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In-person theatre is back in the city! Here's what to catch this month
The Boss may be the only one currently performing on Broadway, but lots of smaller New York City theatres, including Signature Theatre Company, the Park Avenue Armory and the Cherry Lane Theatre are welcoming audiences back, too. Here are 10 shows you can see this July indoors in air conditioning! Not ready to sit inside a crowded theatre? Check out our roundup of five plays to see outdoors this summer.
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BAM: What to Send Up When It Goes Down
Running through Sunday, July 11. Click here for the complete schedule. Tickets are $25.
BAM Fisher, 321 Ashland Place between Lafayette Avenue and Hanson Place in Brooklyn
After a critically acclaimed Off Broadway run in 2018, Aleshea Harris' genre-defying What to Send Up When It Goes Down is being resurrected at BAM and feels even more essential in our post-George Floyd world. Created specifically for Black people though all are welcome, the work grapples with the trauma of racist violence through satirical sketches, spiritual communion and audience interactions. Whitney White once again directs this potent piece. Tickets for this limited run are scarce, but the production is being remounted this fall at Playwrights Horizons, dates to be determined.
Health and safety protocols: Temperature checks and a verbal questionnaire before entering. Masks are mandatory. Physical distancing.
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Resumes performances Tuesday, July 20. Click here for the complete schedule. Tickets are $48-$88.
Orpheum Theatre, 126 Second Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets
This cacophonous celebration of percussive music and dance opened Off Broadway 27 years ago and continues to make a joyful noise. Although many of its iconic routines, such as cast members jumping around with garbage can lids on their feet, are all over YouTube, the athleticism is much more eye-popping in person. Perfect for families with chatty children—no one will hear them over the clamor!
Health and safety protocols: Audiences ages 12 and older must provide proof of being fully vaccinated. Children under 12 must provide negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of showtime. Masks are mandatory for unvaccinated children.
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Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings)
Running through Sunday, July 25. Click here for the complete schedule. Tickets are $35-$57.
The Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues
The riotous Jackie Hoffman (the only cisgender woman I've ever seen steal scenes from seasoned drag queens) may be an Emmy-nominated TV star thanks to plum parts in the Ryan Murphy series Feud: Bette and Joan and The Politician, but the theatre is her native habitat. So it's thrilling that she's back on the boards in E. Dale Smith's new backstage comedy Fruma-Sarah, about a mature community theatre performer waiting to go on as the title character: the screeching ghost of Lazar Wolf's deceased wife in Fiddler on the Roof. A celebration of theatre, this one-act is directed by Braden M. Burns and costars Kelly Kinsella as Hoffman's punch line partner.
Health and safety protocols: Must show proof of being fully vaccinated. Masks are optional.
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Blindness
Running through Sunday, July 25. Click here for the complete schedule. Tickets for two-person pods start at $116 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.
Daryl Roth Theatre, 101 East 15th Street between Union Square East and Irving Place
Blindness may not feature any live actors, but it still feels like theatre thanks to the magic of the communal experience. This immersive audio play features spectacular sound and lighting design and the evocative storytelling of Juliet Stevenson delivered via headphones. Even in total blackness, you're acutely aware of the presence of others as this apocalyptic tale of a society plunged into darkness unfolds. A breathtaking coup de théâtre at the end injects a note of hope and leaves you with the welcome notion that survival is possible—even during an epidemic.
Health and safety protocols: Health questionnaire must be completed in advance. Temperature check at door. Masks are mandatory. One-way traffic flow. Headphones individually sanitized between each showing.
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Cherry Lane Theatre: Get on Your Knees
Running through Saturday, July 31. Click here for the complete schedule. Tickets are $39-$69.
Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street between Bedford and Hudson Streets
If you're in the mood for lewd laughs, Jacqueline Novak's solo show about sex is sure to get you excited. Her well-reviewed meditation on blow jobs transferred from the Cherry Lane Theatre to the Lucille Lortel Theatre two summers ago. Now it's back where it started, with the stand-up doing raunchy riffs on fellatio that are surprisingly fresh. Great for date night as long as your man's got a sense of humor about his private parts.
Health and safety protocols: Must show proof of being fully vaccinated. Masks are mandatory.
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Signature Theatre Company: The Watering Hole
Running through Sunday, August 8. Click here for the complete schedule. Tickets are $25-$45.
Signature Theatre Company, 480 West 42nd Street between Dyer and Tenth Avenues
Conceived and created by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Sweat, Ruined) and director Miranda Haymon in collaboration with other theatre artists of color, The Watering Hole is an immersive installation that takes up almost every corner of Signature Theatre's complex. There are no live actors. Instead, physically distanced groups of four move through the space and experience ten multidisciplinary and often interactive pieces that use water as a connecting theme. It's a refreshing and thought-provoking way to reopen this Off Broadway house.
Health and safety protocols: Masks are mandatory. COVID-19 screening and temperature check before entering. Physical distancing.
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Park Avenue Armory: Enemy of the People
Originally scheduled to run through Sunday, August 8, the production was canceled unexpectedly on July 10 due to a personal matter. Tickets are $55-$100 and must be purchased in pairs.
Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets
You've never seen Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People like this. Radical playwright and director Robert Icke has adapted this tale of an ethical tug-of-war for the supremely talented Ann Dowd (Emmy winner for The Handmaid's Tale), who plays all the parts, including the central embattled brothers: the mayor of a small town famous for its spa, and his doctor sibling, who discovers the water is contaminated. How does a society grapple with an inconvenient truth? (That's a question we've all pondered a lot throughout this pandemic.) The audience gets to weigh in at pivotal moments, turning the experience into a democratic exercise. Although this production is almost sold out, there are a handful of $28 same-day rush tickets.
Health and safety protocols: Must show proof of being fully vaccinated. Masks are mandatory. Physical distancing.
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Running through Saturday, August 14. Click here for the complete lineup and schedule. Tickets are $21 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account and search for "New Ohio" to purchase various shows at a discount.
New Ohio Theatre, 154 Christopher Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets
Attention avant-garde theatre lovers: This 28th annual, Obie-winning festival is back in person this summer. Ice Factory invites cutting-edge NYC companies to present their latest works in progress over four days. The subjects are timely and the offerings diverse. Highlights include a play about the erasure of AAPI women inspired by the undersung jazz vocal quartet the Kim Loo Sisters; an exploration of radical Black love in the midst of racist violence; and an interactive installation about gratitude. If you're curious about how emerging theatre-makers are reacting to this intense time, Ice Factory is a must-see.
Health and safety protocols: Proof of being fully vaccinated or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of showtime. Masks are mandatory.
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The Public Theater: 600 Highwaymen's A Thousand Ways: Part 2: An Encounter
Running through Sunday, August 15. Click here for the complete schedule. Tickets are $15.
The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street at Astor Place
Since husband and wife Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone founded 600 Highwaymen in 2009, they've created participatory works that explore the power of people coming together. Considering we've been apart for so long, that feels even more poignant in the trilogy A Thousand Ways. Part 1: A Phone Call is just that, as you follow a series of automated prompts that help you connect with the stranger on the other end of the line. Part 2: An Encounter applies that same setup to a one-on-one in-person meeting, as you and another masked theatregoer sit at a table bisected by a glass partition and run through a script of questions. By the end you'll know each other—and ideally, yourself—a bit better. The third part of A Thousand Ways, a group event, will take place later this season.
Health and safety protocols: Masks are mandatory. Physical distancing. Timed entry.
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Different cabaret shows nightly. Click here for the complete schedule. Ticket prices vary.
Feinstein's/54 Below, 254 West 54th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue
Even though you'll have to wait until September to catch splashy musicals on stage, you can see many Broadway favorites this month at this swanky, underground (literally!) cabaret club. July's lineup includes intimate concerts by Rent heartthrob Adam Pascal, Broadway belter Beth Leavel, Ain't Too Proud's Derrick Baskin, opera star Paulo Szot and the sultry Orfeh. Note that in addition to the ticket price, there's always a $25 food and beverage minimum. A great special occasion splurge!
Health and safety protocols: Proof of being fully vaccinated required.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her at @RavenSnook. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.
Top image: Stomp, which resumes performances at Off Broadway's Orpheum Theatre this month. Photo by Steve McNicholas.
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