knack for this sort of nonsense; I haven't seen a misfire in the last five years. Contact Hangar at (607) 273-4497; Cortland Rep at (607) 427-6160.

Rarely Done Productions closes its production of adult-themed “Bathhouse, the Musical,” this weekend. Call 456-3224 for tickets.

Appleseed Productions will hold open auditions for its September production of George Axelrod's comic-fantasy “Goodbye, Charlie” from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday, June 29 and 30, at Appleseed's home, Atonement Lutheran Church, 116 W. Glen Ave., Syracuse.

For additional information, call Appleseed Productions at 492-9766. For a complete description of the show and the characters, visit www.appleseedproductions.org.

The Auburn Players Second Stage is now reviewing short plays for its annual Short Play Festival 2008. Deadline for submissions is July 10.

Playwrights will need to provide their submissions in legible form with a $5 readers fee payable to The Auburn Players.

A separate application must be completed for each script submitted. For more information or to get a copy of the form, visit www.auburnplayers.net or contact Bourke Kennedy at 253-4315 or bourke@kenlark.com.

The Players will also hold its annual elections June 29 at the Sunset Restaurant. There's still time to become a voting member.

Forms are available online or send snail mail to: Auburn Players Community Theater, PO Box 543, Auburn, NY 13021 Attn: Ed Porter.

Now play nice and go see some theater.

Tom Woods writes monthly on local and regional theater news. E-mail him at thewoodhead@yahoo.com