Timeline: A history of great theater in eight must-see shows

The phenomenal Mark Rylance stars as Olivia in an all-male production of the Bard’s frothy comedy; Stephen Fry costars as the starchy valet, Malvolio. shakespearebroadway.com. $27–$137.

We skip ahead a couple hundred years to the Norwegian master of hard-hitting social drama. German director Thomas Ostermeier applies his grim, modern sensibility to the story of a doctor who exposes a truth that shatters his town. bam.org. $25–$75.

Project Shaw founder David Staller stages the rarely seen comedy of manners, set at a seaside resort, with the stalwart troupers of the Pearl Theatre Company. pearltheatre.org. $35–$60.

We seldom see effective revivals of Bertolt Brecht’s political dramas, but this promising Foundry Theatre version—coproduced by the Public Theater—combines drag superstar Taylor Mac with indie folk-rock by César Alvarez with the Lisps. publictheater.org. $56.50–$66.50.

The mother of all memory plays returns to Broadway starring Cherry Jones, Zachary Quinto and Celia Keenan-Bolger. The production is sleek and expressionistic—perfect for Williams’s groundbreaking exploration of family. theglassmenageriebroadway.com. $77–$137.

Much bigger in England than here, Rattigan is the poet laureate of 20th-century British repression and longing. This Edwardian-set drama follows a father’s attempt to clear his expelled-student son’s tarnished reputation.  roundabouttheatre.org. $52–$137.

Godot is “a play in which nothing happens, twice,” as an Irish critic put it. One of the earliest and most influential examples of theater of the absurd, this philosophical masterpiece returns to Broadway with X-Men collaborators Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. twoplaysinrep.com. $40–$137.

Based on his own infidelity, Pinter’s ingenious play runs backward—starting with the aftermath of a failed marriage and ending with its joyous beginning. There to guide us through the triangulated chronology are marquee names Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, doing the art-imitating-life thing by playing spouses. betrayalbroadway.com. $57–$152.