Signature Theatre’s season opener Dirty Blonde finds its inspiration in the original bawdy bad girl of blondes, Mae West. She was a girl with curves who knew that sex could put people in the seats and a star on her dressing-room door. But like Madonna and Harlow and so many of the rest, Mae West was not always Mae West. Claudia Shear’s “play with music” explores that transformation story in a play about the people we find when we look beneath the surface. Dirty Blonde has the simplicity and tone of a one-person show brought into being by the kind of well-connected ensemble we’d love to see more often. Shear’s storytelling moves us seamlessly back and forth in time. Emily Skinner is outstanding in her dual role as both West and Jo, a devoted fan. She avoids becoming either slavish impersonator or vamping drag queen. Her youthful West is brash and bold, the woman who became as famous for her smart mouth as for her burlesque-show shimmy. Through Oct. 4. Signature’s Ark Theater, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets $47 to $71. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.signature-theatre.org. (Tom Avila)

Read Tom Avila's full review here.