★★★☆☆ Hershey Felder is pretty good in his modest tribute to a great American songwriter
Off-Broadway
Days to Come: Less-Than-Mint-Condition Hellman
★★☆☆☆ The Mint Theater digs up Lillian Hellman’s long-forgotten, failed 1936 drama
Henry VI: Stop and Smell the War of the Roses
★★★★☆ The National Asian American Theatre Company condenses Shakespeare’s three Henry VI plays into a two-part, five-and-a-half-hour experience
Be More Chill: Loud Musical About a Desperate Teenage Social Outcast
★★★☆☆ Songwriter Joe Iconis, bookwriter Joe Tracz transfer Ned Vizzini’s popular YA novel to the stage
War of the Roses: Henry VI & Richard III: Losing Shakespeare Battles
★★☆☆☆ The history play combination, directed by Austin Pendleton and Peter Bloch, too often fires blanks
The New One: Lovably Humorous Mike Birbiglia Cracks Very Wise
★★★★☆ The stand-up comic who does a lot of commanding the stage talks about his expanding family
Twelfth Night: A Rambunctiously Jubilant Fest in Central Park
★★★★☆ Singer-songwriter Shaina Taub shines in this midsummer’s night delight
Twelfth Night: The Food of Love, in All Its Flavors
★★★★☆ A musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy champions diversity with a light hand, a full heart, and an effervescent score.
The House That Will Not Stand: Smart, Oppressed Women in 1813 Nola
★★★★☆ Marcus Gardley pens a history play relevant to today’s compromised feminist status
The House That Will Not Stand: Southern Women Rattle Their Chains
★★★☆☆ A thoughtful new drama is drawn from little known social practices of circa 1813 New Orleans