Theater Listings for July 18-24

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"The City of Conversation": Jan Maxwell (with John Aylward) gives a captivating, multifaceted performance as a well-connected Washington dinner hostess in Anthony Giardina’s lively drama, which charts the rise of our polarized politics through the microcosm of a single family. It is smoothly directed by Doug Hughes (2:00). Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, 212-239-6200, lct.org. (Charles Isherwood) Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

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

‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ (in previews; opens on July 31) The playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis (“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” “The ____________ With the Hat”) lends his gritty, extravagant, garrulous voice to this tale of uptown apartment life. Under Austin Pendleton’s direction, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Ray Anthony Thomas star as an ex-cop father and an ex-con son trying to hold on to their rent-controlled apartment. Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea, 866-811-4111, atlantictheater.org. (Alexis Soloski)

‘Drop Dead Perfect’ (in previews; opens on Sunday) As one of the original stars of Charles Ludlam’s “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” Everett Quinton has long since perfected the art of cross-dressing. He’ll bring such skills to bear in Erasmus Finn’s new comedy, in which Mr. Quinton plays a Key West matron rattled by the departure of her ward and the reappearance of a lost love. Theater at St. Clement’s, 423 West 46th Street, Clinton, 212-246-7277, dropdeadperfect.com. (Soloski)

‘The Good and the True’ (previews start on Thursday; opens on Aug. 3) This Czech documentary drama — compiled by Daniel Hrbek, Tomas Hrbek, Lucie Kolouchova and the translator Brian Daniels — intertwines the testimonies of the actress Hana Pravda and the athlete Milos Dobry, Jews who survived Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. The actress Isobel Pravda will play her real-life grandmother, Hana; Saul Reichlin will play Dobry. DR2 Theater, 101 East 15th Street, Flatiron, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Soloski)

‘King Lear’ (previews start on Tuesday; opens on Aug. 5) Let’s hope the storms are onstage only for this devastating drama, the Public Theater’s latest Shakespeare in the Park offering. John Lithgow plays the storied monarch, with Annette Bening, Jessica Hecht and Jessica Collins as his naughty and nice daughters, and the downtown favorite Steven Boyer as his fool. Daniel Sullivan directs this tragedy of power and senescence. Delacorte Theater, Central Park, enter the park at 81st Street and Central Park West, publictheater.org. (Soloski)

‘Mala Hierba’ (in previews; opens on July 28) Liliana (Marta Milans) is the decorative wife of a border magnate in Tanya Saracho’s racy comedy drama, directed by Jerry Ruiz. On the eve of her husband’s birthday party, a figure from Liliana’s past arrives at her Texas palazzo. Jealousy, desire, desperation, late-night Fritos and the occasional catfight ensue. Second Stage Uptown at McGinn/Cazale Theater, 2162 Broadway, at 76th Street, fourth floor, 212-246-4422, 2st.com. (Soloski)

‘The Pianist of Willesden Lane’ (in previews; opens on Tuesday) The actress, writer and concert pianist Mona Golabek uses 88 keys and a crowd of characters to narrate the story of her mother, Lisa Jura, sent to London from Vienna via the Kindertransport at age 14. Jura was a concert pianist, too, and taught her daughter, “Each piece of music tells a story.” 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Soloski)

‘Piece of My Heart’ (in previews; opens on Monday) The songwriter Bert Berns racked up piles of hit records before dying at age 38. This new jukebox musical, directed and choreographed by Denis Jones, features several of his most famous songs — “Hang on Sloopy,” “Twist and Shout,” “I Want Candy” — while a character based on his daughter recounts his life. Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212-279-4200, pieceofmyheartmusical.com. (Soloski)

‘Sex With Strangers’ (in previews; opens on July 30) How did we ever date before the Internet, before we could research a potential mate on Google or stalk him or her on Facebook and Twitter? The playwright Laura Eason explores contemporary relationships with this two-character drama about a reclusive novelist (Anna Gunn) and the extrovert blogger (Billy Magnussen) she falls for. Can a pen-and-paper woman and a technophile dude find love? David Schwimmer directs. Second Stage Theater, 305 West 43rd Street, Clinton, 212-246-4422, 2st.com. (Soloski)

‘Strictly Dishonorable’ (previews start on Tuesday; opens on July 25) Before he made his prolix, quicksilver comedies for Hollywood, Preston Sturges had a reputation for sprightly plays. The Attic Theater Company revives this 1929 script, a charming cautionary tale about what happens when you bring your free-spirited fiancée to a speakeasy and introduce her to a dashing crooner. Laura Braza directs. Flea Theater, 41 White Street, TriBeCa, 212-352-3101, theflea.org. (Soloski)

Summer Shorts (previews start on Friday; opens on July 27) Barring a garbage strike, summer never seems to last quite long enough. So why not honor the season with a couple of evenings of brief plays? This annual festival returns with one-acts by Roger Hedden, Eric Lane and Warren Leight in Series A and by Albert Innaurato, Neil LaBute and Daniel Reitz in Series B. 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Soloski)

World’s Fair Play Festival (performances start on Friday) Queens boasts several of the most diverse ZIP codes in the country, and now Queens Theater in the Park has assembled a nicely varied roster of playwrights to celebrate the borough, past and present. Writers like Kristoffer Diaz, Caridad Svich, Todd Almond and Lauren Yee will offer short plays paying homage to the fairs of 1939 and 1964. Queens Theater, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, 14 United Nations Avenue South, Corona, 718-760-0064, queenstheatre.org. (Soloski)

Broadway

‘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. (Charles 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. (Ben 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)

‘Cabaret’ Only a decade after it closed, Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall’s popular, audience-teasing reincarnation of this classic musical feels as if it never left us. Alan Cumming seems to be having the time of his life reprising the creepy, tragic M.C., a role he redefined for the ages. Michelle Williams appears somewhat less comfortable as the madcap Sally Bowles (2:30). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, 212-719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. (Brantley)

★ ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & 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 show, winner of the Tony Award for best 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)

★ ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ Though he plays an “internationally ignored song stylist” of undefinable gender in John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s 1998 rock musical, Neil Patrick Harris is in full command of what he becomes here. That’s a bona fide Broadway star, who can rule an audience with the blink of a sequined eyelid. Michael Mayer directed this mightily entertaining, Tony Award-winning exercise in crowd control (1:30). Belasco Theater, 111 West 44th Street, 212-239-6200, hedwigbroadway.com. (Brantley)

‘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, 212-239-6200, ladydayonbroadway.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)

‘Of Mice and Men’ In Anna D. Shapiro’s respectable, respectful and generally inert revival of John Steinbeck’s classic portrait of a friendship, James Franco and Chris O’Dowd are the immortal itinerant farmhands George and Lenny. These two undeniably talented screen stars here wear their archetypes like armor. The competent cast includes Leighton Meester as the woman who destroys their lives (2:20). Longacre Theater, 220 West 48th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)

‘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)

★ ‘Violet’ A terrific, heart-stirring revival of Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley’s musical about a young woman from the South who hopes a faith healer can cure the facial scar that has blighted her adolescence. Sutton Foster gives a moving, career-redefining performance in the title role, with nary a tap shoe in sight (1:45). American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street, 212-719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. (Isherwood)

Off Broadway

‘Atomic’ This new musical from Australia aims to rescue from the historical margins the Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, whose discovery of nuclear chain reaction led, at great personal cost, to the development of the atom bomb. Directed by Damien Gray, the production assembles a vocally accomplished cast that includes Jeremy Kushnier, Euan Morton and Sara Gettelfinger, but fails to make a convincing case that this material needed to be musicalized. Instead the overstuffed show unfolds like a hurried bio-drama, with lots of guitars and synthesizers but too little emotional access to its characters (2:30). Acorn Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, theatrerow.org. (David Rooney)

★ ‘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)

‘The Bullpen’ Joe Assadourian, who served 12 years in prison for attempted murder, wrote and stars in this very funny one-man show about the characters he met while awaiting his trial (1:05). Playroom Theater, 151 West 46th Street, 212-967-8278, stepinthebullpen.com. (Ken Jaworowski)

★ ‘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)

★ ‘The City of Conversation’ Jan Maxwell gives a captivating, multifaceted performance as a well-connected Washington dinner hostess in Anthony Giardina’s lively drama, which charts the rise of our polarized politics through the microcosm of a single family. Smoothly directed by Doug Hughes (2:00). Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, 212-239-6200, lct.org. (Isherwood)

‘Donogoo’ In Jules Romains’s 1930 farce, revived by the Mint Theater Company, a Frenchman attracts backers to finance the exploitation of fictional South American gold fields. Though the director Gus Kaikkonen moves his actors on and off the stage deftly, the script doesn’t pay sufficient comic dividends. Yet the play’s echoes of recent financial crises are resonant and chilling (2:20). Mint Theater, 311 West 43rd Street, Clinton, 866-811-4111, minttheater.org. (Soloski)

★ ‘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)

★ ‘Here Lies Love’ This invigorating poperetta, conceived by David Byrne, 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. (Brantley)

‘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)

★ ‘Just Jim Dale’ The title doesn’t quite tell it all here. This one-man show from the British actor who starred on Broadway in “Barnum” and “Me and My Girl” seems to contain multitudes (music hall joker, serious actor, songwriter and singer), and they dazzle us by turns in this lovable tour of his career in show business on both sides of the Atlantic. Richard Maltby Jr. directs (1:40). Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 West 46th Street, Manhattan, 212-719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. (Isherwood)

‘The Long Shrift’ Robert Boswell’s drama, which also marks James Franco’s directorial debut, concerns a young man imprisoned for the rape of a classmate, then freed when she recants. The play is untidy, annoying and sometimes ridiculous, yet rarely dull. By the end it has asked some troubling questions about whether or not we can ever put away past trauma, about whether or not we ever deserve to (1:35). Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place, at 11th Street, Greenwich Village, 866-811-4111, rattlestick.org. (Soloski)

‘Pageant’ In this splashy and serviceable revival of the 1991 musical spoof of beauty contests (book by Bill Russell and Frank Kelly, music by Albert Evans), the evening-gowned and bathing-suited beauties are all played by men, and members of the audience crown the winner (1:25). Davenport Theater, 354 West 45th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)

‘The Religion Thing’ The announcement by Patti that she has married a born-again evangelical Christian and become one herself rattles her best friend, Mo, who uses it to reappraise her own interfaith marriage to Brian. That’s just the start of the twists in Renee Calarco’s lively comedy-drama, a look at two couples in their 30s trying to balance the work-family equation. For all the set up, though, there is little true discussion of theology or spirituality and what role it plays in the characters’ lives (1:45). Cell Theater, 338 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, brownpapertickets.com, 212-352-3101. (Daniel M. Gold)

‘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, 888-841-4111, sextipsplay.com. (Anita Gates)

‘When We Were Young and Unafraid’ The formidable Cherry Jones stars as a woman who runs a shelter for abused wives in Sarah Treem’s debate-driven play about nascent feminism in the early 1970s. Directed by Pam MacKinnon and featuring a compelling Zoe Kazan, this earnest, thoughtful and overly articulate drama subverts its narrative power with thematic road signs (2:15). City Center, 131 West 55th Street, 212-581-1212, nycitycenter.org. (Brantley)

★ ‘The Who & the What’ This new play from Ayad Akhtar (whose Pulitzer Prize-winning “Disgraced” comes to Broadway this fall), tautly directed by Kimberly Senior, depicts a Pakistani-American family thrown into turbulence when a clash of faith erupts between the father (the terrific Bernard White) and his daughter over her novel about Islam and women (2:00). Claire Tow Theater, Lincoln Center, 212-239-6200, lct.org. (Isherwood)

Off Off Broadway

★ ‘Clown Bar’ This goofy but very funny homage to noir films and pulp novels finds a cop up against a crew of demented clowns (1:10). Saturdays only at the Box, 189 Chrystie Street, near Stanton Street, Lower East Side, pipelinetheatre.org. (Jaworowski)

★ ‘The Pigeoning’ Robin Frohardt’s exquisitely rendered, very funny bunraku puppet play for grown-ups is about a man who wants simply to be left in peace, to work at his tidy desk or eat a sandwich unbothered on a park bench. If only the pigeons didn’t seem to be plotting against him. Set to a score by Freddi Price, this is a tender, fantastical symphony of the imagination (1:00). Here, 145 Avenue of the Americas, at Dominick Street, South Village, 212-352-3101, here.org. (Laura Collins-Hughes)

‘Romeo N Juliet’ At first, this Classical Theater of Harlem show promises to integrate the vitality of uptown streets with a centuries-old tragedy: This Verona is a place of hoodies, high tops and soca music. But once the story ramps up, the momentum sags. Though the actors are spirited, few can activate the iams, and the show becomes a schlep from death to death (1:30). Marcus Garvey Park, Madison Avenue and 122nd Street, East Harlem, 347-688-6304, cthnyc.org. (Soloski)

Extravaganzas

‘Fuerza Bruta: Wayra’ The latest bit of sensory-overload brand extension from the creators of “De la Guarda” is a shiny, ever-shifting kinetic spectacle bent on disorientation. A high-volume, augmented remix of “Fuerzabruta,” this energetic show is rife with not-especially-impressive acrobatics, throbbing music, many-colored lights and high winds from machines set at storm speed (1:20). Daryl Roth Theater, 20 Union Square East, at 15th Street, 212-239-6200, fuerzabrutanyc.com. (Collins-Hughes)

‘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 those prone to social anxiety, but it’s full of gaudy spectacle, with a fin-de-Bloomberg-era vibe (2:45). Diamond Horseshoe at the Paramount Hotel, 235 West 46th Street, 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.

‘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.

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

‘Then She Fell’ Go ask Alice (2:00). The Kingsland Ward at St. John’s, 195 Maujer Street, near Humboldt Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-374-5196, thenshefell.com.

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

Last Chance

★ ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ (closes on Sunday) Michael Grandage’s splendid production of Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy from 1996 is a ringing testament to the talents of everyone involved. That includes its star, Daniel Radcliffe, who plays a misshapen boy from rural Ireland with Hollywood dreams; an unimpeachable ensemble; and, most important, Mr. McDonagh, whose spellbinding narrative powers have seldom been so alluringly displayed (2:20). Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street, 212-239-6200, crippleofinishmaan.com. (Brantley)

‘Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging!’ (closes on Sunday) This latest version of Gerard Alessandrini’s long-lived revue exudes an oxymoronic air of spirited ennui, an awareness that there ain’t much in the way of inspiring creative targets these days. With an industrious four-member cast, the show is dirgelike fun, rather in the spirit of a New Orleans jazz funeral (1:45). Davenport Theater, 354 West 45th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)

‘Holler If Ya Hear Me’ (closes on Sunday) The songs of Tupac Shakur are the inspiration for this ambitious but message-laden musical about the ills of the urban ghetto. Directed by Kenny Leon and written by Todd Kreidler, the show features a solid cast (Saul Williams is a standout as an ex-con trying to go straight), but the high-energy musical numbers (staged ’90s-style by Wayne Cilento) cannot disguise the hackneyed plot (2:25). Palace Theater, 1564 Broadway, at 47th Street, 877-250-2929, hollerifyahearme.com. (Isherwood)

‘The Muscles in Our Toes’ (closes on Saturday) Stephen Belber’s drama, set at a (yawn) 25th high school reunion, features live-wire performances from its six-member cast, but the story — four buddies decide to become homegrown terrorists in order to call attention to the plight of a friend kidnapped in Chad — defies credibility, and therefore engagement (1:30). Bank Street Theater, 155 Bank Street, West Village, 212-513-1080, labtheater.org. (Isherwood)