★★★☆☆ The acclaimed play looking at slavery’s enduring legacy returns to Ars Nova
Off-Broadway
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
Chita Rivera: The Cabaret Act of This Year and Other Years? You Bet
★★★★★ She’s 86 but hardly 86ed in a jubilant celebration of an on-stage life
Continuity: A Lighter Look at Making a Movie Changes into Darker Realities
★★★☆☆ Rachel Chavkin of Hadestown fame directs a slight yet thoughtful comedy by Bess Wohl
Octet: How Modern Technology Makes Us Mad, In Exuberant Song
★★★★☆ Dave Malloy delivers a powerful new musical that’s too thoughtful for Broadway
Octet: Dave Malloy’s Musical 12-Step Program is Tarot-iffic
★★★★☆ Eight singer-actors, under Annie Tippe’s flawless direction, sing out 12-Step woes
Mac Beth: Something Wicked Cool This Way Comes
★★★★☆ Director Erica Schmidt and an all-female cast update Shakespeare’s bloody tragedy for the Instagram age
Mac Beth: Light Not Only Thickens But Goes Out on Will’s Classic
★★☆☆☆ Director Erica Schmidt wrongly thinks that a girls-school spin is how to treat the Bard
Happy Talk: Matchmaking and Mystery in the Suburbs
★★★★☆ Jesse Eisenberg’s new play, starring Susan Sarandon and Marin Ireland, puts funny, vexing twists on suburban cliches