★★★☆☆ A well-meaning new play documents a family’s struggles after being separated from its undocumented matron
Mr. Toole: A Creative Life Cut Short, Leaving Love and Anguish Behind
★★★★☆ A new play reflects on a literary hero, and on the toll and rewards of inspiration
Incantata: Making Art Out of Grief
★★★☆☆ Paul Muldoon’s feverishly elegiac poem makes its American stage debut
The Unsinkable Molly Brown: Bellying Up to a New Century
★★★★☆ Dick Scanlan and Kathleen Marshall overhaul the Meredith Willson musical, with delightful results
All the Natalie Portmans: A Troubled Girl and Her Movie Star Muse
★★★☆☆ C.A. Johnson’s tender new play is illuminated by a vibrant young character, and actress
West Side Story: A New Time For Us
★★★★☆ Ivo van Hove shoots sparks into space with a fresh take on a musical masterwork
Anatomy of a Suicide: Mothers and Daughters, in Agonizing Triplicate
★★★☆☆ Playwright Alice Birch looks at one of our closest, most fraught relationships, with a cast led by a haunting Carla Gugino
The Commons: Hell Is Other People
★★☆☆☆ In Lily Akerman’s new play, three’s a crowd and four is insufferable
Chekhov/Tolstoy Love Stories: From Russia with Languor
★★☆☆☆ From Mint Theater, a strangely soporific pairing of plays based on stories by creative giants
House Plant: Humans Seeking Nourishment and Connection
★★★☆☆ Sarah Einspanier’s new play follows young searchers in the digital age