E-Mail This Article to a Friend Way off Broadway Great theater excursions in New England BY DAVID VALDES GREENWOOD

While Broadway has its lures — fizzy new musicals, star-powered revivals of classics — theater-lovers in the know are more likely to turn to the Off Broadway scene for new work, cutting-edge reinterpretations of classics, and plays that are destined to become classics.

Fortunately for those who’d like a night of theater outside Boston without making the trek to Manhattan, New England has four professional regional theaters that offer all the artistic benefits of Off Broadway stages, with the bonus of closer proximity. And because Long Wharf Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, Portland Stage Company, and Hartford Stage are among the most respected theaters in the country, the flow of productions isn’t just one-way — sometimes work born on their stages ends up wowing New York later.

So why wait? Treat yourself to a dramatic evening getaway. You can leave work on time and still make curtain at any of these theaters. Or, for a more leisurely overnight excursion, leave the office an hour or two early and have dinner, then see a show and spend the night at a great hotel near the theater. Either way, the best of Off Broadway is closer than you think.

Providence, Rhode Island: Trinity Repertory Company

Trinity Rep scored a coup a decade ago when it snagged Oskar Eustis, then hot off producing the first stagings of Angels in America, to be its artistic director. Since then, Trinity has pulled off an excellent balancing act, taking its role as an important equity theater seriously, while also putting together popular, family-friendly fare.

It often beats other regional biggies to the punch, with the first New England stagings of plays like Pulitzer winner How I Learned To Drive and Obie winner Homebody/Kabul (both starring the phenomenal Anna Scurria), and pre–New York premieres such as Nickel and Dimed.

This season got off to a bang with The Long Christmas Ride Home, before its Off Broadway run. Coming up next, Hughie/A Pound on Demand, a pairing of Eugene O’Neill and Sean O’Casey one-acts, which will star film and stage vet Brian Dennehy. And late spring brings a relative rarity: a full professional production of West Side Story.

Where to eat: Providence has a diverse fine-dining scene, with metropolitan offerings like Empire and an estimable swath of Italian restaurants on Federal Hill. But none matches the influence of Al Forno. Johanne Killeen and George Germon’s food is deceptively simple in preparation and the ivy-covered restaurant is unpretentious in appearance, but Al Forno’s skill in packing flavor into each mouthful will make you a convert. Famed for wood-grilled pizzas, it also woos diners with indulgences like five-cheese baked pasta and grilled lamb with eggplant caviar.

Where to stay: With rooms and suites titled "Scarlett’s Retreat" and "Empire Room," Edgewood Manor Bed & Breakfast is all about elegance. The 99-year-old Greek Revival mansion is decorated in Victorian and Empire style, with leaded and stained-glass windows and period antiques. All the accommodations are sumptuous (with price tags to match, from $139 to $269 per night), but you can up the luxury quotient even more by booking a room with a fireplace or a whirlpool tub.

Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington Street, (401) 351-4242; Al Forno, 577 Main Street, (401) 273-9767; Edgewood Manor B&B, 232 Norwood Avenue, (401) 781-0099.

Portland, Maine: Portland Stage Company

The only professional regional theater in Northern New England, Portland Stage turns 30 this year. Each season blends contemporary plays, commissioned or premiered new works, and classical fare. And the company’s Little Festival of the Unexpected brings playwrights (including this writer) to the theater for a week of developmental work on new plays.

Recent seasons have been full of intellectually stimulating dramas, including Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen, and August Wilson’s Fences. This season has been full of variety, with the light and lively Lend Me a Tenor, which will be followed later this spring with a world premiere, Women and the Sea. Its authors, Shelley Berc and Anita Stewart, interviewed women across Maine for three years to yield this portrait of women connected to the ocean by work and love.

Where to eat: Better than Radius and Clio in Boston, or Arrows and White Barn Inn of Maine? That’s quite a boast, but Fore Street doesn’t make the claim itself — it can thank Gourmet magazine’s "Top 50 American Restaurants" list for that honor. Sam Hayward’s brick-and-wood temple to fresh ingredients blends a Chez Panisse–like dedication to local suppliers with a decidedly New England appreciation for seafood and hearty meat. The kitchen is on view to most of the diners, so you can watch New England’s best non-football team in action.

Where to stay: The Inn at St. John has a clearly Victorian exterior, which makes sense, given that it was built by a tycoon in 1897. Open ever since, it still exudes historic charm and a European-influenced flair that contemporary hotels can’t replicate. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be stuck in the past: your modern lifestyle is accommodated here with broadband Internet and cable access. And, remarkably, you don’t even have to abandon Fido for the night: pets are welcome. Rates from $50 to $170 per night.

Portland Stage Company, 25 Forest Avenue, (207) 774-0465; Fore Street, 288 Fore Street, (207) 775-2717; Inn at St. John, 939 Congress Street, (800) 636-9127.

New Haven, Connecticut: Long Wharf Theatre

When you cross the path of a gas station to get to the parking lot of a distressed-looking row of warehouses, nothing in view suggests that you’re approaching one of the premier regional theaters in the country. But then, halfway down the line of loading docks, you’ll see a shimmering freestanding marquee that glimmers, beacon-like, above the blue sign announcing the understated theater.

Two theaters await you, a main stage featuring the hits of Off Broadway and regional premieres, and a second stage ideal for inventive new work. Even the larger of the two theaters is intimate enough that there can be no truly bad seat in the house as you settle in for crisp, finely honed stagings of works like the recent Off Broadway sensation The Story and Gip Hoppe’s A New War.

In 37 years, Long Wharf has proven itself a force to be reckoned with. From its stages, seminal work has sprung, with its productions of American Buffalo and Wit going on to take New York by storm. This spring, a disparate pair of well-known plays will fill the stage: Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo’s We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!, followed by Hamlet. So whether you want to laugh or cry, Long Wharf has you covered.

Where to eat: Tapas has become such a sensation that the genre is creeping toward overdone, which often means underdone in terms of quality. Leave it to one of the nation’s top tapas chefs to push the forward edge. Luis Bollo’s Ibiza moves beyond traditional tapas to a contemporary Spanish aesthetic that weaves Basque influences and Nuevo Latino into potent creations. Baby squid in its own black ink or sweetbreads with braised cuttlefish — you won’t find these items just anywhere. As a result, Bollo has been called the nation’s best Spanish chef by the New York Times, and best chef overall by Esquire.

Where to stay: the historic Oyster Point section of New Haven on Long Island Sound is the setting for the picturesque Swan Cove Bed and Breakfast Inn. The Queen Anne house is fronted with white pillars and surrounded by sheltering trees, so you may feel a bit like you’ve wandered into a romance novel. (With rooms topping out at $325, you should.) Each guest room is uniquely decorated with Victorian touches and antiques, and afternoon tea in the inn’s French Suites only adds to the civilized air.

Long Wharf Theatre, 22 Sargent Drive, (203) 787-4282; Ibiza, 39 High Street, (203) 865-1933; Swan Cove Bed and Breakfast Inn, 115 Sea Street, (203) 776-3240.

Hartford, Connecticut: Hartford Stage

For 40 years, Hartford Stage has been producing what it describes as "serious theater that probes beneath the surface and reveals the meaning of events and often the motives of men." Its mandate has paid off, earning the theater a Tony, a New York Critics Circle Award, Dramatists Guild Award, and multiple Obies.

Fifty-plus world premieres by various artists — from Christopher Durang to Vladimir Nabokov — have graced its stages, and a number of them have translated to Broadway, including, most recently, Enchanted April and Fascinatin’ Rhythm. The last five years have also been a boom time for programming additions, including a Tennessee Williams Marathon, an annual production of A Christmas Carol, the Brand:NEW festival of new work, and Summer Stage.

After last year’s hits with Edward Albee’s Seascape and the Kate Mulgrew vehicle Tea at Five, Hartford has a powerhouse spring lined up: the reflecting-pool Ovid adaptation, Metamorphosis, and the long-awaited Pulitzer-winning Topdog/Underdog.

Where to eat: When Richard Rosenthal opened Max Downtown in 1996, he probably had no idea it would spawn an empire, which now includes Max a Mia, Max Amore, Max’s Oyster Bar, and Trumbull Kitchen. His restaurants are known for their buzzy atmosphere and excellent food; Rosenthal has been quoted as saying the key ingredient is "mojo." Or maybe it’s chutzpah — how else to explain mixing Pacific Rim–inspired dishes with steak-house favorites? Whatever you attribute its success to, Max Downtown is still a hot spot.

Where to stay: There’s something appealing about a hotel that promotes itself as having "poise without pretension." The Goodwin Hotel blends turn-of-the-century style with modern flair in its 124 rooms and suites. From tasteful to opulent (and running from under $100 to over $300 per night), your accommodations may include sleigh beds, marble baths, or sitting areas as big as your average hotel room. And the in-house fitness center will provide a place to work off the previous night’s meal.

Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, (860) 527-5151; Max Downtown at City Place, 185 Asylum Street, (860) 522-2530; Goodwin Hotel, 1 Haynes Street, (800) 922-5006.

David Valdes Greenwood can be reached at impersonalstuff@aol.com .