By Staff

The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Hipgnosis Theatre Company revives Bertolt Brecht’s parable about a young servant girl who raises a noblewoman’s son, only to have him snatched from her. The multi-ethnic cast of talented male and female actors cleverly highlight issues of wealth, class and property, but it’s John Kevin Jones as the wily Azdak who steals the show with his spot-on comic timing and characterization as the “corrupt” judge who supports the poor over the rich. (Jerry Portwood)
Through May 11. Theatres at 45 Bleecker, 45 Bleecker St. (at Lafayette), 212-239-6200; Wed.-Sun. 7; additional performance Sun. May 10 at 2, $18.

Cherry Docs
David Gow’s play about a neo-Nazi skinhead and the Jewish lawyer assigned to defend him is an emotional tour de force as the two both battle with their beliefs and responsibility for their actions. Although sympathy is created for the skinhead, Gow is never overindulgent and doesn’t forgive him outright, leaving the resolution ambiguous but ultimately forwarding a lesson of love, not tolerance. (JP)
Through May 18. WorkShop Theater, 312 W. 36th St., 4th floor (betw. 8th & 9th Aves.), 212-352-3101; Wed.-Sat. 8; Sun. 2, $11.

Cry-Baby
The latest John Waters film-to-stage adaptation feels like Bye-Bye Birdie with tongue or, perhaps, a really well-lubed Grease patch too slippery to rip off. The Squares and the Drapes  face off after their leader, bad boy Cry-Baby, woos good-girl Allison. The male dancers show enough braggadocio and skin to keep most everyone enthusiastic through their strenuously sexy choreography. The pastiche of 50s-style songs and costumes can’t help but feel derivative—without enough of that John Waters naughty kitsch. But since it will remind so many of a naughty, naughty high school musical with a hottie, hottie cast, it is sure to please quite a few visitors looking for (only somewhat) racy entertainment. (JP)
Open run. Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway (third floor of Marriot Marquis Hotel), 212-307-4100; $35-$120.

The Four of Us
A narrative about envy between two seemingly tight friends—novelist Benjamin and playwright David—the play is loosely based on a friendship between the playwright Itamar Moses and Jonathan Safran Foer. The dynamic is illuminating at times but doesn’t go far enough in its analysis of the arch-nemesis status between the two.
Through May 11. New York City Center Stage II, 131 W. 55th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.), 212-581-1212; Tues.-Sat. 7:30; Wed., Sat. & Sun. 2:30, $50.

Gypsy
Patti LuPone is the greatest living performer in the American musical theater. And in the Broadway revival of Gypsy, I feel LuPone has synthesized what was salient (or said to be) about the famous performer’s interpretations of the titular character: Merman’s brass tacks and bombast; Lansbury’s vulnerability; Daly’s cool ambisexuality; Peters’ sensuousness. In addition to an airtight production by book writer Arthur Laurents—and once again being delighted by Jerome Robbins’ original choreography—Gypsy is LuPone’s purest triumph. (LJ)
Open run. St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave.), 212-239-6200; $42-$117.

The Hey You Monster
Derek Ahonen’s two-part, two-play dissection of the modern American family includes Pokin’ the Bears in a Zoo, about a Queens family trying to survive emotional confusion after the murder of their matriarch and Bring Us the Head of Your Daughter, about a lesbian couple and their daughter who cannibalizing the housewives of America (literally). The dysfunctional, abusive families are also centers of tenderness, support and unconditional love, ultimately questioning whether we’re worse off because of our biological burdens or the better for it. (JP)
Through May 31. Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond St. (near Bowery), 212-868-4444, in repertory Mon.-Sun., $18.

In the Heights
Set in Washington Heights, the play focuses on local bodega owner Usnavi (Miranda), who loves saucy Vanessa (played by the fetching Karen Olivo) even as his young, streetwise cousin Sonny (a crackling Robin de Jesús) woos her with lame teenage moves. Running perpendicular to this comic tale is the story Usnavi’s beloved abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz, better than ever), the show’s emotional anchor. Her big number, “Paciencia y Fe” (“Patience and Faith”) is Miranda’s best work, a resonant anthem of longing and hope for all new American arrivals, Latino or not. (LJ)
Open run. Richard Rodgers Theatre (betw. 8th & Broadway), 212-307-4100; $20-$110.

Passing Strange
A rock ’n’ roll/cabaret/theater hybrid, this play is one of the most experimental pieces to come to Broadway in some time. Stew narrates a story of a black teenager who leaves his family in L.A. to travel to Amsterdam and Berlin for sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. The sort of music you’d expect in a bar, not on the stage, drives the narrative until the ultimate, poignant conclusion. (JP)
Open run. Belasco Theatre, 111 44th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.), 212-239-6200; $26.50-$111.50.

Sunday in the Park with George
The current production of Sondheim’s play about George Seurat is just as rousing as the original; the music, lyrics and book are still impressive. The most obvious difference is director Sam Buntrock’s imaginative use of animation. Instead of cutouts and fly-ins, as in the original production, the stage is now a blank, white canvas on which digital projections of drawings and the famous A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte appear. It transforms a second act that I never much cared for into something relevant and real—at last. (JP)
Through June 15. Studio 54, 254 W 54th St, (betw. 7th and 8th Aves.), 212-719-1300; $36.25-$121.25.

Thurgood
George Stevens Jr.’s biographical melodrama isn’t much of a play, but that doesn’t mean it lacks drama. It’s more of a history lesson, a majestic and commanding set piece for Laurence Fishburne to reincarnate the spirit and physicality of the late and legendary Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall. Fishburne transcends all of Thurgood’s textual deficiencies with apparent ease. From his first entrance—leaning on a cane, shuffling on—to the character’s head-held-high exit 90 minutes later, we’re firmly in the palm of his hands all the way through. (LJ)
Through July 20. Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave.), 212-239-6200; $71.50-$96.50.

The Walworth Farce
Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce is well worth your time. Produced by the acclaimed Irish company Druid, it’s a superb example of how to grip a creaky genre by the lapels and massage it until it resembles one so different, so transformed, it can only be characterized as the opposite of the one you started with. In this case, Walsh turns farce—a mechanical, wildly entertaining dramatic vehicle—into an engrossing family drama. Under Mikel Murfi’s masterful staging, there’s enough bloodshed for even the most fervent fans of Martin McDonough’s plays to leave with fiendish, satisfied grins. (LJ)
Through May 4. St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St., Brooklyn; 718-254-8779; $37.50-$47.50.