Off Broadway shows, reviews, tickets and listings

A determined young woman doggedly pursues the uninterested object of her affections—whose hand in marriage she has been granted by a grateful king—in Shakespeare's rarely produced comedy, a romance so problematic that its title verges on sarcasm. Stephen Burdman directs this peripatetic production for his industrious New York Classical Theatre; the cast of eight includes Anique Clements as the dauntless Helena, Paul Deo Jr. as the heedless Bertram, Karel Heřmánek Jr. as the feckless Parolles and Nick Salamone and Carine Montbertran as well-intentioned nobles. The show kicks off in Central Park (June 3–22) before moving east to Carl Schurz Park (June 24–29) and south to Battery Park (July 1–6). Attendance is free, but reservations are suggested.

Studio Seaview takes possession of the Tony Kiser Theatre—until recently home to Second Stage—with a high-profile inaugural offering. The Office's supremely likable John Krasinski stars in the New York debut of a 2018 monodrama by the U.K.'s Penelope Skinner, which charts what happens when a seemingly affable fellow who falls into a snake pit of online men's-rights activism and incel rage. The production reunites Skinner with director Sam Gold (An Enemy of the People), who directed her dark sex comedy The Village Bikein 2014.

National Black Theatre sets sail at the Flea with the NYC premiere of a nautical expedition by the late Aishah Rahman, a playwright and author associated with the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The play looks at colorism within the Black community, as manifested on a singles cruise—stewarded by an incranation of the African trickster spirit Papa Legba—on which all the men are considered undesirably dark-skinned. Abigail jean-baptiste directs a cast that includes Paige Gilbert, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Lance Coadie Williams, Sidney DuPont, Gayle Samuels, Abenaa Quïïn and TL Thompson. (A limited number of "Pick Your Price" tickets, ranging from $5 to $25, are available at each performance.)

Writer-director Gail Kriegel's world-premiere drama depicts a teenager who manifests severe mental illness and the toll that her ordeal exacts from the family that loves her. Katherine Reis plays the interrupted girl; the cast of 11 also includes Pamela Bob and Bart Shatto as her parents, Paul Castree as her uncle and Blaire Dimisa as her kid sister. 

The Signature gives Hadestown a run for its money with a different reworking of the classic Greek myth of underworld journeys: Sarah Ruhl's 2003 drama, which shifts the story's emphasis from Orpheus's disastrous restrospection to focus on Eurydice's relationship with her dead father. Famous daughter Maya Hawke plays the title role, joined by Brian d'Arcy James, Caleb Eberhardt and T. Ryder Smith in the other principal roles and a trio of three-named actors—Maria Elena Ramirez, David Ryan Smith and Jon Norman Schneider—as the chorus of stones. Les Waters (Dana H.), who directed the original production, returns to take a look back.

NSangou Njikam's solo hip-hop theater show was part of the Atlantic's 2023 readings series (Writ)ual MixFest and was slated to premiere at the theater last fall before getting bumped by a schedule change. Now Njikam finally brings what is billed as "a mix of poetry, ministry, and magic" to the stage, joined by DJ Monday Blue, in a production directed by Dennis A. Allen II.

Red Bull Theater, which pumps new blood into the classics, takes charge of Molière's classic 17th-century farce about a serial hypochondriac at the mercy of opportunistic quacks. Mark Linn-Baker (Perfect Strangers) plays the title role—which, ironically enough, Molière himself played when he was actually fatally ill—joined by Sarah Stiles, Arnie Burton, Manoel Felciano, Emily Swallow, Russell Daniels, Emilie Kouatchou and John Yi. Red Bull honcho Jesse Berger directs the world premiere of Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation (from a new translation by Mirabelle Ordinaire). 

Coming off two successive Oscar nominations for acting in film, Colman Domingo returns to his stage roots as the co-author—with director Patricia McGregor—of a biodrama that examines a pivotal night in the life of the pioneering Black recording artist and TV star Nat "King" Cole. Dulé Hill (The West Wing) plays Cole and Daniel J. Watts (Tina) plays Sammy Davis Jr.; the ace supporting cast includes Krystal Joy Brown, Kenita Miller, Kathy Fitzgerald, Christopher Ryan Grant, Ruby Lewis, Elliott Mattox, Mekhi Richardson and Walter Russell III. Cole standards such as “Nature Boy,” “Smile” and “Unforgettable" are newly arranged by musical supervisor John McDaniel, and Edgar Godineaux and Jared Grimes step in as the choreographers.

In this gentle two-hander by Donald Margulies (Dinner with Friends), longtime New York stage favorites Reed Birney and Lisa Emery play septuagenarian Kentucky spouses looking up the heavens and back on their lives—including some parts that have long been cast in shadow . Kate Whoriskey directs the New York premiere for Second Stage Theater.

You can head to Central Park to see Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night in August, courtesy of the Public Theater. First, though, the Public is taking Shakespeare to you as its Mobile Unit travels through all five boroughs with a stripped-down and musicalized version of Shakespeare's war-of-the-sexes comedy Much Ado About Nothing, in which sparks fly between a pair of witty enemies who clearly have the hots for each other. This accessible Latin-flavored version, which incorporates some Spanish, represents the third straight Mobile Unit collaboration between director Rebecca Martinez and songwriter Julian Mesri; Nathan M. Ramsey and Keren Lugo play the squabbling wits. The tour begins at Astor Place (May 29–31) and Bryant Park (June 3–8) before wending its way through the rest of the city; a full schedule is on the Public's website.

After hit runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in the West End, the twentysomething British writer-performer Rob Madge was scheduled to bring their solo show to Broadway in 2024, but those plans fell through. Now, at last, Madge makes the leap across the pond—if only for a weekend jaunt—in a Pride Month engagement at City Center. Expect a joyful exploration of queer childhood and family love as Madge extends their penchant for dress-up into adulthood.

Six sexually nonconforming performers imagine life under queer royal rule in a counterfactual metatheatrical comedy by Canada's Jordan Tannahill, directed by the very busy Shayok Misha Chowdhury (Public Obscenities) for Soho Rep at Playwrights Horizons. The ensemble cast comprises K. Todd Freeman, John McCrea, Rachel Crowl, Mihir Kumar, N’yomi Allure Stewart and recent New York Drama Critics' Circle Award lifetime-achievement honoree David Greenspan. 

Company XIV's seductive take on Alice in Wonderland is a singular sexcess: a transporting fusion of haute burlesque, circus, dance and song. Impresario Austin McCormick has assembled an array of alluring and highly skilled artists, who look smashing in Zane Pihlstrom's lace-and-crystal-encrusted costumes. With its soundtrack of pop songs, attractive ensemble cast and immersive aesthetics—plus chocolate and specialty cocktails—Queen of Hearts feels like Moulin Rouge! for actual bohemians. Hell, it even has a cancan.—Raven Snook