This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/theater/5-must-see-shows-if-youre-in-new-york-this-month.html

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
5 Must-See Shows if You’re in New York This Month 5 Must-See Shows if You’re in New York This Month
(about 9 hours later)
Jesse Green, the new co-chief theater critic for The New York Times, was the theater critic and a feature writer for New York magazine. You can follow him on Twitter (@JesseKGreen) and Facebook (jesse.green.critic).Jesse Green, the new co-chief theater critic for The New York Times, was the theater critic and a feature writer for New York magazine. You can follow him on Twitter (@JesseKGreen) and Facebook (jesse.green.critic).
Broadway is a bully in April, stealing attention, if not lunch money, from theater everywhere else in the city. But with the end of the bigfoot season on April 27 — the date by which productions must have opened to compete for this June’s Tony Awards — it’s once again safe for the smart, weird shows to come out and play.Broadway is a bully in April, stealing attention, if not lunch money, from theater everywhere else in the city. But with the end of the bigfoot season on April 27 — the date by which productions must have opened to compete for this June’s Tony Awards — it’s once again safe for the smart, weird shows to come out and play.
Aside from revivals of established masterworks, including the Sondheim-Weidman musical “Pacific Overtures,” at Classic Stage Company, and Beckett’s “Happy Days,” at Theater for a New Audience, May looks to be hospitable to a wide range of proudly oddball productions, Off Broadway and beyond. Here are five that I’m especially looking forward to on my first day as the new co-chief theater critic here at The New York Times.Aside from revivals of established masterworks, including the Sondheim-Weidman musical “Pacific Overtures,” at Classic Stage Company, and Beckett’s “Happy Days,” at Theater for a New Audience, May looks to be hospitable to a wide range of proudly oddball productions, Off Broadway and beyond. Here are five that I’m especially looking forward to on my first day as the new co-chief theater critic here at The New York Times.
Suzan-Lori Parks is making the most of her role as a playwright in residence at the Signature Theater. A revival of her “The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World” was a highlight of the fall; since then, she’s frequently been found making music in the Signature’s convivial lobby with her band, Sula and the Noise.Suzan-Lori Parks is making the most of her role as a playwright in residence at the Signature Theater. A revival of her “The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World” was a highlight of the fall; since then, she’s frequently been found making music in the Signature’s convivial lobby with her band, Sula and the Noise.
Next up is a revival of this 1996 drama about Saartjie Baartman, an African woman “of singular anatimy” who was exhibited in 19th-century European freak shows as the “Hottentot Venus.” (Zainab Jah, who played the warrior in “Eclipsed,” stars as Baartman; Lear deBessonet directs.) For Ms. Parks, drama is tangible, starting with the skin; no wonder she calls her Signature year a process of “resurrecting my body of work.”Next up is a revival of this 1996 drama about Saartjie Baartman, an African woman “of singular anatimy” who was exhibited in 19th-century European freak shows as the “Hottentot Venus.” (Zainab Jah, who played the warrior in “Eclipsed,” stars as Baartman; Lear deBessonet directs.) For Ms. Parks, drama is tangible, starting with the skin; no wonder she calls her Signature year a process of “resurrecting my body of work.”
Tickets: signaturetheatre.orgTickets: signaturetheatre.org
In 1954 it apparently seemed like a profitable notion to reset the story of Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” in Washington State, circa 1900, and turn it into a musical. The result was a three-month Broadway bomb. Still, over time, the delicious through-composed score by Jerome Moross and John LaTouche, along with Mr. LaTouche’s clever book (Paris is a traveling salesman who runs off with Helen after an apple-pie-baking contest) turned the bomb into a cult. In 1954 it apparently seemed like a profitable notion to reset the story of Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” in Washington State, circa 1900, and turn it into a musical. The result was a three-month Broadway bomb. Still, over time, the delicious through-composed score by Jerome Moross and John Latouche, along with Mr. Latouche’s clever book (Paris is a traveling salesman who runs off with Helen after an apple-pie-baking contest) turned the bomb into a cult.
Who knows what this Encores! concert production, directed by Michael Berresse and starring Lindsay Mendez as Helen, and Ryan Silverman as Ulysses, may do for the show’s reputation? In any case, the chance to hear the lush songs (including the standard “Lazy Afternoon”) in their full orchestrations is probably, sadly, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.Who knows what this Encores! concert production, directed by Michael Berresse and starring Lindsay Mendez as Helen, and Ryan Silverman as Ulysses, may do for the show’s reputation? In any case, the chance to hear the lush songs (including the standard “Lazy Afternoon”) in their full orchestrations is probably, sadly, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Tickets: nycitycenter.orgTickets: nycitycenter.org
Rachel Dolezal notwithstanding, most people don’t get to choose their race — or, therefore, what kind of racism they will experience or engender. That limitation on our power of perspective is temporarily corrected in this immersive production, conceived and written by James Scruggs, in which audience members, before entering a “dystopian theme park” called SupremacyLand, decide at the door what race they will be. (And no, you can’t change your mind once you’re in.) Incorporating large-scale video, text and music, the work (directed by Tamilla Woodard and Kareem Fahmy, at 3LD Art & Technology Center) may not be for the interactively squeamish, but perhaps that’s part of the point.Rachel Dolezal notwithstanding, most people don’t get to choose their race — or, therefore, what kind of racism they will experience or engender. That limitation on our power of perspective is temporarily corrected in this immersive production, conceived and written by James Scruggs, in which audience members, before entering a “dystopian theme park” called SupremacyLand, decide at the door what race they will be. (And no, you can’t change your mind once you’re in.) Incorporating large-scale video, text and music, the work (directed by Tamilla Woodard and Kareem Fahmy, at 3LD Art & Technology Center) may not be for the interactively squeamish, but perhaps that’s part of the point.
Tickets: 3ldnyc.orgTickets: 3ldnyc.org
A built-in paradox of theater is that for all its immediacy in the playhouse, it can take forever to get there. That’s just one reason that this new drama by Robert Schenkkan (“The Kentucky Cycle,” “All The Way”) is an outlier and potentially a tonic. Written in one week and in a “white-hot fury,” as Mr. Schenkkan told The Times, it is a speculative fiction, set in 2019, in which a journalist (Tamara Tunie) interviews a Trump administration official (James Badge Dale) who is awaiting sentencing for his role in deporting immigrants after a terrorist attack.A built-in paradox of theater is that for all its immediacy in the playhouse, it can take forever to get there. That’s just one reason that this new drama by Robert Schenkkan (“The Kentucky Cycle,” “All The Way”) is an outlier and potentially a tonic. Written in one week and in a “white-hot fury,” as Mr. Schenkkan told The Times, it is a speculative fiction, set in 2019, in which a journalist (Tamara Tunie) interviews a Trump administration official (James Badge Dale) who is awaiting sentencing for his role in deporting immigrants after a terrorist attack.
Whether the speed of composition will prove to have served the drama remains to be seen, but the speed with which it is reaching audiences is already impressive. Aside from this New York production, directed by Ari Edelson at New World Stages, five theaters have taken it up or are scheduled to present it in the coming months.Whether the speed of composition will prove to have served the drama remains to be seen, but the speed with which it is reaching audiences is already impressive. Aside from this New York production, directed by Ari Edelson at New World Stages, five theaters have taken it up or are scheduled to present it in the coming months.
Tickets: buildingthewallplay.comTickets: buildingthewallplay.com
Gina Gionfriddo, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for both “Becky Shaw” and “Rapture, Blister, Burn,” has a scalding ear for satire. But there’s also something classical about the way she sets up and complicates her premises; the apparently humble but actually rather conniving title character of “Becky Shaw” couldn’t help invoking the similarly named Becky Sharp in Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair.”Gina Gionfriddo, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for both “Becky Shaw” and “Rapture, Blister, Burn,” has a scalding ear for satire. But there’s also something classical about the way she sets up and complicates her premises; the apparently humble but actually rather conniving title character of “Becky Shaw” couldn’t help invoking the similarly named Becky Sharp in Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair.”
Likewise, her latest play, about a woman unable to choose what kind of life (and man) to make, may remind you of the 1864 Trollope novel with which it shares a title. Not a bad model. Amber Tamblyn, making her New York stage debut, stars, along with the Off Broadway familiars Darren Pettie, Frank Wood and Ella Dershowitz, under the direction of Peter DuBois at the Vineyard Theater.Likewise, her latest play, about a woman unable to choose what kind of life (and man) to make, may remind you of the 1864 Trollope novel with which it shares a title. Not a bad model. Amber Tamblyn, making her New York stage debut, stars, along with the Off Broadway familiars Darren Pettie, Frank Wood and Ella Dershowitz, under the direction of Peter DuBois at the Vineyard Theater.
Tickets: vineyardtheatre.orgTickets: vineyardtheatre.org