This week in theatre rounds up the most noteworthy live theatre playing right now in Toronto. It includes just-opened shows as well as productions that are about to close.

Les Misérables / Mirvish - Princess of Wales Theatre / 7:30pm/1:30pm / $35-$100+
The big musical this fall is Cameron Mackintosh's re-envisioning of the smash-hit Les Misérables, which served as the inspiration for Tom Hooper's 2012 film adaptation. The production was reworked in 2010 on the occasion of its 25th anniversary to include scenery influenced by Hugo's paintings. A predominantly Canadian cast portrays the peasants of France who rise up during the revolution and display the strength of the human spirit.

Venus in Fur / Canadian Stage - Bluma Appel / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $24-$79
Jennifer Tarver directs the Tony-Award nominated Venus in Fur, which stars Rick Miller and Carly Street. When casting begins for a new play based on the erotic novel Venus in Furs, from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, a young actress gets so invested in the part that she begins a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the show's director. The play contains allusions to classical art and mythology making this a complex, layered look at sexual dynamics.

La Bohème / COC - Four Seasons / 7:30pm/2:00pm / $54-$100+
Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème opens on Christmas Eve in Paris, the Latin Quarter to be exact, in the 1830s. What upfolds is an opera about love in the face of struggle and the youthful spirit of our tenacious bohemians. A brand new COC co-production with the Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera, the production is set to be the crowd-pleaser on the COC Fall calendar.

Tempo / Storefront Theatre / 8:00pm / $20
Tavistock Arts' Tempo chronicles a very real and very frightening fear, what would happen to us should the foundational elements of our life start to slip away? That's what's happening to Jim &mdash: the medication he sells is starting to cause blindness, his wife is distancing herself from him, his friends are becoming less and less, and now the company car has been taken away, an old Tempo is all he has to get by on. Michael Batistick's play considers who will suffer the consequences of Jim's struggles.

...And Stockings For The Ladies / Toronto Centre of the Arts / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $30-$64
A tribute to the Canadian war hero and RCAF squadron leader Ted Aplin, ...And Stockings for the Ladies documents the role of the Royal Air Force at Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp post-liberation. Alpin was bestowed the title "The Angel of Belsen" for his compassionate display of humanitarian aid at the infamous Nazi concentration camp. The play is written by Attila Clemann, directed Zach Fraser and performed by Brendan McMurtry-Howlett.

Photo of La Bohème by Chris Hutcheson