Robert Dubac, the Deborah Tannen of the theater crowd, is back in town with Male Intellect: The 2nd Coming, the second in his trilogy of monologues about men, women and life. The show plays through July 13 at the Lyceum Theatre under the auspices of Miracle Theatre Productions.

The new show uses the conceit of the first installment: two sides of the stage represent the left and right brain, left being logic, order, thought; and right, emotion and creativity. Still in use is the blackboard explaining key concepts of the male psyche, the main one being that most of the things women hate about men can be explained by the phrase “has a penis.”

The first acts returns to the original question: What do women want? Dubac maintains that much of the problem lies in communication styles and women’s overwhelming need to verbalize, leading to many genuinely funny lines about the communication gap.

“Know why we don’t talk?” he asks. “We got nothin’ to say. You want us to talk? That means we gotta make crap up.” A typical male conversation, he says, consists of “a bunch of dangling participles in search of a verb.”

Dubac also brings back the multiple characters of the first show. Bobby, the narrator, occasionally gives way to Bobbi, his feminine side. Also along for the ride is the kind of man most women don’t want: The Colonel, a pig-headed s.o.b. who holds no truck with Bobbi. Then there’s academic Phillip Pomeroy, who hides his chauvinism behind smooth talk and big words.

Bobby notices that when he listens to his feminine side, balance is achieved, and suddenly he can hear the Voice of Reason offering him the opportunity to pass through the door of truth.

In the second act, Dubac moves into new and more serious territory, taking on the nature of truth and illusion regarding those four impolite topics: politics, religion, sex and race. The focus shifts from individual to society and how easy it is in a consumerist society for propaganda (repeated enough times) to seem like truth.

It’s not as heavy as it sounds; Dubac is a keen observer and keeps the comments coming in rapid-fire fashion (sometimes a little too rapidly), and we’re left with both a lot of laughs and food for thought.

Robert Dubac’s Male Intellect: The 2nd Coming plays through July 13 at the Lyceum Theatre. Shows Wednesday through Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 5 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 5 p.m. For tickets call 619-544-1000 or visit www.miracleproductions.com.

Cast your mind back to those halcyon days of bobby-soxers and poodle skirts, Ed Sullivan, LPs, and that kid from Tupelo with the smoldering looks and swivelly hips. You remember – the one who made the girls swoon and got himself drafted in 1957, at the height of his musical career?

Then get yourself out to the El Cajon Performing Arts Center for that blast from the past, Bye Bye Birdie, presented by San Diego Musical Theatre through June 29. Dan Mojica directs and serves as choreographer.

Bye Bye Birdie, winner of four Tonys (including best musical) in 1961, is about down-home teen idol Conrad Birdie (James Royce Edwards), who gives up the screaming adulation of his female fans (for two years, anyway) when he is drafted into the U.S. Army.

The thin plot centers around Birdie (a sort of cross between Conway Twitty and Elvis Presley) and his agent’s arrangements for his final appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” which will include “One Last Kiss” to be bestowed on a randomly-selected member of Birdie’s fan club. Needless to say, the appearance (on live TV) goes a bit awry, but this is an old-fashioned musical and everything works out in the end.

Kudos to Chris Beyries for his versatile set, to Mojica for fine direction and the energetic period choreography, to the fine band in the pit, and to the excellent cast: Paul Clausen as talent agent Albert Peterson; Natalie Nucci as Albert’s secretary and on-again, off-again girlfriend Rosie Alvarez (whose dance seduction of a whole group of Shriners is a hoot); Jill Townsend as Kim MacAfee, the lucky fan slated to receive the final kiss; Edwards, convincing in his gold lamé outfit; and Lana Hartwell, who plays Albert’s domineering mother Mae Peterson with gusto.

In September, San Diego Musical Theatre moves to its new home, the Lyceum in Downtown San Diego, for its final performance of the season, Dreamgirls. Meanwhile, ECPAC hosts Bye Bye Birdie through this weekend.

Bye Bye Birdie plays through June 29 at El Cajon Performing Arts Center. Shows Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. For tickets call 858-560-5740 or visit www.sdmt.org.

Three generations of a Cuban refugee family are thrown into a tizzy by a small dog in the world premiere of Melinda Lopez’s Alexandros, running through June 29 at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach. North Coast Rep’s David Ellenstein directs.

There’s a little witchcraft, a misunderstood teen, a handsome gardener, that silly dog and even a revelation of homosexuality in this contrived family comedy that plays like a TV sitcom. Lopez has even tossed in Nixon’s resignation speech, presumably to set the time.

Maria Cellario plays the stereotypical abuela, whose children Maritza (Saundra Santiago) and Tio (Chaz Mena) converge at abuela’s airy Miami digs for her 75th birthday. Also in tow is Maritza’s glum 15-year-old daughter Marty (Lucille Ball’s granddaughter Katharine Luckinbill), a pianist studying what her mom calls “those Germans Mozart and Chopin” at a conservatory in Texas, where Maritza has moved to get away from her mother. The unsmiling Marty is either terribly shy or hugely embarrassed to be part of this voluble family.

Two-time loser in love Maritza has her eye on abuela’s handsome blond gardener Eric (Kevin Symons), unaware that Tio has dibs.

Most of abuela’s attention these days centers on the dog Alexandros (played here by a stuffed toy), whose “disappearance” (though all but abuela and Eric know where he is) throws the household into an artificial farce-like dither as they rush out in the rain to “search for” him.

Alexandros boasts a terrific set by North Coast Rep’s resident wizard Marty Burnett, all tile and windows and bright colors. But in the end, it comes down to five fine actors in search of a script, gamely trying to breathe life into a piece in which the tacks holding the plot together are both visible and loose.

Alexandros plays through June 29 at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach. Shows Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets call 949-497-2787 or visit www. lagunaplayhouse.com.