Boeing-Boeing
Broadway has traditionally been unfriendly to farce, but with director Matthew Warchus’ new, pure-genius revival of Boeing-Boeing transferred from the West End, a sea change in attitude is in order. The subtitle—“a nonstop comedy”—may be a bit misleading, but the play is a caterwauling scream of insanity. I wish it a first-class, smooth flight. (Leonard Jacobs)
Open run. Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave.), 212-239-6200; $26.50-$99.50.
Brits Off Broadway
The festival presents some of the U.K.’s most innovative and provocative theater. Mike Bartlett’s Artefacts follows a young woman who discovers her long-lost father is Iraqi and then navigates the conflict of cultures. It's a must-see. (Jerry Portwood)
Artefacts through June 8. Program through June 29. 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St. (betw. Park & Madison Aves.), 212-279-4200: $27.50-$50. visit www.britsoffbroadway.com for complete schedule.
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 (aka the Baltimore baddies) 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, and 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.
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.
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.
Port Authority
Conor McPherson’s new play has three generations of Irishmen—Kevin, Dermot and Joe—set in contemporary Dublin. As with the playwright’s other work (The Seafarer, The Weir, Shining City), it’s a depressing and deeply funny dissection of the common man’s plight.
Through June 22. Atlantic Theater Company, 336 W. 20th St. (); 212-279-4200; Tue.-Fri. 8; Sat. 2 & 8; Sun. 3, $55.
Reasons to be Pretty
Neil LaBute writes a “coming of age” story in which a young man comments about a coworker’s pretty face and how it doesn’t measure up to his girlfriends’—repercussions ensue. LaBute’s talent for everyday language is on display as well as his skill at crafting incredible streams of curse words.
Through July 5. Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher St. (betw. Hudson & Bleecker Sts.), 212-279-4200; Tues. & Wed. 7; Thurs.-Sat. 8; Sat. 2; Sun. 3, $59.
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.
Top Girls
Manhattan Theatre Club’s choice to revive Churchill’s feminist play, which ran at the Public back in 1982, is still a surprise—and maybe that’s why the production is both solid and sluggish. After all, MTC is known for hewing to domestic dramas like barnacles to a boat, whereas Churchill’s work generally—and Act 1 of Top Girls in particular—spurns naturalism like a discarded lover. (LJ)
Through June 22. Biltmore Theatre, 261 W. 47th St. 212-239-6200; $46.50-$91.50.
Broadway has traditionally been unfriendly to farce, but with director Matthew Warchus’ new, pure-genius revival of Boeing-Boeing transferred from the West End, a sea change in attitude is in order. The subtitle—“a nonstop comedy”—may be a bit misleading, but the play is a caterwauling scream of insanity. I wish it a first-class, smooth flight. (Leonard Jacobs)
Open run. Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave.), 212-239-6200; $26.50-$99.50.
Brits Off Broadway
The festival presents some of the U.K.’s most innovative and provocative theater. Mike Bartlett’s Artefacts follows a young woman who discovers her long-lost father is Iraqi and then navigates the conflict of cultures. It's a must-see. (Jerry Portwood)
Artefacts through June 8. Program through June 29. 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St. (betw. Park & Madison Aves.), 212-279-4200: $27.50-$50. visit www.britsoffbroadway.com for complete schedule.
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 (aka the Baltimore baddies) 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, and 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.
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.
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.
Port Authority
Conor McPherson’s new play has three generations of Irishmen—Kevin, Dermot and Joe—set in contemporary Dublin. As with the playwright’s other work (The Seafarer, The Weir, Shining City), it’s a depressing and deeply funny dissection of the common man’s plight.
Through June 22. Atlantic Theater Company, 336 W. 20th St. (); 212-279-4200; Tue.-Fri. 8; Sat. 2 & 8; Sun. 3, $55.
Reasons to be Pretty
Neil LaBute writes a “coming of age” story in which a young man comments about a coworker’s pretty face and how it doesn’t measure up to his girlfriends’—repercussions ensue. LaBute’s talent for everyday language is on display as well as his skill at crafting incredible streams of curse words.
Through July 5. Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher St. (betw. Hudson & Bleecker Sts.), 212-279-4200; Tues. & Wed. 7; Thurs.-Sat. 8; Sat. 2; Sun. 3, $59.
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.
Top Girls
Manhattan Theatre Club’s choice to revive Churchill’s feminist play, which ran at the Public back in 1982, is still a surprise—and maybe that’s why the production is both solid and sluggish. After all, MTC is known for hewing to domestic dramas like barnacles to a boat, whereas Churchill’s work generally—and Act 1 of Top Girls in particular—spurns naturalism like a discarded lover. (LJ)
Through June 22. Biltmore Theatre, 261 W. 47th St. 212-239-6200; $46.50-$91.50.
