Madness in the theatre scene as close to a dozen new shows open both this week and next week. They all sound quite good and varied. Here are a few from this week to get the ball rolling.

Elegies: A Song Cycle - by Acting Up Stage Theatre Company. Running to March 3, 2007 at the Berkeley Street Upstairs Theatre in Toronto. How do we deal with loss in a post 9/11 world? Through the 18 stories told onstage, Tony Award winner William Finn pays tribute to relatives and friends, long-lost pets, and the victims of 9/11, celebrating those who have passed on. Often hilarious, always touching, and very poignant, Elegies takes us on a musical journey that explores the modern world that we live in, and life's infinite joys.

John And Beatrice - by Carole Fr&eacutechette . Runs to Mar 24, at theTarragon Theatre. We've all grown up believing in fairy tales, but people don't usually go as far as Beatrice in Carole FrĂŠchette's modern romance John & Beatrice. A play about the difficulty of connection and the meaning of love.

The Sheep and the Whale - by Ahmed Ghazali (Cahoots Theatre Projects/Modern Times Stage Co). Runs to Mar 11 at Theatre Passe Murraille.Set on a cargo freighter in the Strait of Gibraltar, The Sheep and the Whale examines the complexities of both individual identity and social relationships, navigating the chasm between North and South. The Sheep and the Whale may take place in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar but it could just as easily be about Chinese-Canadians trying to get into Vancouver, or Cubans trying to make it to Florida. This is everybody's story, and the question that it explores, above all else, is how do you live in the in-between?