Theater Listings for April 18-24

Approximate running times are in parentheses. Theaters are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of current productions, additional listings, showtimes and ticket information are at nytimes.com/theater. A searchable, critical guide to theater is at nytimes.com/events.

Previews and Openings

‘Annapurna’ (in previews; opens on Monday) The married television stars Megan Mullally (“Will and Grace”) and Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”) play an estranged couple in the New Group’s production of Sharr White’s play. Mr. Offerman, who begins the show wearing an apron and little else, portrays an ailing “cowboy poet.” Ms. Mullally is the long-absent wife who returns to care for him. Bart DeLorenzo directs the reunion. Acorn Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, thenewgroup.org. (Alexis Soloski)

‘The Box: A Black Comedy’ (in previews; opens on April 30) As the city amends its policing policies and settles lawsuits contesting the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk tactics, the relations between officers and many of those living in black and Latino neighborhoods remain strained. Marcus Gardley explores the subject in this satirical play, produced by the Foundry Theater and directed by Seth Bockley, with music by Imani Uzuri. The script follows a father and son — Deadlust and Icarus — as they navigate “the American labyrinth of policing and prisons.” Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 866-811-4111, thefoundrytheatre.org. (Soloski)

‘Cabaret’ (in previews; opens on Thursday) Willkommen. Studio 54 once again summons the decadent spirit of Weimar-era Berlin with the return of the Kit Kat Klub and Roundabout Theater Company’s wildly successful 1998 revival of this classic Kander and Ebb musical. Directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, the revival redux promises a fresh take on Sally Bowles, courtesy of the luminous Michelle Williams. Alan Cumming reprises his lasciviously Brechtian Master of Ceremonies, while the first-rate supporting cast includes Linda Emond, Danny Burstein and Bill Heck. Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, 212-719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. (David Rooney)

‘Casa Valentina’ (in previews; opens on Wednesday) While Harvey Fierstein has kept busy writing books for musicals (“Newsies,” “Kinky Boots”), this premiere from Manhattan Theater Club is his first new play in over 25 years. Based on actual events, it takes place in 1962, in a secluded Catskill bungalow colony where heterosexual family men with a secret passion for cross-dressing are free to frolic in frocks. Directed by Joe Mantello, the deluxe cast includes Reed Birney, John Cullum, Gabriel Ebert, Lisa Emery, Patrick Page, Larry Pine and Mare Winningham. Samuel J. Friedman Theater, 261 West 47th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Rooney)

‘The City of Conversation’ (in previews; opens on May 5) Jan Maxwell will invite audiences to dinner as she portrays Hester Ferris, a famed Washington hostess, in Anthony Giardina’s capital play. Doug Hughes directs a cast that includes Phillip James Brannon and Kristen Bush in this drama, which runs from the Carter presidency to the current administration and pits family loyalties against political ones. Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, 212-239-6200, lct.org. (Soloski)

‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ (in previews; opens on Sunday) Daniel Radcliffe adopts an Irish brogue as the title character in Michael Grandage’s Broadway revival of Martin McDonagh’s bleak comedy. Reprising the role he played in London, Mr. Radcliffe appears as Cripple Billy, a hapless orphan on a remote island who dreams of Hollywood stardom. Perhaps Mr. Radcliffe can give Billy a few pointers. Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, crippleofinishmaan.com. (Soloski)

‘The Few’ (previews start on Wednesday; opens on May 8) Samuel D. Hunter (“The Whale”) has molded a career writing about life’s disappointed souls and the ways they console themselves. In this Davis McCallum-directed play, set in Idaho, an editor returns to the failing local paper he founded years ago. Michael Laurence and Gideon Glick reprise the roles they created at the Old Globe in San Diego. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place, at 11th Street, Greenwich Village, 866-811-4111, rattlestick.org. (Soloski)

‘Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging!’ (in previews; opens on May 4) Whether it’s the treadmill in “Kinky Boots” or the trapeze in “Pippin,” it’s hard not to see certain sequences on Broadway and wonder: “What would ‘Forbidden Broadway’ do with/to this?” After a 10-month hiatus, Schadenfreude-prone theatergoers need wonder no more. Gerard Alessandrini has at those shows and several other newcomers in his latest incarnation. Expect some playful jabs at “Rocky,” “Aladdin,” “The Sound of Music Live!” and “Bullets Over Broadway.” Davenport Theater, 354 West 45th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Eric Grode)

‘The Great Immensity’ (in previews; opens on Thursday) Steven Cosson is the artistic director of the Civilians, a documentary drama troupe. But in his new play, which debuts at the Public Theater’s Public Lab, he trades fact for fiction. In this thriller, supported by the National Science Foundation, Rebecca Hart stars as Phyllis, a woman who stumbles on a climate-change conspiracy while searching for her missing husband. Michael Friedman supplies the songs. Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, 212-967-7555, publictheater.org. (Soloski)

‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ (in previews; opens on Tuesday) Time to put on some makeup, turn up the eight-track and pull that “Wig in a Box” down from the shelf. John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s influential cult musical about the rocker chick from East Berlin with the Farrah Fawcett tresses and the botched transgender surgery ran more than two years in its original 1998 Off Broadway incarnation. The show moves uptown for the first time, with Neil Patrick Harris slipping into heels and donning eyeliner as “the internationally ignored song stylist,” under the direction of Michael Mayer. Belasco Theater, 111 West 44th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Rooney)

‘Here Lies Love’ (in previews; reopens on May 1) This invigorating poperetta, conceived by David Byrne and returning to the Public Theater for an open-ended run, sets a new standard for audience participation. Or do I mean coercion? In this heady show about the heady life of Imelda Marcos, staged with infinite inventiveness by Alex Timbers, all the world’s a dance floor, and all the men and women (including the audience) merely disco rats (1:30). Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, 212-967-7555, publictheater.org. (Ben Brantley)

‘The Mysteries’ (in previews; opens on Saturday) With “Noah” on the big screen, it seems fitting that the Bible should also get stage treatment, even if this promises to be an unorthodox interpretation. Conceived and directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, and performed by 54 members of the Flea Theater’s resident acting ensemble, the Bats, this radical retelling of the Good Book encompasses episodes by 48 playwrights, including David Henry Hwang, Craig Lucas, Billy Porter, José Rivera, Najla Said and Jenny Schwartz. At six hours, this qualifies as epic event theater, though dinner and dessert will be served during the intermissions. Flea Theater, 41 White Street, TriBeCa, 866-811-4100, theflea.org. (Rooney)

‘An Octoroon’ (previews start on Wednesday; opens on May 4) The playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (“Appropriate”) adapts Dion Boucicault’s celebrated and controversial 1859 melodrama. Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins spikes this plantation tale of murder, inheritance and miscegenation with contemporary questions and sensibilities. Directing this “old-fashioned, meta-melodrama” for Soho Rep is Sarah Benson, the company’s artistic director. An exploding steamboat is promised. Soho Rep, 46 Walker Street at Broadway, TriBeCa, 866-811-4111, sohorep.org. (Soloski)

‘Red-Eye to Havre de Grace’ (previews start on Tuesday; opens on April 30) Edgar Allan Poe believed that the death of a beautiful woman “is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.” But for his latest work, the writer-director Thaddeus Phillips has selected the death of an unbeautiful man — Poe himself. This “action-opera” charts Poe’s final lecture tour, with music by the Minneapolis theater-music group Wilhelm Bros. Co. New York Theater Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, East Village, 212-279-4200, nytw.org. (Soloski)

‘The Rivals’ (previews start on Tuesday; opens on May 4) When Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play debuted in 1775, a newspaper noted “the hisses of the auditors” and declared it “a most fatal disappointment.” Sheridan rewrote it, and now the Pearl Theater Company is reviving it, with Hal Brooks directing this tale of a young woman determined to marry for love and into poverty. Pearl Theater, 555 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212-563-9261, pearltheatre.org. (Soloski)

‘The Substance of Fire’ (in previews; opens on April 27) With strong-arm tactics from online booksellers and declining interest from readers, this is hardly a golden age of publishing. But it may be a fine time for a revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s 1991 play, which concerns a foundering literary house. Second Stage hosts Trip Cullman’s restaging, with John Noble as the imperiled patriarch and Halley Feiffer, Daniel Eric Gold and Carter Hudson as his children. Second Stage Theater, 305 West 43rd Street, Clinton, 212-246-4422, 2st.com. (Soloski)

‘The Velocity of Autumn’ (in previews; opens on Monday) The independence of the elderly and the indignities of aging are tackled in Eric Coble’s two-character play, which comes to Broadway after a run last fall in Washington, D.C., directed by Molly Smith. Estelle Parsons portrays an irascible 79-year-old artist barricaded inside her Brooklyn brownstone with enough Molotov cocktails to raze the block. While she’s intent on going nowhere, her family has other ideas, sending in her estranged son (Stephen Spinella) as mediator. Reviewing the premiere in The New York Times, Charles Isherwood called Ms. Parson’s performance “bracing, honest and often deliciously funny.” Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Rooney)

‘Violet’ (in previews; opens on Sunday) Sutton Foster makes a welcome return to Broadway as the title character in Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley’s 1997 musical about a facially disfigured North Carolina country girl who embarks on a quest for movie-star beauty that takes her across the South during the civil rights era. Directed by Leigh Silverman, the revival evolved out of an Encores! one-night concert presentation last summer. In his review for The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote, “The role of Violet fits Ms. Foster so perfectly, it could have been written for her,” describing her performance as “transfixing.” Starring alongside her here are Colin Donnell, Alexander Gemignani and Joshua Henry. American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street, 212-719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. (Rooney)

‘The World Is Round’ (in previews; opens on Monday) Many adults have found Gertrude Stein’s prose opaque. But that didn’t discourage her from publishing a children’s book in 1939. Now Ripe Time is presenting its stage adaptation of that tale about a girl named Rose, her cousin Willy and a favorite blue chair. Rachel Dickstein directs this “play with songs and mountains,” featuring music by Heather Christian, who performs live with the Arbornauts. Fishman Space, Fisher Building, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 321 Ashland Place, near Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, bam.org. (Soloski)

‘Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra’ (in previews; opens on Monday) Playwrights Horizons continues its season with the premiere of this tough-love comedy by Kirk Lynn, the Austin, Tex., playwright and founding member of the Rude Mechs theater collective. The play deals with sex and honesty, beginning with a couple who agree to marry on condition that they first come clean about their respective sexual histories — via role-playing re-enactments. Those stories prove instructive years later when the barriers of intimacy that were broken down between them resurface in the household. Anne Kauffman directs a cast of six. Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212-279-4200, ticketcentral.com. (Rooney)

Broadway

★ ‘After Midnight’ The stars of this tribute to the Harlem jazz clubs of the 1920s and ’30s are the 16 virtuosic musicians who perform — with verve, style and a good splash of sheer joy — about 25 songs from the period, with a special emphasis on Duke Ellington both as composer and arranger. The dancers and singers are terrific, and Adriane Lenox all but steals the show with her two lowdown numbers. But it’s really the Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars on the bandstand at the back of the stage who shine brightest (1:30). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street, 212-745-3000, ticketmaster.com. (Charles Isherwood)

‘Aladdin’ Casey Nicholaw (“The Book of Mormon”) directs and choreographs (and choreographs, and choreographs) the latest Disney musical, adapted from the 1992 animated movie. While the familiar formulas are not entirely abandoned, Mr. Nicholaw and the book writer, Chad Beguelin, stuff so much splashy, shticky business into this show that the more syrupy bits hardly register. James Monroe Iglehart stands out as the showboating, scene-stealing genie (2:20). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, 866-870-2717, aladdinthemusical.com. (Isherwood)

‘All the Way’ Bryan Cranston makes a commanding Broadway debut as Lyndon B. Johnson in Robert Schenkkan’s mostly absorbing drama about the tumultuous first year of the Johnson presidency. The play, directed by Bill Rauch, sorely needs streamlining, but Mr. Cranston’s dynamic performance gives it a compelling center (2:50). Neil Simon Theater, 250 West 52nd Street, 800-745-3000, allthewaybroadway.com. (Isherwood)

‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ This friendly, formulaic jukebox show about the New York-born singer-songwriter might as well be called “Brooklyn Girl,” so closely does it adhere to the template of the megahit “Jersey Boys” (about the Four Seasons). Jessie Mueller, though, is extraordinary as Ms. King, making us feel the connection between a singer and her songs (2:25). Stephen Sondheim Theater, 124 West 43rd Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)

‘The Bridges of Madison County’ As a questioning farmer’s wife who briefly discovers a love with all the answers, Kelli O’Hara brings a rich and varied topography to what might have been strictly flat corn country. Adapted from Robert James Waller’s best-selling novel, this musical features a sumptuous score by Jason Robert Brown and a lust-worthy leading man in Steven Pasquale (2:30). Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)

‘Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical’ This occasionally funny but mostly just loud adaptation of Woody Allen’s 1994 film, directed by Susan Stroman, features a score of 1920s standards and esoterica. If watching the movie was like being gently tickled into a state of hysteria, this musical version feels more like being head-butted by linebackers. Make that linebackers in blinding sequins (2:30). St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)

★ ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’ Playing eight different victims of a sweet-faced killer (Bryce Pinkham) in Edwardian England, Jefferson Mays sings, dances, prances and generally makes infectious merriment in this daffy, ingenious new musical. Written with real wit by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, the show has been stylishly directed by Darko Tresnjak (2:20). Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)

‘If/Then’ This new musical from Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (“Next to Normal”) is a gleaming drawing board of a show, full of polished surfaces and clearly drawn lines. The shiny-voiced Idina Menzel portrays a conflicted urban planner pondering two different roads her life might have taken. The show feels less like a variation on a theme, than a dogged reiteration of it (2:35). Richard Rodgers Theater, 226 West 46th Street, 877-250-2929, ifthenthemusical.com. (Brantley)

★ ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’ Audra McDonald scales her lustrous soprano down to jazz-soloist size to portray the great Billie Holiday in this concert-cum-solo-play by Lanie Robertson. Ms. McDonald’s terrific performance moves beyond mimicry to become a haunting portrait of a troubled artist who could only find equilibrium in her life when she lost herself in her music (1:30). Circle in the Square, 235 West 50th Street, 212-239-620, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)

‘Les Misérables’ It’s back — again. Capitalizing on the popular movie, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s musical about the French fellow who steals a loaf of bread and lives to regret it storms Broadway in a new production. Ramin Karimloo, as the long-suffering bread-stealer, and Will Swenson, as his relentless foe, Javert, give sterling performances (2:50). Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)

‘Mothers and Sons’ In this impeccably acted production about the legacy of AIDS, Terrence McNally uses the old-fashioned form of the drawing room drama to take pulse of a gay American subculture. It doesn’t avoid the stasis of most debate plays. But it features affecting moments from Frederick Weller, Bobby Steggert and the formidable Tyne Daly (1:30). John Golden Theater, 252 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)

★ ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ Despite the presence of a movie megastar, Denzel Washington, in a central role, Kenny Leon’s disarmingly relaxed revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s epochal drama has a welcome egalitarianism. This engrossingly acted ensemble piece makes us newly aware of one family’s dynamics. The very good cast also includes LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Anika Noni Rose and Sophie Okonedo (2:40). Ethel Barrymore Theater, 243 West 47th Street, Manhattan, 212-239-6200, raisinbroadway.com. (Brantley)

★ ‘The Realistic Joneses’ Plays as moving and funny, as wonderful and weird as Will Eno’s meditation on the confounding business of being alive (and contemplating mortality) do not come along often on Broadway. Or ever. Sam Gold directs a flawless cast: Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts and Marisa Tomei (1:30). Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)

‘Rocky’ The final 16 minutes of this adaptation of the 1976 movie — about a schlemiel who coulda been a contender — are terrific. That’s when the climactic boxing match occurs, and it’s a hell of a fight. Otherwise, this sluggish show’s sensibility isn’t just underdog; it’s hangdog. Alex Timbers directs a cast that includes the valiant and appealing Andy Karl (2:20). Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway, at 50th Street, 212-239-6200, rockybroadway.com. (Brantley)

Off Broadway

★ ‘Bayside! The Musical’ Attending this bawdy, ridiculous, unauthorized parody of the harebrained sitcom “Saved by the Bell” is a bit like going to a midnight screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” given the many inside jokes and synchronized audience responses. Audience members know the material so well because half the humor comes from merely reproducing every ludicrous plot twist and trope from the TV show (including Zack’s giant cellphone, Becky the Duck and other allusions that will be familiar to longtime fans). The other half of the humor is just good-old fashioned raunch, usually playing up the horrifying ways to reinterpret a squeaky-clean children’s show (2:00). Theater 80, 80 St. Marks Place, East Village, 212-388-0388, baysidethemusical.com. (Catherine Rampell)

‘Bill W. and Dr. Bob’ Making the story of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous 99 percent preachiness-free is quite an accomplishment. Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey’s purpose-driven script, which never forgets the humor of the human experience, goes a long way toward making this a satisfying revival (2:15). SoHo Playhouse, 15 Van Dam Street, South Village, 866-811-4111, sohoplayhouse.com. (Anita Gates)

★ ‘Buyer & Cellar’ Jonathan Tolins has concocted an irresistible one-man play from the most peculiar of fictitious premises — an underemployed Los Angeles actor goes to work in Barbra Streisand’s basement — allowing the playwright to ruminate with delicious wit and perspicacity on the solitude of celebrity, the love-hate attraction between gay men and divas, and the melancholy that lurks beneath narcissism. Stephen Brackett directs this seriously funny slice of absurdist whimsy (1:30). Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street, at Seventh Avenue South, West Village, 212-868-4444, smarttix.com. (Rooney)

‘Cougar the Musical’ Three older women find themselves attracted to younger men, two against their better judgment. The concept seems made for bus tours, but imagination, appealing numbers with original melodies and theme-transcending jokes lift this show well above the level of “Menopause: The Musical” and its ilk (1:30). Saturdays only. St. Luke’s Theater, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Gates)

‘Cuff Me: The Fifty Shades of Grey Musical Parody’ What can I possibly say that isn’t said by the title of this production? Here’s one thing: It’s not exactly great theater, but I’d still rather see “Cuff Me” than read the novel upon which it’s based (1:30). Actors Temple Theater, 339 West 47th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Claudia La Rocco)

★ ‘50 Shades! The Musical’ When it comes to potential for satire, E. L. James’s she-porn best seller “50 Shades of Grey” seems as easy a target as you could shake a sex toy at. That said, this exuberant takeoff handily delivers the goods, barreling along with a score steeped in show tunes, R&B, gospel, Gilbert and Sullivan, and lyrics packed with references to various practices and orifices. “This is real life; this isn’t a book,” says Ana, the show’s heroine, to her tycoon suitor. “If it was, it would be terrible.” It certainly would. But “50 Shades!” is a musical parody, and a very entertaining one (1:30). Elektra Theater, 300 West 43rd Street, Clinton, 212-352-3101, 50shadesthemusical.com. (Andy Webster)

‘Heathers: The Musical’ Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe’s rowdy guilty-pleasure musical isn’t as mordant as the 1988 cult movie that inspired it. But in scaling up the grotesqueness, this sardonically grisly high-school revenge comedy puts a genial, guilt-quelling distance between its onstage mayhem and its audience. The excellent Barrett Wilbert Weed plays the ambivalent heroine (2:10). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, heathersthemusical.com. (Brantley)

★ ‘The Heir Apparent’ David Ives’s scintillating, exuberantly bawdy adaptation of a rarely seen play by Jean-François Regnard receives a stylish, endlessly entertaining production from John Rando. Carson Elrod shines as a wily servant scrambling to secure an inheritance for his master from an ailing miser, played with exuberant repulsiveness by Paxton Whitehead. It’s a hoot from start to finish (2:15). Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, East Village, 212-352-3101, classicstage.org. (Isherwood)

‘iLuminate’ More spectacle than story, “iLuminate” offers technology as its most dazzling star. Conceived, produced and directed by Miral Kotb, a former software engineer, the show employs about a dozen talented, indefatigable young actor-dancers, encased in black suits wired with digitally controlled lights. Performing in total darkness to a score combining hip-hop, jazz and classical influences, they portray the tale of an artist whose magic paintbrush is stolen for evil ends. Much of the action is like a neon comic book, but it does have its magic moments (:55). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, iluminate.com. (Laurel Graeber)

★ ‘Isolde’ This smashing new play about a romantic triangle, from the experimental auteur Richard Maxwell, takes place, more or less, in a drawing room. But working with a highly disciplined cast of four, Mr. Maxwell encourages us to see a hoary theatrical form with X-ray eyes — to look for the plasterboard behind the wallpaper and the skull beneath the skin (1:25). Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, at Pitt Street, Lower East Side, 212-352-3101, abronsartscenter.org. (Brantley)

★ ‘King Lear’ In Arin Arbus’s thoughtful and affecting production, Shakespeare’s most daunting play lowers its voice, the better to be heard more clearly. Starring Michael Pennington in a delicate portrait of the title monarch, Ms. Arbus’s “Lear” tones down the bluster, and makes it clear that this portrait of majesty undone is as much a heart-wrenching domestic drama as an epic tragedy (3:05). Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place, between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 866-811-4111, tfana.org. (Brantley)

‘The Library’ Making his debut on the New York stage, the film director Steven Soderbergh floods the opening minutes of Scott Z. Burns’s new play, about a high school massacre, with toxic dread. Unfortunately, what follows has such bluntness that the audience stays well ahead of the script. The young movie star Chloë Grace Moretz is terrific as an injured, guilt-plagued student (1:30). Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, 212-967-7555, publictheater.org. (Brantley)

★ ‘London Wall’ John van Druten’s lively 1931 office comedy is a provocative, socially conscious bit of fun that never made it to Broadway, even in an era when many of his plays did. Watching Davis McCallum’s brisk, pitch-perfect production feels like stumbling across a lost film classic by Howard Hawks: How did this fresh and fizzy thing fall into obscurity (2:30)? Mint Theater, 311 West 43rd Street, Clinton, 866-811-4111, minttheater.org. (Laura Collins-Hughes)

‘The Most Deserving’ Catherine Trieschmann’s frisky but inconsequential comedy about a kerfuffle in Kansas over an arts grant features the distinctive comic actress Veanne Cox, who leads a fine cast. But the play’s contrivances are hard to ignore (1:30). City Center, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan, 212-581-1212, nycitycenter.org. (Isherwood)

★ ‘Murder for Two’ After a successful run at Second Stage Uptown, this show returns to another Off Broadway space, New World Stages. In this nifty mystery musical comedy by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, a virtuosic Jeff Blumenkrantz plays all the suspects, and Brett Ryback the investigating officer. The actors also provide the music, taking turns at the piano, under Scott Schwartz’s fleet direction (1:30). 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)

‘A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity’ and ‘Clean’ The Traverse Theater Company of Edinburgh presents this brisk double bill, directed by Orla O’Loughlin, as part of the Brits Off Broadway festival. An errant crudity is the catalyst for friendship between a coarse young working-class man and his late employer’s widow in “A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity,” Douglas Maxwell’s sneakily thoughtful comedy of manners. Less successful is Sabrina Mahfouz’s “Clean,” a curiously static crime caper, in which three London women team up to steal a computer chip (1:50). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Collins-Hughes)

★ ‘Satchmo at the Waldorf’ John Douglas Thompson does a remarkable job impersonating the aging Louis Armstrong in this one-man show, written by The Wall Street Journal’s drama critic, Terry Teachout. While Armstrong’s reminiscences cover the bases of his life, the show is most interesting in its examination of the racial and generational divides this jazz giant straddled. Two other portraits, ably conveyed by Mr. Thompson, also loom large: Armstrong’s longtime manager, Joe Glaser, and the towering trumpeter Miles Davis (1:30). Westside Theater, 407 West 43rd Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Webster)

‘Sex Tips for Straight Women From a Gay Man’ Matt Murphy’s one-act is a blend of a bachelorette party at Chippendales and the embarrassing midnight show at some tourist trap in Pigalle. It has a talented cast, but it is no “Queer Eye” (1:20). 777 Theater, 777 Eighth Avenue, at 47th Street, Manhattan, 888-841-4111, sextipsplay.com. (Gates)

‘La Soirée’ The side show meets the big top in this naughty hybrid of burlesque and circus, featuring performers like the comic chanteuse Meow Meow and a waterlogged hunk taking a very gymnastic bath (2:00). Union Square Theater, 100 East 17th Street, 800-653-8000, ticketmaster.com. (Isherwood)

‘Tales From Red Vienna’ David Grimm’s play, about a gentlewoman (Nina Arianda) forced to work as a prostitute, is not only set in 1920, but it also feels like a throwback to that era, in which melodramas showed good women in hard times suffering fates worse than death. Ms. Arianda, so compelling in “Venus in Fur,” is out of her element (2:25). Manhattan Theater Club at City Center Stage I, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan, 212-581-1212, nycitycenter.org. (Brantley)

‘The Threepenny Opera’ Martha Clarke’s pretty-looking but pallid production of the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill music drama lacks bite, despite a sterling cast, including F. Murray Abraham as Mr. Peachum and Laura Osnes (who sings beautifully) as his daughter, Polly (2:05). Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea, 866-811-4111, atlantictheater.org. (Isherwood)

Off Off Broadway

‘Adoration of the Old Woman’ Directed by Patricia McGregor, José Rivera’s drama uses the micro (family ghosts, turbulent love triangles) to explore the macro (Puerto Rico’s future), but the layers never quite stack up to a sufficiently complex world (2:00). Intar Theater, 500 West 52nd Street, Clinton, 212-352-3101, intartheatre.org. (La Rocco)

★ ‘Then She Fell’ Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” books, this transporting immersive theater work occupies a dreamscape where the judgments and classifications of the waking mind are suspended. A guided tour of Wonderland, created by Third Rail Projects, leads its participants through a series of rooms and an interactive evening of dance, poetry, food and drink (2:00). The Kingsland Ward at St. John’s, 195 Maujer Street, near Humboldt Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-374-5196, thenshefell.com. (Brantley)

Extravaganzas

‘Amaluna’ Written and directed by the Tony-winning Diane Paulus (“Pippin”), this latest Cirque du Soleil extravaganza is based ever so vaguely on “The Tempest,” with a twist: the magical island is ruled by women. While the display of female strength (as in biceps and triceps and quads, oh my) is a lovely thing, the show is just another giant machine of a spectacle (2:30). Citi Field, Parking Lot C, 126th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing, Queens, 800-450-1480, cirquedusoleil.com/amaluna. (La Rocco)

‘Queen of the Night’ The latest and most lavish of this city’s immersive theater experiments includes cocktails, a meal and a circus-style floor show, in addition to any number of possible intimate, eroticism-tinged (but PG-13) encounters with the comely young cast members. The show is not for the social anxiety-prone, but full of gaudy spectacle, with a fin-de-Bloomberg-era vibe (2:45). Diamond Horseshoe at the Paramount Hotel, 235 West 46th Street, Manhattan, 866-811-4111, queenofthenightnyc.com. (Isherwood)

Long-Running Shows

‘Avenue Q’ R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:15). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘The Berenstain Bears Live! In Family Matters, the Musical’ This adaptation of three of Stan and Jan Berenstain’s children’s books is pleasant enough, but the cubs are showing their age. Saturdays and Sundays (:55). Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater, 5 West 63rd Street, 866-811-4111, berenstainbearslive.com.

‘Black Angels Over Tuskegee’ The tear-jerker story of these trailblazing African-American pilots (2:30). (Saturdays only.) Actors Temple Theater, 339 West 47th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

Blue Man Group Conceptual art as entertainment (1:45). Astor Place Theater, 434 Lafayette Street, East Village, 800-258-3626, ticketmaster.com.

‘The Book of Mormon’ Singing, dancing, R-rated missionaries proselytize for the American musical (2:15). Eugene O’Neill Theater, 230 West 49th Street, 800-432-7250, telecharge.com.

‘Chicago’ Jazz Age sex, murder and razzle-dazzle (2:25). Ambassador Theater, 219 West 49th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘En el Tiempo de las Mariposas’ Caridad Svich’s Spanish-language adaptation of Julia Álvarez’s novel (“In the Time of the Butterflies”) about the Mirabal sisters, who opposed the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo and died as a result (2:00). Runs in repertory at Repertorio Español at Gramercy Arts Theater, 138 East 27th Street, 212-225-9999, repertorio.org/mariposas.

‘The Fantasticks’ Boy meets girl, forever (2:05). Snapple Theater Center, 210 West 50th Street, 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

‘Jersey Boys’ The biomusical that walks like a man (2:30). August Wilson Theater, 245 West 52nd Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘Kinky Boots’ These boots are made for dancin’ (and stompin’ out bigotry) (2:20). Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 West 45th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘The Lion King’ Disney’s call of the wild (2:45). Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street, 800-870-2717, ticketmaster.com.

‘Mamma Mia!’ The jukebox musical set to the disco throb of Abba (2:20). Broadhurst Theater, 235 West 44th Street, 800-432-7259, telecharge.com.

‘Matilda the Musical’ The children’s revolution, per Roald Dahl (2:35). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘Motown: The Musical’ A dramatically slapdash but musically vibrant joy ride through the glory days of the Detroit music label founded by Berry Gordy (2:40). Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, 877-250-2929, ticketmaster.com.

‘Newsies’ Extra! Extra! enthusiasm (2:20). Nederlander Theater, 208 West 41st Street, 866-870-2717, newsiesthemusical.com.

‘The Norwegians’ Sweet Minnesota-Scandinavian hit men and the young women who hire them (1:30). Drilling Company Theater, 236 West 78th Street, 212-868-4444, smarttix.com.

‘Once’ Almost love, in a singing Dublin (2:15). Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, 242 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘Perfect Crime’ The murder mystery that has been investigated since 1987 (1:30). Snapple Theater Center, 210 West 50th Street, 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

‘The Phantom of the Opera’ Who was that masked man anyway? (2:30). Majestic Theater, 247 West 44th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘Pippin’ Making love and war, with music, under the big top (2:35). Music Box Theater, 239 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘Rock of Ages’ Big hair, thrashing guitars and inspired humor fuel this jukebox musical (2:25). Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella’ The ultimate makeover story, restyled for a red-carpet age (2:20). Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘Sistas: The Musical’ Black women reflect on their lives, with songs (1:30). (Saturdays and Sundays.) St. Luke’s Theater, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com.

‘Sleep No More’ A movable, murderous feast at Hotel Macbeth (2:00). The McKittrick Hotel, 530 West 27th Street, Chelsea, 866-811-4111, sleepnomorenyc.com.

‘Stomp’ And the beat goes on (and on), with percussion unlimited (1:30). Orpheum Theater, 126 Second Avenue, at Eighth Street, East Village, 800-982-2787, ticketmaster.com.

‘Wicked’ Oz revisited (2:45). Gershwin Theater, 222 West 51st Street, 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

Last Chance

‘Beyond Therapy’ (closes on Saturday) The Actors Company Theater revives Christopher Durang’s not-quite romantic comedy about two flailing 30-somethings and their crazier-than-thou therapists. The production doesn’t make much of a case for the play, whose humor hasn’t aged well (2:00). Beckett Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Rachel Saltz)

‘Greed: A Musical for Our Times’ (closes on Saturday) This revue by Michael Roberts hurtles through 19 songs in 85 minutes. But just as the lyrics suggest, more isn’t always better. In each number, Mr. Roberts grabs for the obvious and hits it harder than a compulsive shopper’s credit card. The quartet of able performers work to sell the material, but no one’s buying (1:30). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Soloski)

★ ‘I Remember Mama’ (closes on Sunday) The shyly charming resurrection of this work might have seemed too brazenly sentimental for current tastes. But Jack Cumming III, the director, has come up with the inspired gimmick of casting John van Druten’s 1944 play about a poor-but-loving Norwegian-American family entirely with actresses born in the 1930s and ’40s. They all prove themselves artful masters of time travel (2:20). The Gym at Judson, 243 Thompson Street, at Washington Square South, Greenwich Village, 866-811-4111, transportgroup.org. (Brantley)

‘The Junket’ (closes on Sunday) Mike Albo turns a career misfortune into an entertaining though slight solo show about the perils of navigating freelance waters in a new media world. The underdeveloped larger themes of the “really insecure TED talk” need some work, but with a combination of charm and snark, Mr. Albo manages to engagingly depict the struggles of trying to make it in the big city (1:05). Lynn Redgrave Theater at Culture Project, 45 Bleecker Street, near Lafayette Street, East Village, 866-811-4111, cultureproject.org. (Frank Rizzo)

★ ‘My Mother Has 4 Noses’ (closes on Saturday) In Jonatha Brooke’s haunted and haunting solo play with music, she is bearing witness, recounting the descent into dementia of her mother, Darren Stone Nelson, and her experience of caring for Ms. Nelson in the last years of her life. Unavoidably sad yet poignantly funny, it is a narrative created beautifully out of mourning (1:45). The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, 646-223-3010, dukeon42.org. (Collins-Hughes)

‘Ode to Joy’ (closes on Saturday) Craig Lucas, the author of great toxic fairy tales for grown-ups like “Prelude to a Kiss,” suspends storybook whimsy for this more straightforward look at talented people battling the ogres of addiction and denial. An eloquent mess of a play, filled with choice dialogue and sharply acted by Kathryn Erbe, Arliss Howard and Roxana Hope (2:00). Cherry Lane Theater, 38 Commerce Street, West Village, 866-811-4111, cherrylanetheatre.org. (Brantley)

‘The Real Americans’ (closes on Sunday) Fueled by a hefty dose of liberal guilt and propelled by an earnest desire to better understand his fellow citizens, the playwright-performer Dan Hoyle leaves the comfort of his native San Francisco to travel through small towns and rural areas of the United States. It is an entirely honorable endeavor, but the resulting solo show traces a well traveled path peopled with familiar types (1:15). Lynn Redgrave Theater, 45 Bleecker Street, East Village, 866-811-4111, cultureproject.org. (Collins-Hughes)

‘Red Velvet’ (closes on Sunday) Playing the 19th-century African-American actor Ira Aldridge, Adrian Lester provides so many layers — of style, technique and emotion — that you may have trouble wrapping your mind around all of them. Lolita Chakrabarti’s carefully researched drama, directed by Indhu Rubasingham, can bring to mind the stolidity of “great lives” biographies. But Mr. Lester’s centuries-crossing performance is truly transporting (2:15). St. Ann’s Warehouse, 29 Jay Street, at Plymouth Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn, 718-254-8779, stannswarehouse.org. (Brantley)