Theater Listings for Aug. 1-7
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
‘And I and Silence’ (previews start on Tuesday; opens on Aug. 25) New Yorkers know Naomi Wallace for “One Flea Spare,” a stunner of a psychosexual drama, set during the Black Death. They’ll get to know her better during her tenure as one of the Signature’s Residency One playwrights (A.R. Gurney is the other). The season opens with her play “And I and Silence,” set in the 1950s, about two young women who form a risky friendship while in prison. The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212-244-7529, signaturetheatre.org. (Alexis Soloski)
‘Daredevil’ (previews start on Wednesday; opens next Friday) Gary Winter, a former member of the playwrights collective 13P, turns up at the Brick for this “surreal fun-house” show. The script concerns storms, Shakespeare, a mountain, a peanut vendor and a “mysterious resistance group.” Meghan Finn directs, and Mike Iveson and Monique Vukovic lead the cast. The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 866-811-4111, bricktheater.com. (Soloski)
‘The Good and the True’ (in previews; opens on Sunday) 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. With the actress Isobel Pravda delayed because of visa issues, Hannah D. Scott will play Ms. Pavda’s real-life grandmother, Hana; Saul Reichlin will play Dobry. DR2 Theater, 101 East 15th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Soloski)
‘King Lear’ (in previews; opens on Tuesday) 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, shakespeareinthepark.org. (Soloski)
‘The Maids’ (performances start on Wednesday) Jean-Paul Sartre suggested that all the characters in Jean Genet’s lethal psychodrama should be portrayed by men. The Sydney Theater Company politely demurs. Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert will appear in this work, part of the Lincoln Center Festival, as a pair of murderous, incestuous domestics, with Elizabeth Debicki as their unknowing employer. Benedict Andrews directs. City Center, 131 West 55th Street, 212-581-1212, lincolncenterfestival.org. (Soloski)
‘My Stubborn Tongue’ (previews start on Wednesday; opens next Friday) In Anna Fishbeyn’s solo show, the writer and actor recounts her childhood emigration from Russia to America and her struggles to wrap lips, teeth and tongue around new vowels, consonants and worlds. Ms. Fishbeyn (“Sex in Mommyville”) explores “the wild antic of the letter ‘u,’ the spit-firing enunciations of ‘th,’ and the unforeseen hazard of not knowing idioms.” New Ohio Theater, 154 Christopher Street, West Village, 888-596-1027, newohiotheatre.org. (Soloski)
‘The Opponent’ (in previews; opens on Wednesday) What happens to a boxer who can’t quite deliver the knockout punch? In the first half of this play by Brett Neveu, starring Kamal Angelo Bolden and Guy Van Swearingen, a boxer and his trainer try to hang on to their hopes of glory in the ring. In the second, they meet again after those hopes are down for the count. 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Soloski)
‘Othello’ (in previews; opens on Saturday) For 20 years, audiences and passers-by have loved Shakespeare in the Parking Lot’s free performances wisely and well. Now new construction threatens the company’s longtime Lower East Side site. Before they relocate, they will perform this tragedy of jealousy. Aaron Scott stars as the misguided Moor, with the company’s artistic director, Hamilton Clancy, as the sinister Iago. Municipal Parking Lot, Ludlow Street and Broome Street, Lower East Side, shakespeareintheparkinglot.com. (Soloski)
‘Phoenix’ (in previews; opens on Thursday) A man and a woman get drunk, get naked and resolve never to meet again. Then the man thinks better of it and travels across the country just to see her. Jennifer DeLia directs this murky comedy of contemporary relationships for Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Julia Stiles and James Wirt star. Cherry Lane Theater, 38 Commerce Street, West Village, 866-811-4111, rattlestick.org. (Soloski)
‘Poor Behavior’ (in previews; opens on Aug. 17) A comedy of liquor, adultery and philosophy, Theresa Rebeck’s new play concerns two couples enjoying a none-too-relaxing weekend upstate. Over the course of a boozy evening and a hung-over morning, they debate what constitutes a good life. Evan Cabnet directs Heidi Armbruster, Brian Avers, Jeff Biehl and Katie Kreisler as the quarreling couples. The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 646-223-3010, primarystages.org. (Soloski)
‘Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson Furniture Painter’ (in previews; opens on Aug. 13) This new show, with music and lyrics by the Icelandic composer Ivar Pall Jonsson, takes self-involvement to a whole new level. Set within the elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson — where a thriving, contentious community apparently lives — the show concerns a love triangle and a political power grab. Cady Huffman and Kate Shindle star. Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, Greenwich Village, 800-982-2787, revolutionelbow.com. (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)
‘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)
★ ‘Drop Dead Perfect’ Everett Quinton is in his old Ridiculous Theatrical Company glory days as a repressed Florida spinster in this farcical thriller, with tons of TV and old-movie melodrama, silly double entendres and a Cuban hunk named Ricardo (1:30). Theater at St. Clement’s, 423 West 46th Street, Clinton, 845-786-2873, dropdeadperfect.com. (Anita Gates)
‘Enter at Forest Lawn’ In this poisonous and intermittently funny comedy, produced by the Amoralists, Mark Roberts plays a strychnine-bitter television exec. As a writer, Mr. Roberts has a way with one-liners. As an actor, he knows how to deliver them. But this production, directed by Jay Stull, begins in frenzy and stays there for 70 increasingly exhausting minutes (1:10). Walkerspace, 46 Walker Street, TriBeCa, theamoralists.com. (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)
‘Gertrude, the Cry’ In this PTP/NYC production, the British playwright Howard Barker has recalibrated “Hamlet” as a study of sexual obsession. That titular cry? Her orgasm. The script and the production, directed by Richard Romagnoli, focus almost wholly on Gertrude’s body, particularly her legs. The emphasis on eroticism is so unstinting that it grows tedious, even silly. Couldn’t the lady protest just a little (2:20)? Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, 866-811-4111, ptpnyc.org. (Soloski)
★ ‘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 Lightning Thief’ This new musical, based on the popular young-adult novel, follows an unlikely sixth-grade hero as he battles monsters in a magical quest. This free show is part of the Theatreworks summer program (1:00). Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher Street, West Village, 212-627-7373, twusa.org. (Jaworowski)
‘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)
‘Mala Hierba’ Tanya Saracho’s telenovela-ish drama concerns the troubled life of a Mexican-American woman, Lili (Marta Milans) married to a rich but abusive older man. She’s tempted to flee with a former lover (Roberta Colindrez) but guilt about the fate of her extended family, also supported by her husband, holds her in check. Ana Nogueira gives a standout performance as Lili’s noxious, spoiled stepdaughter (1:30). Second Stage Uptown at McGinn/Cazale Theater, 2162 Broadway, at 76th Street, fourth floor, 212-246-4422, 2st.com. (Isherwood)
‘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)
★ ‘Pentecost’ In David Edgar’s resonant, audacious 1994 drama, produced by PTP/NYC, a couple of scholars discover a fresco predating Giotto and upending Renaissance art history. As directed by Cheryl Faraone, the show is at once wholly self-assured and a bit of a mess — though even at its untidiest, it’s clever and engaging, a play that excites the intelligence of the audience rather than insulting it (2:45). Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, 866-811-4111, ptpnyc.org. (Soloski)
★ ‘The Pianist of Willesden Lane’ The classical pianist Mona Golabek portrays her mother, Lisa Jura — also a classical pianist — in this deeply affecting memoir-once-removed about Jura’s tumultuous youth in Vienna and London during World War II. Hershey Felder provides the graceful adaptation and direction (1:45). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Isherwood)
‘Picture Ourselves in Latvia’ The humor in Ross Howard’s comedy about a British psychiatric hospital doesn’t quite catch fire, but the show has a promising Monty Pythonesque tone. It’s also nice to see hospital staff members who are needier than their patients (1:35). Access Theater, 380 Broadway, at White Street, TriBeCa, 212-966-1047, newlighttheaterproject.com. (Gates)
‘Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story’ This gorgeously tuneful jukebox musical expertly taps songwriter Bert Berns’s voluminous catalog. With orchestra and cast giving fresh vibrancy and dimension to “Twist and Shout,” “I Want Candy” and other familiar songs, the show’s shortcomings — Daniel Goldfarb’s somewhat hokey book; Denis Jones’s direction, more focused on musical numbers than storytelling — matter less than they otherwise would (2:20). Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, Clinton, 212-279-4200, pieceofmyheartmusical.com. (Laura Collins-Hughes)
‘The Qualification of Douglas Evans’ A mildly pervy and awfully self-pitying bildungsroman, Derek Ahonen’s play, produced by the Amoralists, follows a writer from a fraught childhood to his literary success and alcoholic collapse. The director James Kautz works in the troupe’s heightened style, which often confuses shouting with acting. Mr. Kautz also includes several moments of interpretive dance — rarely a good idea (2:25). Walkerspace, 46 Walker Street, TriBeCa, theamoralists.com. (Soloski)
‘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. (Gates)
‘Summer Shorts: Series A’ Warren Leight’s sweetly despairing “Sec. 310, Row D, Seats 5 and 6,” about three Knicks fans wallowing in basketball catastrophe, is the highlight of this one-act series. Male friendship is also the subject of Roger Hedden’s “The Sky and the Limit,” while a mourning couple is the focus of Eric Lane’s “Riverbed” (1:30). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Soloski)
‘They Call Me Q’ This one-woman show follows an Indian immigrant as she comes to terms with America, her identity and her meddling parents (1:00). St. Luke’s Theater, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, theycallmeqshow.com. (Jaworowski)
‘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)
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. (Collins-Hughes)
‘Play/Date’ Best of luck listening in on the many intimate one-acts that make up this clever and frustrating show, which ponders connection and disconnection through the lens of bar-scene dating and technology. Written by 17 playwrights, it’s staged on three levels of a Lower East Side lounge. Intended as an immersive adventure, it is instead an obstacle-strewn exercise in thwarted acoustics (2:00). Fat Baby, 112 Rivington Street, at Essex Street, Lower East Side, playdateshow.com. (Collins-Hughes)
‘Strictly Dishonorable’ A clever if ultimately conservative comedy of sexual morality, this 1929 speakeasy-set Preston Sturges play concerns the romance between a virginal Southerner and a louche Italian tenor. It’s love at first sip. Or more likely just lust. The director Laura Braza offers an appealing if somewhat uneven production, but the leads — Michael Labbadia and Keilly McQuail — are attractive and impulsive (2:00). Flea Theater, 41 White Street, TriBeCa, 212-352-3101, theflea.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
‘Heathers: The Musical’ (closes on Monday) 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 Religion Thing’ (closes on Friday) 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. 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 setup, 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, 212-352-3101, brownpapertickets.com. (Daniel M. Gold)