★★★★☆ Donja R. Love looks unflinchingly at lynchings and their aftermaths in the deep South
Off-Broadway
Pass Over: A Bruised, Broken Tale of Black Life
★★★★☆ Antoinette Nwandu’s modern-day mash-up of Godot and Exodus pulls no punches when it comes to police violence.
Pass Over: A Tragic Quest, in Black and White
★★★☆☆ Antoinette Nwandu’s account of doomed black men is powerful and vexing, on different levels.
Othello: Moor Than Meets the Eye
★★★★☆ Chukwudi Iwuji and Corey Stoll wrestle with the green-eyed monster in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Othello.
Othello: Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s Version Done Wisely and Well
★★★★☆ Chukwudi Iwuji, Corey Stoll, Heather Lind, Alison Wright gorgeous in the Bard’s jealousy screed
Fairview: Reality and Metatheatricality with an African-American Family
★★★☆☆ Jackie Sibblies Drury unleashes a daring play about race, identity and expectations that gets awkward
All I Want Is One Night: And That’s One Night Too Many
★☆☆☆☆ A British performer digs up Suzy Solidor, a bisexual, cross-dressing French cabaret legend who deserves better
Desperate Measures: The Bard’s Measure for Measure Tuned Up
★★★★☆ Bookwriter-lyricist Peter Kellogg and composer David Friedman go west for a fun and frolicsome take on Shakespeare’s “problem” play
Desperate Measures: A Fiddle-Dee-Dee Wild West Shakespeare Spoof
★★★☆☆ An old-fashioned, cowboy-country musical-comedy farce is neatly cultivated from Measure for Measure‘s plot
Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf: A Feminist Avenger, Lost in Allusions
★★☆☆☆ This Elevator Repair Service response to Edward Albee’s classic purports to stand up for strong women but fails