★★★★☆ Encores’ latest is a thorough charmer, though not quite the blockbuster it could be
Off-Broadway
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
God Said This: A Kentucky Family Being Unhappy in Its Own Way
★★★☆☆ A gentle new comedy-drama explores mother-daughter-sister relationships
Gatz: Elevator Repair Service’s Penthouse-High Great Gatsby Transfer
★★★★★ Every word of Fitzgerald’s masterwork faithfully read and acted with loving urgency
Joan: Dealing Out a Disorderly Deck of Triste and Trite Snapshots
★★☆☆☆ Stephen Belber’s latest drama shuffles through a tiresome heap of cliches
The Convent: Modern-Day Women Go Soul Searching in a Medieval Milieu
★★☆☆☆ Jessica Dickey’s latest play scarcely achieves its intriguing possibilities
Eddie and Dave: Running with the Devil, in Drag
★★★★☆ A storied rock & roll rivalry is revisited hilariously, with a gender twist (and tenderness), in Amy Staats’s new play
Eddie and Dave: Amy Staats Salutes Van Halen With a Half-Salute
★★★☆☆ A musical spoof that amuses for a while before becoming a typical rock-band demise tale
Colin Quinn Red State Blue State: Snarking Over America’s States of Disunion
★★★☆☆ A curmudgeonly humorist stands up to gripe about various aspects of our polarized society
About Alice: Calvin Trillin’s Fond Portrait of the Woman He Loved
★★★★☆ A writer provides a tender account of his wife, who did more than merely face up to cancer