★★★★☆ “Wolf Play” playwright Hansol Jung offers a piquant new take on Shakespeare’s tragedy
Off-Broadway
Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite: Molière’s Delectable Villain on the Loose
★★★★☆ Matthew Rauch stars, Lucie Tiberghen directs, Maya Slater translates, all in smart form
The Habit of Art: Alan Bennett’s More Famous History Boys
★★★★☆ W. H. Auden, Benjamin Britten featured in a serio-comic play-within-a-play
Oliver!: Please, May We Have Some More
★★★★★ Raul Esparza stars and Lear deBessonnet directs this nourishing Encores! revival of the Lionel Bart classic
Oliver!: A Problematic Classic Benefits From a Reconsidered Villain
★★★★☆ A cuddly Fagin? Raúl Esparza pulls off an improbable transmogrification in this Encores! staging
Regretfully, So the Birds Are: Clear the Airwaves for a Fresh New Voice
★★★★☆ Fledgling playwright Julia Izumi works out Tolstoy’s dictum about families unhappy and otherwise in this loopy portrait of three adult Asian adoptees.
White Girl in Danger: Michael R. Jackson Musical in Danger
★★★☆☆ The Pulitzer and Tony winner’s sudsy soap opera, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Smart: Hot Emotions in Cool Artificial Intelligence Age
★★★☆☆ Mary Elizabeth Hamilton’s timely three-hander, directed by Matt Dickson
The Wife of Willesden: Zadie Smith Pays Homage to a Centuries-Old Tale
★★★★☆ Clare Perkins gives a tour de force performance as the very liberated much-married woman of Chaucerian fame
The Wife of Willesden: Ever Willing, and Then Some
★★★★☆ Chaucer’s outspoken, sex-positive “Wife of Bath,” as updated by Zadie Smith, has some insights to share, along with a remedial agenda.