★★★★☆ Playwright/songwriter Young Jean Lee studies an inevitable fact of life
Off-Broadway
Cambodian Rock Band: Jamming on the Eve of Destruction
★★★★★ Lauren Yee dramatizes the Khmer Rouge nightmare with a suspenseful story
Cambodian Rock Band: Discovering Melody and Meaning in Tragedy
★★★★☆ Lauren Yee’s play finally gets its New York premiere and a rockin’ production at the Signature Theatre
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
The Headlands: An Unsuspenseful Mystery, Amid Bay Area Hikes
★★★☆☆ Unpacking complicated family history, but with unengaging characters and performances
Mack & Mabel: A Musical Heartbreaker in More Ways Than One
★★★★☆ Jerry Herman’s musical about Hollywood legends is an imperfect charmer
Mack & Mabel: This One’s for Jerry
★★★★☆ Brushed off and spiffed up, the cult favorite 1974 musical finally gets the Encores! treatment
Blues for an Alabama Sky: 1930s Harlem Dreaming
★★★★☆ Pearl Cleage looks at five figures running for their natural lives
Blues for an Alabama Sky: A Hard-Boiled Canary Desires a Better Roost
★★★☆☆ Pearl Cleage’s 1995 drama about 1930 Harlem life receives its overdue New York premiere
Anatomy of a Suicide: Three Generations, Weighing on Each Other
★★☆☆☆ An award-winning play about women, trauma, and legacy, collapsing in on itself