The holiday season goes into overtime with George M. Cohan’s “Give My Regards to Broadway” at Gig Harbor’s Encore Theater.



The story is fairly straightforward for this Broadway classic. Theater director Dick Foster and pianist Eddie Cowles find themselves rehearsing the finale of their new show, “Give My Regards to Broadway,” and costs are mounting.



Bills are coming in, but the check to pay those bills has yet to arrive. And the calendar moves forward.



Foster, however, is sure that when he signs the famous Mona Monroe he will have the backing he needs and all of those bills will be paid. That’s the hope anyway, but in walks Mary Collins, a starlet from New Rochelle looking for a job. She lands a gig when a chorus girl falls ill, creating an empty spot in the line.



The plot continues to thicken as a mobster finds himself at the theater while he seeks a place to hide from the mob after he was caught taking bets without giving his buddies a slice of the action. And, of course, no mobster would be complete without a bombshell girlfriend named Trixie. She comes along and convinces him to hide out as a theater tagalong just as the pursuing thugs arrive at the scene.



Flash forward a week and producer Donald arrives with a $100,000 check in hand. All seems well only to fall apart and then resolve itself by the time the curtain falls for the last time.

The show is far from a deep dramatic work, but it is still the holiday season. Deep thoughts aren’t required.



[Encore! Theater, through Jan., 27, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $8-$15, 6615  38th Ave. N.W., Gig Harbor, www.encoretheater.org]

“Jersey Boys”

For a show with a bit more punch, Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre is staging “Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons” through next week.



This Broadway hit is on tour through the nation and portrays the story of early days of Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. This is the story of how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide — all before they were 30. The show features their hit songs including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Rag Doll,” “Oh, What a Night” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”



The show is making its Northwest premiere. The four-time Tony winning show is being directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Des McAnuff. “Jersey Boys” remains one of the top-grossing shows in New York since opening in November 2005. It’s a show that gets toes tapping even if they aren’t connected to a person who particularly likes early rock ‘n’ roll.



[5th Avenue Theatre, through Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, $28-$88, 1308 Fifth Ave., Seattle, 206.625.1900, www.5thavenue.org]