Things to do near the Empire State Building

Theater review by Sandy MacDonald In the two decades since its Public Theater debut, Suzan-Lori Parks’s Venus has lost none of its power to unsettle and appall. If anything, the story of Saartjie Baartman’s exploitation at the hands of early-19th-century human traffickers—some venal, some high-minded—has gained in shock value. Its current revival, directed by Lear deBessonet as part of Parks’s retrospective residency at the Signature, is devastating. A young Khoikhoi woman from southern Africa, Baartman (Zainab Jah) traveled to London in 1810 with visions of earning a mint as a “dancing African princess”; instead, dubbed the Hottentot Venus, she became a celebrated attraction at the freak shows then in vogue. The focus was on her formidable, steatopygous rump (conveyed here by a skin-toned bodysuit that is donned in plain sight): poke-bait to curiosity seekers of all castes. At the Venus’s unveiling, a septet of ensemble cast members are done up as Crayola-coiffed toffs. Who are the real freaks here? If the first act seems mannered and arch, beware: You’re being set up. Returning from intermission, you’ll come upon John Ellison Conlee as the Baron Docteur—a composite character based on comparative anatomist Georges Cuvier—reading excerpts from a postmortem report. Parks extrapolates the exotic-erotic nature of the Venus Hottentot phenomenon into a sexual relationship between the scientist and his subject. Act Two begins in a dreamy Paris hotel room, where the doctor plies

Hamilton: Theater review by David Cote What is left to say? After Founding Father Alexander Hamilton’s prodigious quill scratched out 12 volumes of nation-building fiscal and military policy; after Lin-Manuel Miranda turned that titanic achievement (via Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography) into the greatest American musical in decades; after every critic in town (including me) praised the Public Theater world premiere to high heaven; and after seeing this language-drunk, rhyme-crazy dynamo a second time, I can only marvel: We've used up all the damn words. Wait, here are three stragglers, straight from the heart: I love Hamilton. I love it like I love New York, or Broadway when it gets it right. And this is so right. A sublime conjunction of radio-ready hip-hop (as well as R&B, Britpop and trad showstoppers), under-dramatized American history and Miranda’s uniquely personal focus as a first-generation Puerto Rican and inexhaustible wordsmith, Hamilton hits multilevel culture buttons, hard. No wonder the show was anointed a sensation before even opening. Assuming you don’t know the basics, ­Hamilton is a (mostly) rapped-through biomusical about an orphan immigrant from the Caribbean who came to New York, served as secretary to General Washington, fought against the redcoats, authored most of the Federalist Papers defending the Constitution, founded the Treasury and the New York Post and even made time for an extramarital affair that he damage-controlled in a scandal-stanching pamp

Dave Malloy's dazzlingly eclectic rock-pop musical, adapted from a portion of Tolstoy's War and Peace, conveys its story of high-society Muscovites in stirring and surprising ways. Directed by Rachel Chavkin, this Broadway transfer of the 2012 Off Broadway hit stars global-sensation singer Josh Groban and newcomer Denée Benton. (Note: Malloy returns to the role of Pierre from May 4 through May 9, during Groban's scheduled vacation.) Read the full review.

Theater review by Jenna Scherer There are two kinds of people at a magic show: Those who like to be tricked, and those who fancy themselves untrickable. Wherever you land on this spectrum, it will be hard not to be at least a bit bowled over by Secret, the latest from "psychological magician" Derren Brown. Though he's a sizable celeb in his native Britain, thanks to his numerous TV specials on Channel 4, Brown is less well-known in the States. But it's easy to see why he's developed such a following in the U.K.: He oozes confidence and charisma, the kind you don't quite trust but can't turn away from nonetheless. In Secret, he uses a combination of psychological manipulation, hypnosis and old-fashioned misdirection to spin a web around his audience. It’s hard to describe the show in detail without giving away the game—and a grand game it is—but suffice to say, it's a combination of jaw-dropping "How did he do that?" moments and inspirational speeches that veer dangerously close to the litanies of motivational speakers (perhaps the most influential flimflam artists of our age). Brown is of two minds about all of this: He both wants to wow you with his sleight of mind and debunk the notion that mysticism and divination hold any water. But he takes such obvious pleasure in inspiring wonder at his tricks that it's hard to believe he isn't a believer himself. However you feel about Brown and his mental machinations, what transpires in Secret is enough to make even the most harde

In this captivating original musical, Ben Platt gives a stunning performance—funny, sweet, beautifully sung and exquisitely worked-out in its physical details—as a high school student thrust into social relevance after a classmate's suicide. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul's score combines well-crafted lyrics with an exciting pop sound, and Steven Levenson’s book gives all the characters shaded motives. The production has moved to Broadway after its sold-out run at Second Stage Theatre. Read the full review.

Theater review by Adam Feldman. The Al Hirschfeld Theatre (Broadway). Book by Harvey Fierstein. Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. Dir. Jerry Mitchell. With Stark Sands, Billy Porter, Annaleigh Ashford. 2hrs 20mins. One intermission. [Note: The cast of Kinky Boots has changed since this review was first published. Panic at the Disco frontman Brendan Urie makes his Broadway debut, playing the musical's straight man, from May 26 through August 6, 2017.] The kicky crowd-pleaser Kinky Boots is the very model of a modern major musical. Adapted from a 2005 English indie film, Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper’s fizzy pop tuner tells of Charlie (the capable Sands) and his Northampton footwear factory, Price & Son—a family business in danger of closing down. Hope arrives in the unlikely form of Lola (Porter), a self-possessed drag queen with ideas for a niche product line: knee-high, skin-tight, stiletto-heeled sheaths of ostentatious color, strong enough for a man who’s made up like a woman. (Gay style and consumer dollars to the rescue! The shoe must go on!) Directed with verve by Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots feels familiar at every step, down to its messages about individuality, community, pride and acceptance; it could have been cobbled together from parts of The Full Monty, Billy Elliot and Fierstein’s La Cage aux Folles, and it culminates in a feel-good finale so similar to Hairspray’s (which Mitchell choreographed) that it might as well be called “You Can’t Stop the Boot.” Ye

One of the more unlikely musicals on Broadway this season, Come from Away is the tense but humane story of an airport in Gander, Newfoundland, where 38 planes and more than 6,000 passengers were forced to land on September 11, 2001. The book, music and lyrics are by the Canadian team Irene Sankoff and David Hein. Read the full review.

Matt Murphy offers a stage version of the popular sex-help manual by Dan Anderson and Maggie Berman, aimed at explaining how to get a guy to nut and not to bolt. Tim Drucker directs.