★★☆☆☆ The eminent Donald Margulies delivers a tedious effort at Manhattan Theatre Club
Off-Broadway
Little Women: Time Marches On for Louisa May Alcott’s Characters
★★★☆☆ Kate Hamill’s modern take on a Victorian classic is not as radical as it seems
Little Women: Playwright/Actor Kate Hamill Has Her Way with Alcott
★★☆☆☆ The classic American novel updated according to current gender-shifting attitudes
Nomad Motel: Carla Ching’s Play Pits Parents vs. Children, Sorta
★★★☆☆ Playwright Ching is close to getting her California-based drama on the right contemporary path
Dying City: Lovers, Brothers and Other Strangers
★★★☆☆ Second Stage Theater revives Christopher Shinn’s intimate play tracing personal struggles in the Iraq War’s early stages
Dying City: Puzzling Out a Significant Mystery About Love and War
★★★☆☆ Christopher Shinn directs the Second Stage revival of his Pulitzer-nominated drama
Underground Railroad Game: Unorthodox and Provocative Classroom Studies
★★★★☆ Race and sex are smartly studied in a delightfully adventurous play
Underground Railroad Game: Learning From History, Bearing Its Weight
★★★☆☆ The acclaimed play looking at slavery’s enduring legacy returns to Ars Nova
Something Clean: A Child’s Mess, A Mother’s Burden
★★★★☆ Kathryn Erbe is radiant as a middle-aged matron seeking a fresh start after crushing trauma
Something Clean: A Woman Wounded By a Crime She Did Not Commit
★★★☆☆ Kathryn Erbe anchors Selina Fillinger’s earnest new drama about a sex crime