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 Bike in 2014.

Matt Rodin stars as a queer country singer-songwriter named Ace who connects with his gruff grandfather (previously believed to be dead) in this original musical with words by Douglas Lyons (Chicken and Biscuits) and music by Ethan D. Pakchar. The storytelling moves between Ace's adult life and the sexually confusing adolescence that he draws on for many of his songs. Josh Rhodes (Spamalot) directs and choreographs; the cast of eight actor-musicians also includes Chris Blisset, Amelia Cormack, Cory Jeacoma, Matt Wolpe, Miyuki Miyagi, Derek J. Stoltenberg and Andrea Goss.

Angel Kaba directs and choreographs this survey of hip-hop dance, from the mean streets of the Bronx to the world's most prestigious platforms. A cast of ten guides the audience through dance styles including breaking, house, lite feet, popping, locking, krump and body percussion. After a popular engagement last winter, the production returns to Theater 555 for an encore. 

Nepo baby and grandbaby Ella Stiller plays the titular role—a privileged young woman who spirals out in the wake of an ex-classmate's death—in Julia Randall’s intimate new play, in which Stiller shares the stage with two other young rising stars: Chiara Aurelia (Hysteria!) and Christopher Briney (The Summer I Turned Pretty). Alex Keegan directs the world premiere. 

Rock me, Amadeus! The suave Ryan Silverman—familiar to Broadway audiences for his stint of Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera and his many, many tours of duty as Billy Flynn in Chicago —plays Mozart's infamous seducer, murderer and all-around bad boy in a reinvention of the classic opera, featuring a new English translation and rock orchestrations by director Adam B. Levowitz. The principal cast also includes Rachel Zatcoff as Donna Elvira, Anchal Dhir as Donna Anna, Felipe Bombonato as Don Ottavio, Richard Coleman as Leporello and Edwin Jhamaal Davis as the Commander.

Jay Ellis (Insecure) and Stephanie Nur (Lioness) play an unlikely couple—he's a hip-hop superstar, she's an Afghani translator working in Kabul—in a new drama by Charles Randolph-Wright (Blue). Warren Adams directs the NYC premiere, whose cast also includes a pair of formidable stage vets, Noma Dumezweni (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and Dariush Kashani (Oslo).

Before Mean Girls there was Heathers, a pitch-black comedy about how high-school popularity can be murder. Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe'S 2014 musical based on that film now returns Off Broadway in a revised version, directed by the U.K.'s Andy Fickman, that is likely to appeal to newcomers as well as to the show's loyal fans (known as Corn Nuts, after one character's dying words). Heathers tells the story of a nice girl named Veronica who falls into the bad company of three cruel student dictators and a sociopathic newcomer who wants to rid the school of their ilk. The impressive cast includes Lorna Courtney (& Juliet), Casey Likes (Back to the Future), McKenzie Kurtz (Frozen), Olivia Hardy, Elizabeth Teeter and Broadway comic treasure Kerry Butler (Xanadu).

The story of Joy Mangano, a young single mother who cleaned up as the inventor and entrepreneur of a self-wringing mop, already inspired a 2015 film that earned Jennifer Lawrence an Oscar nomination. Now it is the subject of an original musical with a book by producer Ken Davenport and a score by AnnMarie Milazzo (with additional material by Amanda Yesnowitz), starring Betsy Wolfe (& Juliet) in the title role. Lorin Lotarro, best known as the accomplished Broadway choreographer of shows including Tommy and The Heart of Rock and Roll, takes on directing duties here and leaves the dances to Smash man Joshua Bergasse; the large cast also includes Jill Abramovitz, Charl Brown, Adam Grupper, Brandon Espinoza, Honor Blue Savage, Paul Whitty, Gabriela Carrillo and Jaygee Macapugay.

Jodi Balfour (For All Mankind) stars as a would-be actress who returns to her rural hometown and strikes up a relationship with an ankle-braceleted outcast, played by Babak Tafti, in a dark romantic comedy by Abby Rosebrock (Blue Ridge). Jo Bonney directs the world premiere at the Atlantic, which commissioned the play; Keith Kupferer completes the small cast.

Journalist-playwright Sophie Treadwell's expressionist 1928 drama stars Katherine Winter as a woman whose attempts to escape society's gears result in madness and homicide. Amy Marie Seidel directs a revival that prominently features tap dance and other stylized movement by choreographer Madison Hilligoss; the production marks the Off Broadway debut of the socially conscious classics troupe New York Theatre Company. 

Jethro Compton's stage Western returns to the source material of John Ford's famous 1962 film—a short story by Dorothy M. Johnson—to tell the tale of an educated do-gooder who faces off against the gang of outlaws who have terrorized a small town. The Onomatopoeia Theatre Company's Thomas R. Gordon directs a return engagement of the show's 2022 NYC production. Leighton Samuels reprises his central role, joined by original castmates Samuel Shurtleff, Daniel Kornegay, Derek Jack Chariton and Scott Zimmerman as well as newcomers Emily Cummings, Mari Blake, Ben-David Carlson and Dillon Collins. 

Classical Theatre of Harlem's annual series of free outdoor performances in Marcus Garvey Park—also known as Uptown Shakespeare in the Park—presents an original neoclassical work by playwright Will Power and director Carl Cofield, who also collaborated on CTH's 2021 summer offering, the Richard III riff Seize the King. The play focuses on a figure who is often overlooked in tales of the Trojan War: the Ethiopian king and demigod Memnon—not to be confused with the Greek king Agamemnon—who led a large contingent in Troy's defense before falling to that notorious heel Achilles. Eric Berryman essays the title role, flanked by a cast that includes Andrea Patterson, Jesse J. Perez as Priam, David Darrow and Jesse Corbin. Tickets are free but reservations are strongly suggested.

You've heard of merch for musicals; here comes a musical for merch! In Michael David Lee and David L. Tolley's inspired by the logo of the children's apparel brand Mr. Puppy, Joseph Keegan plays a venturesome toy dog—toy as in stuffed, not as in breed—who escapes the store shelf to explore the world beyond. The world premiere is directed and choreographed by Legs Diamond survivor Jonathan S. Cerullo; the multiculti cast also includes Jamiel T. Burkhart, Anja Vasa, Beatriz Coronel and Mariko Kai. 

Writer-performer Carl Holder places himself at the mercy of a bowl of index cards—drawn at random to determine what truthful or daring thing he must do next—in a piece that mixes performance with parlor game. The audience of 30 holds him to his word and helps determine his fate. Skylar Fox directs an event that is guaranteed to never be the same show twice. 

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

Writer-director Layon Gray, who has previously delved into Black history in such plays as the long-running Black Angels Over Tuskegee, explores tensions within the African-American community in an ambitious work that looks at one family in three different cultural moments: the Jim Crow period, the Civil Rights era and the eve of the Obama presidency. (The title refers to an apocryphal speech by an 18th-century slave owner that describes how to foster intra-Black discord.)

Danya Taymor, who has recently rocketed to A-list status as the Tony-winning director of The Outsiders and John Proctor Is the Villain, helms another depiction of teenage confusion: Emmanuelle Mattana's satirical portrait of a debating team at an all-boys school that is preparing for a final match on the subject of whether feminism has failed women. Mattana also co-stars with three other female or nonbinary performers: Esco Jouléy, Terry Hu and Louisa Jacobson, who plays the unforgettable whatsername—you know, the blonde one who is someone's niece or something—on HBO's The Gilded Age.

Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More gave up the ghost last fall after 14 years, but fans of that immersive theatrical experience have a new show to tide them over: a smaller-scale work by Punchdrunk founder Felix Barrett that invites audience members to move barefoot through a labyrinthine installation inspired by Barry Pain’s 1901 gothic short story “The Moon-Slave," as adapted by the acclaimed British writer Daisy Johnson. Participants wear headphones and are guided through the 50-minute experience at the Shed via narration in the voice of Helena Bonham Carter. 

Stacey O’Brien 2008 memoir Wesley the Owl is the inspiration for Scott Steidl and Mark Hantoot's musical about a rock musician who forms a long-term bond with an injured bird she takes under her wing. Mary Duncan directs the production; Andrianna Ayala and Daniel Sanchez lead the cast.