Sprucing up long-running hits<\/p>\n
Since its opening in 2019, the Off Broadway revival of \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d<\/a> has kept fresh thanks to a revolving door of grade-A talent. The current cast includes Nikki M. James (a Tony Award winner for \u201cThe Book of Mormon\u201d) as Audrey and the three-time Tony nominee Andy Karl as the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello. (Westside Theater<\/a>)<\/p>\n A few blocks away, Jon Cryer starts as Vice Principal Douglas Panch in the terrific revival of \u201cThe 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee<\/a>\u201d on May 11. (Through Sept. 6, New World Stages<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Have You Ever Thought About\u2019<\/p>\n The Bushwick Starr is quite the successful incubator, nurturing three plays now (or soon) running Off Broadway: \u201cRheology<\/a>\u201d at Playwrights Horizons, \u201cAnimal Wisdom<\/a>\u201d at Signature Theater and \u201cA Woman Among Women<\/a>\u201d at LCT3. Not resting on its laurels, it\u2019s presenting \u200b\u200bMichael Oluokun\u2019s new show, \u201cHave You Ever Thought About,\u201d which is framed as a workshop meant to help expand our minds. (Through May 16, the Bushwick Starr<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Indian Princesses\u2019<\/p>\n Eliana Theologides Rodriguez\u2019s new play, a co-production with Rattlestick Theater, is inspired by her experience in a real-life Y.M.C.A. program that aimed to bond fathers and their children, and relied on what Rodriguez describes as \u201ca complete bastardization of Native American culture.\u201d (Through June 7, Atlantic Theater Company<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Thornton Wilder\u2019s The Emporium\u2019<\/p>\n You can be forgiven for never having heard of this Thornton Wilder play: It languished unfinished for decades until Kirk Lynn (a co-founder of the Texas collective Rude Mechs) completed it. The title establishment refers to a very special department store, and the cast of Rob Melrose\u2019s production includes Candy Buckley. (Through June 7, Classic Stage Company<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Canciones\u2019<\/p>\n This collectively hatched new play is the latest addition to the ever-growing ranks of immersive shows staged in private homes, in this case in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. Audience members are thrown into a rambunctious family reunion, complete with food and music \u2014 the title is a reference to the Linda Ronstadt album \u201cCanciones de Mi Padre\u201d (1987). (May 2-24, Radical Evolution<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Dad Don\u2019t Read This\u2019<\/p>\n Sadie Sink deservedly drew focus in \u201cJohn Proctor Is the Villain<\/a>,\u201d but the entire cast was superb, so it\u2019s nice to see Amalia Yoo, who played preacher\u2019s daughter Raelynn, resurface in this new play by Eliya Smith (\u201cGrief Camp\u201d). Once again we are deep in the teenage world, this time with four friends who hold a weekly sleepover in Ohio. (May 4-24, St. Luke\u2019s Theater<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Animal Wisdom\u2019<\/p>\n In 2017, The New York Times\u2019s Ben Brantley described this piece by Heather Christian<\/a> (\u201cOratorio for Living Things\u201d) as a \u201ctruly one-of-a-kind opus\u201d with \u201can often rhapsodic musical style of cosmic gospel.\u201d It\u2019s now back in a production starring the sterling Kenita Miller (\u201cfor colored girls who have considered suicide \/ when the rainbow is enuf\u201d). (May 5-June 14, Signature Theater<\/a>)<\/p>\n In the Bricks Festival<\/p>\n New York Theater Workshop presents new solo shows: Liza Jessie Peterson investigates mass incarceration in \u201cThe Peculiar Patriot\u201d; Kathryn Grody muses about being an aging boomer in \u201cThe Unexpected 3rd\u201d; Leslie Ayvazian explores feminism and politics in \u201cMention My Beauty\u201d; and Chris Grace\u2019s \u201cSardines\u201d is helpfully subtitled (a comedy about death). The festival also includes screenings of \u201cThe Horse of Jenin,\u201d by the Palestinian actor and comedian Alaa Shehada. (May 5-June 14, New York Theater Workshop<\/a>)<\/p>\n Hugh Jackman will start in \u201cNew Born\u201d at Minetta Lane Theater in Manhattan.Credit…Kevin Winter\/Getty Images\u2018New Born\u2019<\/p>\n After \u201cSexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes\u201d<\/a> last year, Hugh Jackman returns to the West Village in another Audible x Together production. Directed by Ian Rickson, this anthology of three monologues by Ella Hickson also stars Marianna Gailus and Sepideh Moafi (\u201cThe Pitt\u201d). (May 8-June 8, Minetta Lane Theater<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Girls Chance Music\u2019<\/p>\n The writer-performer Eisa Davis has a singular, poetic voice and often integrates music into her shows (she created the \u201cWarriors\u201d concept album with Lin-Manuel Miranda<\/a>). Her new play focuses on four teenage girls attending a Bay Area summer music program. Pam MacKinnon directs. (May 12-June 21, Vineyard Theater<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Girl, Interrupted\u2019<\/p>\n Susanna Kaysen\u2019s memoir about her time in a psychiatric institution continues to ripple. A film adaptation came out in 1999, and in 2021 Aimee Mann released \u201cQueens of the Summer Hotel,\u201d a concept album inspired by the book. Some of its songs resurface in Martyna Majok\u2019s new play with music, which stars Juliana Canfield (\u201cStereophonic\u201d) as Susanna and the pop star King Princess as the volatile Lisa. (May 13-June 21, Public Theater<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Jerome\u2019<\/p>\n Following the acclaimed dark comedy \u201cWet Brain\u201d<\/a> (2023), the playwright John J. Caswell Jr. and the director Dustin Wills team up again for this Arizona-set story in which a gay couple (the excellent Tyrone Mitchell Henderson and Stephen Spinella) must deal with a stranger\u2019s arrival. (May 14-June 21, Playwrights Horizons<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Obit.\u2019<\/p>\n The popular actor Andrew Barth Feldman directs this new play by Trey Everett, in which a father-to-be confronts the legacy of his estranged dad, of unsound mind, churning up a whole lot of feelings. (May 14-30, East Village Basement<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Titans\u2019<\/p>\n Clubbed Thumb\u2019s beloved Summerworks series kicks off with Jesse Jae Hoon\u2019s new play, which involves powers that may or may not be supernatural. The series has such a good track record developing shows (most recently with Ro Reddick\u2019s \u201cCold War Choir Practice\u201d<\/a>) that it\u2019s worth taking a risk on all of them. (May 14-26, Wild Project<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018The Maids\u2019<\/p>\n Yerin Ha is going from a maid on \u201cBridgerton\u201d to mistress of the house in Jean Genet\u2019s perverse classic, lording it over Phia Saban (\u201cHouse of Dragons\u201d) and Lydia Wilson as the title characters. Reviewing the London production<\/a>, The Times praised the way the director Kip Williams (\u201cThe Picture of Dorian Gray\u201d<\/a>) turned the play into \u201ca withering commentary on social media influencer culture.\u201d (May 17-June 14, St. Ann\u2019s Warehouse<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Can I Be Frank?\u2019<\/p>\n Morgan Bassichis brings back their popular tribute to Frank Maya. That performance artist and comedian, who died of heart failure related to AIDS in 1995, was out at a time when few of his peers were, moving from avant-garde venues to Caroline\u2019s and Comedy Central. It was not easy, to say the least. (May 21-June 27, SoHo Playhouse<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u2018Romeo and Juliet\u2019<\/p>\n Ra\u2019Mya Latiah Aikens and Daniel Bravo Hern\u00e1ndez take to the Delacorte stage as the doomed lovers under the direction of Saheem Ali (\u201cTwelfth Night,\u201d \u201cMerry Wives\u201d). The expert LaChanze as Lady Capulet, Deirdre O\u2019Connell as Nurse and Francis Jue as Friar Laurence portray some of the adults in the room. (May 22-June 28, Shakespeare in the Park<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sprucing up long-running hits Since its opening in 2019, the Off Broadway revival of \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":770398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,315881,315869,315877,201498,315879,315880,9872,315882,196391,315875,196392,8601,79232,315878,315870,315874,405,403,5226,5225,315885,5228,5227,315876,315884,31457,171009,315872,315873,315871,1148,315868,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,315883],"class_list":{"0":"post-770397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-andrew-barth","10":"tag-bushwick-starr","11":"tag-canfield","12":"tag-clubbed-thumb","13":"tag-cryer","14":"tag-feldman","15":"tag-girl","16":"tag-ha","17":"tag-hugh","18":"tag-interrupted-play","19":"tag-jackman","20":"tag-james","21":"tag-jon","22":"tag-juliana","23":"tag-lct3","24":"tag-minetta-lane-theater","25":"tag-new-york","26":"tag-new-york-city","27":"tag-newyork","28":"tag-newyorkcity","29":"tag-nikki-m","30":"tag-ny","31":"tag-nyc","32":"tag-romeo-and-juliet-play","33":"tag-sadie-2002","34":"tag-shakespeare-in-the-park","35":"tag-sink","36":"tag-soho-playhouse","37":"tag-st-anns-warehouse-brooklyn","38":"tag-st-lukes-theater","39":"tag-theater","40":"tag-theater-off-broadway","41":"tag-united-states","42":"tag-united-states-of-america","43":"tag-unitedstates","44":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","45":"tag-us","46":"tag-usa","47":"tag-yerin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}