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F. Murray Abraham, who's starring in Beckett Briefs at the Irish Repertory Theatre.
Catch a radical reinterpretation of Show Boat, F. Murray Abraham in a Samuel Beckett one-act, a new comedy from Joy Behar and more
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January is typically a quiet month Off Broadway, but not this year! In addition to a slew of eclectic theatre festivals, there are a host of promising productions bowing beyond Broadway this month, including a reimagining of Show Boat, Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham in Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, a comedy from Joy Behar costarring Susie Essman and Tovah Feldshuh, and a drama about the first explosive meeting between playwright Tennessee Williams and A Streetcar Named Desire star Marlon Brando. We couldn't include everything, so be sure to browse the listings in TDF's Show Finder to see what else is playing.
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Next Door at NYTW, 83 East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Begins January 4. Closes January 26.
During the pandemic shutdown, Joshua William Gelb's wildly innovative Theater in Quarantine live-streamed original productions from a closet-turned-studio in his East Village apartment, winning him many fans and an Obie Award. For this year's Under the Radar fest, Gelb and his collaborators reimagine one of his early experiments as an in-person stage-cinema hybrid. Inspired by a short story from Stanisław Lem's The Star Diaries, The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux] is a hilarious, hour-long sci-fi comedy, with Gelb as a solo space traveler who ends up coming face-to-face with duplicates of himself thanks to a time loop and prerecorded video. It's an out-of-this-world trip!
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St Ann's Warehouse, 45 Water Street near New Dock Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn
Begins January 4. Closes January 24. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Written and directed by Amir Reza Koohestani and performed in Farsi with English supertitles, Blind Runner arrives in Brooklyn as part of the Under the Radar fest. This drama fuses the personal and the political as an imprisoned activist convinces her passive husband to serve as a guide for a blind Iranian runner, who hopes to covertly dash through the UK-France Channel Tunnel before the first train of the morning. A hit internationally, this hour-long work is a meditation on oppression and defiance.
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Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher Street between Bleecker and Hudson Streets in the West Village
Previews begin January 7. Opens January 19. Closes February 8.
Veteran stand-up Gary Gulman, known for finding the comedy in crippling anxiety and depression, debuts his new solo show Grandiloquent, which explores how he used humor to survive his dysfunctional family upbringing. Hand to God Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs.
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Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue, entrance on 25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues in Kips Bay
Previews begin January 8. Opens January 10. Closes February 9.
Wakka Wakka's eye-popping, Obie-winning puppets command the stage in this evocative tale of extinction and rebirth, as the skeletons of a boy and a dodo go on an underworld odyssey, torn between the land of the living and the dead. Part of Under the Radar, Dead as a Dodo is a moving musical adventure about survival and transformation.
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NYU Skirball, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South in the West Village
Previews begin January 9. Opens January 15. Closes January 26. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
The Obie-winning Target Margin Theater reimagines the first great American musical, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's century-old Show Boat, for our times, confronting the problematic elements of this show about the scourge of racism that still traded in upsetting stereotypes. In addition to classic songs, including "Ol' Man River," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" and "Bill," expect unconventional casting and the restoration of controversial segments in director David Herskovits' radical interpretation, which is part of Under the Radar.
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New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue in the East Village
Begins January 10. Closes February 16.
Khawla Ibraheem's harrowing solo show about a mother trying to navigate the challenges of daily life in Gaza actually premiered in 2017. Yet post-October 7, A Knock on the Roof feels even more urgent and anguished. Oliver Butler (What the Constitution Means to Me) directs this powerful piece, which comes to New York Theatre Workshop as part of Under the Radar.
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Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Dyer Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin January 11. Opens February 4. Closes February 23. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
How will humanity be remembered once we go extinct? That's the premise of this intriguing new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison (Marjorie Prime) about a museum in the far-flung future where the curators try to figure out what life was like when people roamed the Earth. Caitlin Sullivan and Tony winner David Cromer (The Band's Visit) codirect this world premiere that's co-produced by Playwrights Horizons, the Vineyard Theatre and Chicago's Goodman Theatre.
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59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin January 11. Opens January 16. Closes February 9. If you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
The audacious investigative theatre collective The Civilians (Gone Missing, Pretty Filthy, This Beautiful City) recreates thrilling interviews from WNYC's Arts Forum, a 1970s radio show where cutting-edge artists such as Beat Generation multihyphenate Harry Everett Smith, dancer-choreographer Yvonne Rainer and underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger expounded on arts, culture and anything else on their singular minds. The troupe's artistic director, Steve Cosson, helms this experimental work.
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The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin January 13. Opens January 27. Closes February 16.
Gregg Ostrin’s play about the legends behind the masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire has been kicking around for more than a decade. Its Off-Broadway premiere boasts quite the cast: TV stars Robin Lord Taylor (Gotham, You) as sensitive Southern playwright Tennessee Williams and Brandon Flynn (13 Reasons Why) as the charismatic Marlon Brando, who came to fame as the animalistic Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar. Colin Hanlon directs.
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Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea
Previews begin January 15. Opens January 26. Closes March 9.
Irish Rep presents a trio of short plays by Samuel Beckett exploring life, death and what's beyond. We're particularly excited about Krapp's Last Tape starring 85-year-old Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham as a man looking back on all that came before, with an assist from recordings of his younger self. Ciarán O’Reilly directs.
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Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues in the East Village
Begins January 17. Opens January 23. Closes February 15.
Acclaimed Asian-American theatre company NAATCO presents a modern verse translation of Shakespeare's underperformed 1611 play Cymbeline, described as a tragedy, romance or comedy depending on your point of view. A cast of 11 women perform this tale about a brave young lady who's defiant in the face of misogyny. There's cross-dressing, long-lost relatives and a Romeo and Juliet-style climax that turns out to be a lot less deadly.
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Theatre for a New Audience's Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Previews begin January 26. Opens February 6. Closes March 2.
Dakin Matthews headlines and crafted this new adaptation of Henry IV, Parts I and II, which combines the Bard's two history plays into one jam-packed evening. A chance to see the rarely produced second play! Shakespeare vets Cara Ricketts and Jay O. Sanders costar.
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MMAC Theater, 248 West 60th Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin January 29. Opens February 6. Closes April 20.
Comedian Joy Behar wrote and performs in this anthology of amusing divorce stories as a diverse array of women share the ins and outs and ends of their marriages. A rotating cast of hilarious ladies stars alongside her, including Curb Your Enthusiasm's Susie Essman, Adrienne C. Moore from Orange Is the New Black and four-time Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh.
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Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin January 31. Opens February 20. Closes March 30.
Tony nominee Bess Wohl (Small Mouth Sounds, Make Believe, Grand Horizons) penned this feminist world premiere that explores the lives and legacies of a group of women who came together in the Midwest during the 1970s to try to make the world more equitable. A half century later, one of their daughters takes up the fight. Tony nominee Whitney White directs this Roundabout Theatre Company production.
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Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues
Due to a strike at the Atlantic Theater Company, this show has been postponed indefinitely.
Indie theatre acting legend David Greenspan (On Set with Theda Bara, Beebo Brinker Chronicles) stars in Mona Pirnot's comedy customized for his versatility as he portrays four millennial women trying to make it in the cutthroat world of playwriting. Ken Rus Schmoll directs this world premiere for Atlantic Theater Company.
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Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Chelsea
Due to a strike at the Atlantic Theater Company, this show has been postponed indefinitely.
Up-and-comer Eliya Smith, a Harvard grad currently pursuing her MFA in playwriting in Texas, makes her Off-Broadway debut with Grief Camp about a summer program where adolescents grapple with loss, love and growing up. A cast of fresh faces stars in this world premiere, directed by Tony nominee Les Waters (Dana H.) for Atlantic Theater Company.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her on Facebook at @Raven.Snook. Follow TDF on Facebook at @TDFNYC.
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