By Staff

Previews/Openings

Beebo Brinker Chronicles
Beth and Laura were secret lovers in college, but they split up when Beth decided to commit to a boyfriend. Laura headed to New York, where she met the fearless Beebo Brinker. But Beth and Laura still have feelings for each other. Based on the groundbreaking lesbian pulp fiction of Ann Bannon, this play tells the story of four friends as they navigate the restrictions of 1950s society and the freedoms of Greenwich Village’s underground bars and clubs. Opens March 5, 37 Arts, 450 W. 37th St. (betw 9th & 10th Aves.), 212-307-4100; $46.25-$76.25.

Liberty City
Along with Jessica Blank, playwright and sole cast member April Yvette Thompson drew from her imagination and from the history of this neighborhood in Miami where she grew up as the daughter of a Cuban and Bahamian father and African-American mother. The 1960s optimism and radicalism of her parents came in conflict with grim realities when riots broke out in 1980 after five white police officers were acquitted in the trial of a black motorist who was beaten to death. Previews through March 2. Runs March 4-16. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th St. (betw. Bowery & 2nd Ave.), 212-239-6200; $20, $45.

Lower Ninth
A devastating hurricane puts some things into sharp focus: who your friends are, where your home is and how close death always is. This makes it a good setting for a play—like Beau Willimon’s, in which two men stranded on a roof must battle heat, hunger and inner demons. Friday Night Lights’ Gaius Charles, NYPD Blue’s James McDaniel and The Wire’s Gbenga Akkinagbe are the stars.
Opens Feb. 28. Runs through April 5. The Flea Theater, 41 White St. (betw. Church St. & Broadway), 212-352-3101; $40-$45.

No Strangers Here Today
“No strangers here today” are the words of Quaker farmwoman Elizabeth Edwards, who filled her diary with coded allusions to the Underground Railroad. Edwards’s great-great granddaughter Susan Banyas and jazz composer David Ornette Cherry teamed up to create a movement based monologue with live music. Feb. 29-Mar. 2. La MaMa E.T.C., 74A E. 4th St. (betw. Bowery & 2nd Ave.), 212-475-7710; $15.

Ongoing

Betrayed: The Iraqis Who Loved America Too Much
For George Packer’s Betrayed, Pippin Parker stages the play like a chess game in which any pawn may be beheaded at any moment—this approach delivering an astonishing emotional intensity. Betrayed is more than a morality play about well-educated, democracy-enamored Iraqis and the politicians and diplomats living bubble-like existences in the Green Zone: It’s also about our government’s betrayal of sense. (Leonard Jacobs) Through April 13. Culture Project, 55 Mercer St. (betw. Broome & Grand Sts.), 212-352-3101; $25-$60.

Come Back, Little Sheba
Director Michael Pressman’s production, the first on Broadway since the 1950 original, doesn’t liberate William Inge’s play from the ranks of period pieces. But its heart-stirring images deliver a suffocating intensity, and actress S. Epatha Merkerson’s performance as Lola is a beautifully textured creation. (LJ) Open run. Biltmore Theatre, 247 W. 47th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave.), 212-239-6200; $46.50-91.50.

In the Heights
This musical was born during Lin-Manuel Miranda’s sophomore year at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, when he broke box-office records at the university’s theater with this musical inspired by the people and music of his childhood in northern Manhattan. Nine years later, hip-hop freestyling, salsa, and merengue meet Broadway.  Open run. Richard Rodgers Theatre (betw. 8th & Broadway), 212-307-4100; $20-$110.

Looking Up
The idea of combining theater with trapeze—as playwright and actress Carla Cantrelle attempts to do in Looking Up—sounded intriguing. But for the most part, the trapeze was used literally, like any other prop, and the story line fell flat. In the final scene, the main character emphasizes that happy endings do exist. And they do. But in order to appreciate them, there must be tension and uncertainty, two things this play lacks. (Jenny Fisher) Through March 2. Theater for the New City, 155 1st Ave. (betw. 9th & 10th Sts.); 212-352-3101; Thurs.-Sat. 8; Sun. 2, $10-$18.

Macbeth
Director Rupert Goold is on to something, setting the play in a totalitarian Stalinist state at the height of the Cold War, mostly in and around an industrial kitchen. From the mimed ladling out of soup to the pouring of wine, from the emergence of an oversized chocolate cake to Patrick Stewart meticulously preparing and wolfing down a sandwich as the grim Thane of Cawdor, this is the most indulgently epicurean Scottish play we’re likely to see. This Macbeth is innovative and mesmerizing, but ultimately, it tickles the brain far more than it touches the heart. (LJ) Through March 22. BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St., B’klyn, (betw. Rockland Pl. & Ashland Pl.), 718-636-4182; $30-$90 [SOLD OUT].

November
Nathan Lane stars as a lame-duck president in David Mamet’s first new work on Broadway in 20 years. The playwright who made his reputation painting hucksters and hustlers as inexorably human fatally errs this time: November packs only the firepower to nick the skin, not to assassinate. Mamet has stated that the play isn’t about George W. Bush, but shouldn’t satire sear? Why does this one itch? (LJ) Open run. Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave.), 212-239-6200; $46.50-$99.50.

Open House
Coming soon to a living room near you: Brooklyn playwright Aaron Landsman’s fourth site-specific production will be staged on 24 different people’s couches. The play interweaves the story of a real estate agent and his sales pitch with the story of a young couple trying to start a family and sustain a relationship in a city where everything is in flux.  Through March 16. Various locations, 866-811-4111; $15.

The 39 Steps
It’s raison d’être is, at first blush, delicious: A send-up of Alfred Hitchcock’s oeuvre as seen through the lens of one of his great early films from 1935, all in the name of turning Hitch’s horror-loving sensibility on its head. The hoary plot is tailor-made for a lot of goofy spoofing, especially with two actors—Arnie Burton and Cliff Saunders—playing dozens of subsidiary roles. But no matter how much laughter one derives from The 39 Steps, there’s no denying it overflows with comic shtick we’ve seen countless times before. (LJ) Through Mar. 23. American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St. (betw. 7th & 8th Aves.), 212-719-1300; $51.25-$96.25.

The Jazz Age
Playwright Allan Knee takes on the realm of literary creators again—this time it’s heavyweights F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Sayre and Ernest Hemingway. Knee was inspired by A Moveable Feast, Hemingway’s account of his life in 1920s Paris. Expect passion, jealousy and betrayal. Through Mar. 2. 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St. (betw. Park & Madison Aves), 212-279-4200; $35.