THEATER:New year, new local shows

The James Bond year (‘007) is here, along with a smattering of new stage productions produced by local theater groups.

The first has already arrived — a week-long touring production of the musical “Pippin,” mounted just after the new year arrived at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

On Saturday, South Coast Repertory checks in with what promises to be an interesting production — “Pig Farm” by Greg Kotis, who won a Tony a few seasons back for “Urinetown” (which has played two venues in Costa Mesa). The show runs through Jan. 28 on SCR’s Julianne Argyros Stage.

After a week of inactivity, two local stages will light up again the last week of January. These would be the Newport Theater Arts Center and Vanguard University.

Newport will be staging Donald Margulies’ “Sight Unseen,” which premiered at South Coast Repertory back in 1992. Art and its creation provide the subject matter for this drama, which will run from Jan. 26 through Feb. 25.

Vanguard, meanwhile, has something completely new and different waiting in the wings. It’s “Cleopatra’s Wake,” described as a family mystery and written by David McFazdean, whose “Oklahoma Rigs” was part of the past Vanguard season. The show plays for two weekends, through Feb. 4.

We haven’t seen “Annie” for some time now, and the performing arts center is ready to rectify this situation with a new touring production, scheduled to open Jan. 30. The musical, which celebrates the virtues of “Tomorrow,” will be on the Costa Mesa stage through Feb. 11.

South Coast Repertory will be back in the spotlight Feb. 9 with “Life is a Dream,” written by Spanish playwright Pedron Calderon de la Barca and translated by Nilo Cruz. The show will run through March 11 on the Segerstrom Stage.

Coming up in the last weekend of February, Vanguard will offer a unique double feature of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” and Christopher Durang’s satirical “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls.”

It’s two disparate views of the same subject matter, and it plays through March 4.

Also arriving that weekend will be Paul Zindel’s “The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild” at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse. This comedy about a woman caught up in the world of movies is scheduled to run through March 18.