Off Broadway shows, reviews, tickets and listings

This thrilling reconception of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical not only rescues Cats from the oversize junkyard but lifts it to unexpected heights. Directors Zhailon Levingston and PAC’s Bill Rauch embrace the musical’s inherent strangeness by absorbing it into queerness: The show’s secret ball for cats is now a ballroom runway competition of the kind recently visited by TV’s Pose and Legendary. This concept—let’s call it Paris Is Purring—is ideal for the musical’s revue-like structure, and the show’s wispy plot is clearer than it has ever been. The fur truly flies.—Adam Feldman

Scott Ehrenpreis delves into his own experience of living with multiple mental challenges—including autism, OCD, bipolar disorder, social anxiety and depression—in a solo show written and directed for him by Jason Cannon. Expect humor along with heartbreak as the actor explores the sense of safety he finds only onstage. 

Writer-performer Nora Burns (of the funny troupe Unitard) recalls painting New York City pink with her gay best friend, who died of AIDS in 1993, in a bittersweet comedic memoir. Adam Pivirotto directs the multimedia production, which features adult film performer Ricky Roman and runs in rep with Burns's The Village! A Disco Daydream. 

This annual festival celebrates those vigorous American salmon preparing to swim into the shoals of the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Among the many selections are Brian Parks's heist play Plotters, Sydney Green's afterlife poker match The Gospel of Joan (Crawford), Brian Dykstra's true-lit comedy Polishing Shakespeare and multiple solo works, including Brian Epstein's Alone on Stage, Tracey Yarad's All These Pretty Things, Gianna Milici's musical Pretty Delusional and Sarina Freda's trippy no no no please no god no, nevermind i'm fine. Each show runs for just two or three performances; visit the East to Edinburgh web page for a full list of 2024 offerings. 

The pride of the New York skyline, the Empire State Building, is the subject of Caroline Sherman and Robert Hull's original musical, which looks at the archetypical skyscraper in three different time periods: the 1920s, when it was conceived; the Great Depression, when it was built; and the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976. Tony-winning actress Cady Huffman directs a cast of 20 in the world premiere. 

Community-theater performers in upstate New York scamble to deal with a deranged star in the world premiere of a dark comedy by actor Ryan Spahn (developed with an assist from his longtime companion, fellow actor Michael Urie). Director Knud Adams stages the play in the actual green room of the Christopher Street theater space that used to be the New Ohio, for an audience of just 40 people; the cast comprises Jack Difalco, Mallory Portnoy, Dana Scurlock and stage vet Lou Liberatore (Burn This).

The Classical Theatre of Harlem returns to Marcus Garvey Park with a free, fun and fabulous production of Shakespeare's summer frolic, set by Carl Cofield in the Harlem Renaissance. Lovestruck humans and fairies chase each other around a two-tiered set that shifts from a '30s nightspot to enchanted forest. The seductive visuals are complemented by a high-energy ensemble of performers who act in broad strokes so that Shakespeare neophytes don't get lost in the poetry.—Raven Snook

Holland Taylor (Ann) and Ana Villafañe (On Your Feet) play Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, respectively, in a political two-hander by Mario Correa that looks at the tensions and commonalities between the longtime Democratic leader and the idealistic young Congresswoman from New York. Diane Paulus (Pippin) directs the world premiere. 

If Bill Irwin, the greatest clown in America, wants to talk to you at length about Samuel Beckett, you pick up your bowler hat and go. Irwin has a rubber face and liquid limbs, and he’s got the writer’s cadences ground deep into his brain. In a swift 78 minutes, he performs sections of Texts for Nothing, Watt and Waiting for Godot to discuss Beckett’s Anglo-Irish–via-French lilt, his “charged and mobile” pronouns and his use of vaudevillian silhouette. The impression is of an intimate but very careful love; if Irwin doesn’t quite give us Beckett’s cold darkness, at least he offers us the warmth of a votive flame.—Helen Shaw

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

A hip Italian-American Upper West Sider strikes unexpected sparks with her knish-making Orthodox Jewish neighbor in this musical romcom by Cary Gitter and Neil Berg. Joe Brancato directs the NYC debut for Penguin Rep—which also premiered Gitter's nonmusical version of the same show in early 2020. Lauren Singerman and Max Wolkowitz lead the cast of five.

Nora Burns, of the tight-knit comedy troupe Unitard, blends Greenwich Village with Our Town in an original musical set in New York City in 1979. Adam Pivirotto directs a diverse cast of ten, and Robin Carrigan choreographs the feverish moves. After buzzy short runs in the past two years, the show returns for an encores at SoHo Playhouse, where it plays in rep with Burns's memoir David's Friend.