★★★☆☆ A new musical by and featuring Grace McLean recalls a singular woman (and saint) to beguiling, bewildering effect
Off-Broadway
In the Green: Forging a Medieval Saint
★★★☆☆ A cool though cryptic musical considers Hildegard von Bingen
Working: A Labor of Love
★★★★☆ The 1978 musical gets a City Center–centered update for the five-performance concert-style revival
Working: Stephen Schwartz and Pals Do Yeoman Revival Work
★★★★☆ Studs Terkel’s classic interviews with Tilly the Toiler, Tommy the Tiller, and others are musicalized with class and concern
Toni Stone: The Woman in a League of Her Own
★★★★☆ Lydia R. Diamond hits one right up the middle with her play about the first female Negro League ballplayer
The Mountains Look Different: Hardscrabble West Ireland Doings
★★★★☆ Micheál mac Liammóir’s couldn’t-be-more-Irish play, keenly directed by Aidan Redmond
The Mountains Look Different: No, They Really Look Rather Flat
★★☆☆☆ A rural Irish melodrama of 1948 vintage needs more magic to thrive
Beautiful Girls: A Soaring Songbook Tribute to Stephen Sondheim
★★★★☆ The one-night salute featured fiery performances from Kate Baldwin, Ashley Park, Donna Murphy, and Petula Clark
Toni Stone: A Woman At Bat, Alone in the Game
★★★☆☆ Lydia R. Diamond casts new light on the Negro League legend and first lady of professional baseball
A Strange Loop: The Cycle of Life, on Repeat
★★★★☆ Michael R. Jackson takes on identity, and Tyler Perry, in a funny, haunting and truly original new musical