★★★☆☆ Debra Messing ages 90 years—playing a daughter, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother—in a 90-minute play
The Chinese Lady: For Your Education, Entertainment, and Discomfort
★★★★☆ Playwright Lloyd Suh draws on real-life 19th-century events with 21st-century ramifications in this Ma-Yi Theater, Barrington Stage, and Public Theater production
On Sugarland: An Ambitious, Epic Wartime Drama
★★★★☆ Aleshea Harris explores the aftermath of war and the shades of grief in a shattering new play
The Merchant of Venice: A Too-Timely Production of Shakespeare’s Problem Play
★★★★☆ ✩ John Douglas Thompson brings a steadfast gaze and spine of steel to the much-maligned Shylock
Space Dogs: Singing the Praises of Man’s Best Friend
★★★☆☆ ✩✩ A two-man metamusical about the space race pays tribute to the power of the dog
Skeleton Crew: Dominique Morisseau’s Ode to a Shrinking Industry
★★★★☆ A Great Recession–era Detroit-set play puts its stamp on Broadway
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe: One Woman Speaks Volumes
★★★★☆ Cecily Strong headlines Jane Wagner’s multicharacter meditation on humanity, interconnectedness, soup, and art
Company: Everybody Rise for This Smashing Sondheim Revival
★★★★★ Marianne Elliott directs a modern-day, gender-swapped version of the Sondheim-Furth show starring Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone
Is There Still Sex in the City?: Candace Bushnell Tells All
★★★☆☆ The OG Carrie Bradshaw dishes on her life, career, and the real Mr. Big
Clyde’s: Lynn Nottage Cooks Up A Sharp Kitchen-Set Comedy
★★★★☆ The fast-paced, intermission-free new play from Lynn Nottage fires off one-liners in a Midwest sandwich shop