Greenwich Village events: Concerts, parties, readings and more

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.

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).

Josh Sharp has been a pillar of the queer alt-comedy scene in New York, often working alongside his partner in subversive humor, Aaron Jackson, with whom he co-created the memorably outré 2023 movie Dicks: The Musical. Now he goes it alone, riding the recent vogue for comedic Off Broadway solo shows, with a collection of stories and jokes set to a massive PowerPoint presentation that includes some 2,000 screens to be clicked through. Will he slip on all those slides? Find out in a what is sure to be a manically amusing evening, directed by Oh, Mary!'s newly be-Tonyed Sam Pinkleton. 

The very busy Shayok Misha Chowdhury (Public Obscenities) directs the first major New York restaging of this 1985 Pulitzer Prize finalist: a Pentecostal gospel retelling of Sophocles's Oedipus story by librettist Lee Breuer (of the venerable avant-garde troupe Mabou Mines) and composer Bob Telson. "Duke of Gospel" James Hall is the music director and choir leader; the cast includes Stephanie Berry (in the preacher role originated by Morgan Freeman), Davóne Tines and Frank Senior as Oedipus, gospel singer Kim Burrell as Theseus, Samantha Howard as Antigone, Ayana George Jackson as Ismene, Jon-Michael Reese as Polyneices, Dr. Kevin Bond as Creon, Brandon Michael Nase as Balladeer and R&B artist Serpentwithfeet as Friend. 

The widow of a great photographer faces a dilemma when she discovers a trove of artistically exceptional nudes taken by her husband, but their now-adult subject—who she was underage when the seuxally suggestive photos were taken—demands that they be destroyed. The script is by veteran TV drama writer Terry Curtis Fox; his daughter, Avra Fox‑Lerner, makes her directorial debut with a cast that comprises Jane Ives, Susan Bennett, Yuval Boim, James Jelkin and ​Ivy Rose. 

The Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog) and her band, the Joyful Noise, share original songs and short plays in a Little Island summer hangout billed as "a punk-couture medicine show for the people." Frequent Parks collaborator Niegel Smith directs; guests at the party include Rona Figueroa, Leland Fowler, Danyel Fulton, Lance Coadie Williams and tap queen Ayodele Casel.

The internationally acclaimed operatic countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo (Akhnaten) plays the titular demented opera diva in a rare revival of a 1983 comic melodrama by Ridiculous Theatrical Company's queer auteur Charles Ludlam. Eric Ting (The Comeuppance) directs this outdoor production, which is the final major offering of Little Island's ambitious 2025 summer season.