By Mark Edelman

It may roll in like a lion and go out like lamb, but March has a whole lot of great theater to roar (or baah) about as well. Check out these fine productions as the weather warms up and those world-famous cherry blossoms burst onto the scene:

LITTLE MISS PERFECT

Olney Theatre Center

Through March 8

There’s a lot of pressure on high school senior Noelle, who finds herself thrust into a whole new world as one of the few Black students at her predominantly white school. This new musical by Tik-Tok star Joriah Kwame takes on issues of stress and acceptance in the pressure cooker world of getting into the “right” college. Tickets at http://www.olneytheatre.org

MIDICULOUS

Keegan Theatre

Through March 8

In this play for young audiences, middle school banter becomes fodder for public relations pros, students psychoanalyze their own teenage hijinks and post-pandemic therapy rules. Welcome to the world of Midiculous. Tickets at www.keegantheatre.com

CHEZ JOEY

Arena Stage

Through  March 15

Broadway’s original Michael Jackson and Tony® Award winner Myles Frost takes the eponymous role in this revisit to Rodgers and Hart’s fabled musical, co-directed by tap dance genius Savion Glover. American songbook classics  like“ Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “This Can’t Be Love” and “The Lady Is a Tramp,” make for another great Broadway musical production down by the Wharf. Tickets at http://www.arenastage.org.

NOTHING UP MY SLEEVE

Round House Theatre

Through March 15

Fans of illusionist Dendy and playwright/director Aaron Posner’s previous collaboration The Tempest will be happy to see the daunting duo pull back the curtain on the history of magic and Dendy’s own journey to the land of make-them-believe. If you enjoy spellbinding prestidigitation, you will, too.  Tickets at http://www.roundhousetheatrre.org

ON BECKETT

Shakespeare Theatre Company

Through March 15

Tony Award-winning actor and master clown Bill Irwin, a funny hat and a podium is all it takes to mine the comedy and tragedy of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s iconic work. If you’re a fan of Waiting for Godot (or even understand it), you’ll enjoy this nonstop display of jovial verbal and physical comedy that has become Irwin’s signature and Nobel Prize winner Beckett’s gift to the theater. Tickets at http://www.shakespearetheatrecompany.org.

FRECKLEFACE STRAWBERRY THE MUSICAL

Adventure MTC

Through  March 29

The eponymous Freckleface learns that everyone is different and that’s what makes us special in this brand new musical based on the best-selling book by actress Julianne Moore. Ms. Strawberry will do anything to get rid of her freckles – from scrubbing them with soap to wearing a ski mask to school. With the help of an talented ballerina, cute jock, charming ditz and kooky teacher, Freckleface and her family learn an important life lesson. Tickets at www.adventuretheatre-mtc.org.

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED

Signature Theatre

March 3 – April 12

Curious about a classified ad inviting readers to go back in time– “bring your own weapons; you’ll get paid after we get back”—journalist Darius sets out to find its author. When she agrees to take the writer up on his offer, Darius finds herself in way over her head on a time-traveling odyssey. Indie-rocker Ryan Miller of Guster fame joins actor/playwright Nick Blaemire to craft this new musical based on the hit movie. Tickets at www.sigtheatre.org

AS YOU LIKE IT

Folger Theatre

March 10 – April 12

Folger Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels envisioned this new production of one of the Bard’s most beloved comedies. When Rosalind and her cousin Celia are forced to leave town for   adventure in the forest of Arden (or is that Rock Creek Park?), the madness of love and some unpredictable predicaments ensue. A love note to DC’s reliance and inclusiveness, it’s all here, just as you like it, along with Shakespeare’s famous Seven Ages of Man.  Tickets at www.folger.edu.

JONAH

Studio Theatre

March 11- April 19

Ana is on her own, a scholarship student at a boarding school, until she meets day-student Jonah. What begins as an exploration of new and joyful desire shifts into more complex negotiations of intimacy and survival, covering decades in one woman’s life. A story of rage, resilience, and the radical possibilities of trust, playwright Rachel Bonds returns to the Studio for this DC premier. Tickets at http://www.studiotheatre.org

1776

Ford’s Theatre

March 13 – May 16

Just in time for the country’s 250^th, this musical is an insightful, often humorous take on our founding fathers’ determination to do the right thing for their fledgling nation. As members of the Second Continental Congress struggle to reach consensus, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson debate the issues that will define our country.  Who knew that the composer of “Johnny Get Angry” would win the Tony® Award for Best Musical with this Broadway hit?  Tickets at http://www.fords.org

HAMNET

Shakespeare Theatre Company

March 17- April 12

The esteemed Royal Shakespeare Company visits the DMV with this stage adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel about parent Will and Agnes Shakespeare whose eleven year old  son is taken by the plague. “Life of Pi” playwright Lolita Chakrabarti crafted this moving tale of love and loss, proving that out of great suffering, wonder can emerge. Tickets at www.shakespearetheatrecompany.org

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

National Theatre

March 18- April 5

Be their guest at this beloved Tony® Award winning musical, the show that brought Disney to Broadway. A wonderful score by Alan Menken and smart yet lush, romantic lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice—Tim finishing Howard’s work after the former passed far too young—makes this the family musical the kids will love and mom will swoon over.  You can’t beat that combo, Dad. Tickets at http://www.broadwayatthenational.com

CAT KID COMIC CLUB… THE MUSICAL

Imagination Stage

March 21-22

Theatreworks/USA pays a visit to Bethesda with their madcap musical adapted from “Dog Man” creator Dav Pilkey’s spin-off series. It seems Cat Kid and Molly Pollywog have taken on twenty-one rambunctious baby frogs, hoping to mold them into comic book writers. Their fishy father Flippy is overjoyed until the baby frogs’ outrageous imaginations send them comically off the rails. They’re amphibians–what could go wrong? Tickets at http://www.imaginationstage.org

TRAVESTY

Woolly Mammoth

March 24- April 12

Actor, theater maker, drag queen Sasha Velour takes us on a one-person journey through secret queer history, one spot at a time. We meet a witch burning in a field, a clown building a theater, and an underground gay bar rising up against the police as Velour channels each character through the cycle of existence, resistance, and camp that IS drag. Counting on lip synching, too. Tickets at http://www.woollymammoth.net

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER

Little Theatre of Alexandria

March 28- April 18

The 1967 romantic comedy, directed by Stanley Kramer, gets the Little Theatre treatment. When an Upper East Side affluent (need I say “white”?) family welcomes daughter’s new boyfriend, social constraints and unearthed prejudices rock an otherwise predictable dinner party. Sidney Poitier played the bf in the movie, which coincidentally came out the same year the Supreme Court decided Loving v Virginia, striking down our anti-miscegenation laws.  Tickets at http://www.thelittletheatre.com

About the Author: Mark Edelman is a playwright who loves writing about theater. He is a lifetime member of the Broadway League and a Tony® voter. Catch his monthly podcast at http://www.onstagedmv.org.

Photo credits: Beauty and the Beast  and Chez Joey by Matthew Murphy;  Hamnet by  Kyle Flubacker;  Freckleface Strawberry… by Cameron Whitman; Nothing Up My Sleeve  by Margot Schulman