★★★★☆ A hip-hop improv group co-founded by Lin-Manuel Miranda makes an exuberant return
Off-Broadway
The Shadow of a Gunman: Sean O’Casey’s Seriocomic Saga of Dublin at War
★★★★☆ The Irish Rep launches its three-show cycle of the playwright’s works with a winning revival
The Shadow of a Gunman: Dangerous Games in Dublin
★★★★☆ Irish Repertory Theatre’s Sean O’Casey season kicks off with this piercing look at Ireland’s troubles before The Troubles.
The Day Before Spring: Early Lerner and Loewe, on Their Way
★★★☆☆ The York’s exhumation of an all-but-lost musical exhibits songwriters on the verge of greatness
The Light: Black #MeToo Arguments Blaze Away In a Timely New Drama
★★★★☆ Playwright Loy A. Webb, director Logan Vaughn, and two fine actors deliver a hot he said/she said story
The Light: Playwright Loy A. Webb Tackles Woman-Man Problem
★★★★☆ McKinley Belcher III and Mandi Masden give their impressive all under director Logan Vaughn
Mies Julie and The Dance of Death: Strindberg Strengthened, Weakened
Yaël Farber’s Mies Julie ★★★★ smartly transforms Strindberg, while The Dance of Death revival ★★ merely smarts
Mies Julie and The Dance of Death: The First Is Hot, the Second Is Not
Classic Stage offers two Strindberg plays in separate productions, one more august than the other
Call Me Madam: Political Satire 70 Years Later, Without Ethel Merman
★★★★☆ Encores’ latest is a thorough charmer, though not quite the blockbuster it could be
Call Me Madam: Irving Berlin’s Tuneful Laugh at 1950s Politics
★★★★☆ Carmen Cusack goes for broke and nicely gets there in the satirical Ethel Merman showcase