★★★★★ Revenge is a dish best served smoked in this backyard barbecue Bard-inspired Pulitzer winner
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
Sweeney Todd: A Bloody Good Treat for Sondheim Fans
★★★★☆ Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford topline a grand revival of the 1979 musical about a bloodthirsty barber and his pastry-making accomplice
Bob Fosse’s Dancin’: A Love Story of Rhythm and Rhyme
★★★★☆ The steps are Fosse’s, the vision is Wayne Cilento’s: a valentine to the nine-time Tony-winning director-choreographer
Dear World: A Macaron-Sweet Revival of Jerry Herman’s Paris-Set Musical
★★★★☆ Encores! shines a spotlight on yet another overlooked Jerry Herman musical with a troubled history and memorable score
Misty: Arinzé Kene Breaks Ground and Defies Genres
★★★★☆ The British performer mixes poetry, music, comedy, and piles and piles of orange balloons in his Olivier Award–nominated play
Crumbs From the Table of Joy: A Wonderful but Overlooked Memory Play Lovingly Revived
★★★★☆ Lynn Nottage’s 1950s-set richly crafted coming-of-age play gets its first New York restaging thanks to the Keen Company
Letters From Max, a ritual: A Playwright and Poet Open Their Hearts
★★★★☆ Sarah Ruhl’s newest work proves a deeply moving meditation on life and the afterlife
The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window: An Opaque Revival of an Obscure American Play
★★★☆☆ Lorraine Hansberry’s unheralded, untidy ode to 1960s NYC gets a high-wattage off-Broadway production
Fall River Fishing: Black Comedy With a Side of Bolognese
★★★☆☆ Lizzie Borden, Sharon Tate, and Ibsen (sort of) collide in Bedlam’s period-slash-contemporary piece