Theatre to watch in New York FT critics review the latest shows on Broadway and beyond We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time — a strange, witty one-man show at the Public Theater, New York David Cale’s musical is a tale of youthful awakening in suburbia Friday, 19 July, 2019 Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon enliven a fresh Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Terrence McNally’s story of hesitant romance is thoughtfully revived at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre Friday, 19 July, 2019 Screen junkies sing their pain in Octet at the Pershing Square Signature Center, New York Dave Malloy’s new musical addresses a very contemporary form of addiction Friday, 19 July, 2019 Susan Sarandon returns to the New York stage in Jesse Eisenberg’s Happy Talk The new drama serves up misery and narcissism at the Pershing Square Signature Center Friday, 19 July, 2019 Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class in New York — an unravelling family and a food fight The playwright’s 1977 portrait of farming lives in freefall opens at the Pershing Square Signature Center, New York Friday, 19 July, 2019 Antigone in Ferguson — a cathartic experience at St Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, New York This production of Sophocles’s tragedy emerged from the death of a black teenager in Missouri Friday, 19 July, 2019 More from this Series Beetlejuice — a slick new musical at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York The stage adaptation of Tim Burton’s film offers one strikingly memorable performance Friday, 19 July, 2019 Ink — mesmerisingly good tale of Murdoch and The Sun shines on Broadway James Graham’s tabloid takeover drama brings Fleet Street to the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, New York Friday, 19 July, 2019 Tootsie — cross-dressing movie gets a magnetic musical makeover Santino Fontana’s assured performance drives Scott Ellis’s fluid staging at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway Friday, 19 July, 2019 Hillary and Clinton at Golden Theatre, New York — an exercise in wishful thinking now appears rather dated Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow offer impressionistic versions of the real-life couple Friday, 19 July, 2019 Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus — Beavis and Butt-Head meets the Bard Nathan Lane and Kristine Nielsen bring Vaudevillian flair to Shakespeare follow-up at Broadway’s Booth Theatre Friday, 19 July, 2019 A foul-mouthed Adam Driver stars in Burn This at the Hudson Theatre, New York The star’s rambunctious performance is the best thing about this dated melodrama Friday, 19 July, 2019 Norma Jeane Baker of Troy at The Shed, New York — Ben Whishaw and Renée Fleming star in a retelling of Euripides’ story Anne Carson’s play at the new cultural complex blends past and present, drama and music Friday, 19 July, 2019 Glenda Jackson struggles to stand out in a gaudy, trashy King Lear at the Cort Theatre, New York The actors often seem bewildered by Sam Gold’s production of Shakespeare’s tragedy Friday, 19 July, 2019 The Lehman Trilogy comes to New York — drama in thrall to the forces of finance Inside the Park Avenue Armory, an eerie emptiness evokes the invisible abstraction of money itself in Sam Mendes’ production Friday, 19 July, 2019 Nantucket Sleigh Ride at the Lincoln Center, New York — meta-literary pyrotechnics John Guare’s zany new play is packed with dizzyingly clever references Friday, 19 July, 2019 Isabelle Huppert stars as a neurotic housewife in The Mother Florian Zeller’s drama about a family under pressure makes its New York debut at the Linda Gross Theater Friday, 19 July, 2019 Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag at the SoHo Playhouse, New York Hilarious, bawdy and laced with sadness, this one-woman show portrays of the isolation and hedonism of contemporary London Friday, 19 July, 2019 “Daddy” is a provocative portrait of racial tensions A piece of biting social commentary at the Pershing Square Signature Center, New York Friday, 19 July, 2019 Superhero, Tony Kiser Theater, New York The absence of a proper villain further exacerbates this musical’s lack of bite Friday, 19 July, 2019 Alice by Heart — a sophisticated musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll set during the Blitz This production, at the Robert M. Wilson MCC Theater Space in New York, sheds the books’ dark undertones but adds an understated pathos Friday, 19 July, 2019 Boesman and Lena — a racially charged Waiting for Godot set in apartheid South Africa Athol Fugard’s portrait of dispossession and despair resonates in New York, where homelessness has soared Friday, 19 July, 2019 Farce meets tragedy in Lynn Nottage’s By the Way, Meet Vera Stark An energetic staging tackles race and showbusiness at the Pershing Square Signature Center, New York Friday, 19 July, 2019 Lin-Manuel Miranda’s co-produced musical Freestyle Love Supreme The hip-hop group’s on-the-hoof musical at New York’s Greenwich House Theater was an entertaining if somewhat tame affair Friday, 19 July, 2019 Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano in True West — manic charm and nervous energy Sam Shepard’s shaggy-pony story of warring brothers opens at the American Airlines Theatre, New York Friday, 19 July, 2019 New departures for Neil LaBute at the Davenport Theatre, New York The LaBute New Theatre Festival features three grimly plausible one-act plays by the writer Friday, 19 July, 2019 Under the Radar Festival, Public Theater, New York — teenage angst and asylum seekers Two shows exemplify the range and depth of this annual festival Friday, 19 July, 2019 Choir Boy — a startling play by Moonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney School-based drama makes its Broadway debut at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Friday, 19 July, 2019 Blue Ridge at the Linda Gross Theater, New York — a punitive society in microcosm A halfway house full of misfits is the setting for Abby Rosebrock’s new play Friday, 19 July, 2019 To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway — Aaron Sorkin sucks the life out of Harper Lee Jeff Daniels is a muddled Atticus Finch in this meddlesome adaptation at the Sam S Shubert Theatre Friday, 19 July, 2019 Strange Window — a clever, topical riff on Henry James at BAM Harvey Theater, New York James Gibbs updates The Turn of the Screw for the digital age Friday, 19 July, 2019 Clueless, The Musical is just as enjoyable as the film A faithful stage adaptation at the Pershing Square Signature Center, New York Friday, 19 July, 2019 Fabulation, or the Re-education of Undine — a mordantly funny drama A PR woman experiences a blitz of misfortune in Lynn Nottage’s play at the Pershing Square Signature Center, New York Friday, 19 July, 2019 Slave Play — a raunchy exploration of interracial relationships at the New York Theatre Workshop Jeremy O. Harris’s new play explores murky psychological territory Friday, 19 July, 2019 Bryan Cranston is on barnstorming form in Network on Broadway Ivo van Hove’s compulsively watchable adaptation of the prophetic 1976 movie comes to the Belasco Theatre Friday, 19 July, 2019 The White Album — a lively adaptation of Joan Didion’s essay at BAM Harvey Theater, New York The writer’s reflections on the 1960s come to life on stage Friday, 19 July, 2019 Tom Stoppard is out of his depth with The Hard Problem Thin characters skim over a perennial conundrum at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater Friday, 19 July, 2019 Thom Pain (based on nothing), Signature Theatre, New York — fun with solipsism Michael C Hall brings a devilish charisma to bear as he delivers Will Eno’s darkly whimsical monologue Friday, 19 July, 2019 The New One — a tale of woe and neurosis at the Cort Theatre, New York Mike Birbiglia explores fatherhood in his new one-man show Friday, 19 July, 2019 The burden of racism hangs heavy over Eve’s Song at the Public Theater, New York Patricia Ione Lloyd’s new play has an ever-present sense of unease Friday, 19 July, 2019 Fire in Dreamland, Public Theater, New York — a dramatic flame that fizzles out Rinne Groff’s new play is centred around a 1911 amusement park blaze Friday, 19 July, 2019 Carey Mulligan gets gritty in Girls & Boys at Minetta Lane Theatre, New York The star exudes self-deprecating charm in Dennis Kelly’s sharply observed one-woman play about modern romance Friday, 19 July, 2019 Cyprus Avenue, Public Theater, New York — pitch-black satire David Ireland’s play explores sectarian hatred in contemporary Northern Ireland Friday, 19 July, 2019 Skintight, Laura Pels Theatre, New York — bracingly cynical Vanity and hypocrisy are exposed in Joshua Harmon’s new black comedy Friday, 19 July, 2019 Othello, Central Park, New York — a shift of focus from race to gender This open-air Shakespeare is uneven, but the performances suggest a bold re-reading Friday, 19 July, 2019 Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf, Abrons Arts Center, New York — consistently hilarious The cast navigates playwright Kate Scelsa’s zany twist on Edward Albee with deadpan flair Friday, 19 July, 2019 The Boys in the Band, New York — Jim Parsons and Zachary Quinto get nasty A birthday party full of gay men descends into cruel jibing in this tightly wound staging of Mart Crowley’s play at the Booth Theatre Friday, 19 July, 2019 The Iceman Cometh, Bernard B Jacobs Theatre, New York — played by the book Starring Denzel Washington and Colm Meaney, this is a production that needs to take more risks Friday, 19 July, 2019 Harry Potter comes to Broadway in a thoroughly rewarding production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Lyric Theatre delivers theatrical thrills — and a touching tale of adolescence and fatherhood Friday, 19 July, 2019 Carousel, Imperial Theatre, New York — going round in circles Renée Fleming provides emotional subtlety but sounds a little underpowered in Jack O’Brien’s old-fashioned staging Friday, 19 July, 2019 Mean Girls, August Wilson Theatre, New York — a deficit of nastiness Tina Fey has toned down the material in her musical adaptation of the teen comedy Friday, 19 July, 2019
