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 April 29 at 7, Sun. May 10 at 2, $18.
Come Back, Little Sheba
Director Michael Pressman’s production, the play’s first appearance 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.
Fire Island
3-Legged Dog’s production of Charles Mee’s latest fractured narrative, for all of its flimsiness and faults, has the virtue of being the kind of play in which you never feel like you’ll miss something crucial if you have to answer nature’s call. Mee’s patchwork of vignettes—largely a meditation on the vagaries of heterosexual love on a spit of land world-famous for its historic relationship to the gay community—is as blissfully unstructured as a Sunday in July.
Through May 3. 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich St. (below Rector St.), 212-352-3101; $30.
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.
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.
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.
The Sound and the Fury
Elevator Repair Service takes on the ambtious task of presenting Part 1 of Faulkner’s famous work told from the point of view of Benjy Compson, the 33-year-old disabled narrator who can’t tell the difference between past and present.
Through May 18. NY Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th St. (betw. Bowery & Second Ave.), 212-460-5475; Tues. 7; Wed.-Sat. 8; Sun. 2 & 7, $20-$55.
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.
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.
Through May 4. St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St., Brooklyn; 718-254-8779; $37.50-$47.50.
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 April 29 at 7, Sun. May 10 at 2, $18.
Come Back, Little Sheba
Director Michael Pressman’s production, the play’s first appearance 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.
Fire Island
3-Legged Dog’s production of Charles Mee’s latest fractured narrative, for all of its flimsiness and faults, has the virtue of being the kind of play in which you never feel like you’ll miss something crucial if you have to answer nature’s call. Mee’s patchwork of vignettes—largely a meditation on the vagaries of heterosexual love on a spit of land world-famous for its historic relationship to the gay community—is as blissfully unstructured as a Sunday in July.
Through May 3. 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich St. (below Rector St.), 212-352-3101; $30.
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.
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.
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.
The Sound and the Fury
Elevator Repair Service takes on the ambtious task of presenting Part 1 of Faulkner’s famous work told from the point of view of Benjy Compson, the 33-year-old disabled narrator who can’t tell the difference between past and present.
Through May 18. NY Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th St. (betw. Bowery & Second Ave.), 212-460-5475; Tues. 7; Wed.-Sat. 8; Sun. 2 & 7, $20-$55.
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.
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.
Through May 4. St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St., Brooklyn; 718-254-8779; $37.50-$47.50.
