Theater: New Shows

Americana Kamikaze

It's a strong week for theater, with three shows opening on Broadway alone—all of which sound interesting. One of them makes me feel especially old: a revival of "Ragtime", which debuted on Broadway the same year I moved to NYC to cover theater! (That was only in 1998, if you're keeping track.)

With so many choices, it's hard to make a Pick of the Week. Let's give the laurel to "In the Next Room", a Broadway drama by Sarah Ruhl.

Americana Kamikaze
Where: PS 122
First night: Saturday, Oct. 24
Closing night: Saturday, Nov. 14
URL: TemporaryDistortion.com
J-horror meets avant-garde technodrama to strike fear into your heart! Temporary Distortion explores the twilight zone between madness and sanity, dream and reality, time and space, and East and West by using cutting-edge technology to create the ghosts and doppelgangers of nightmare.

The Brother/Sister Plays
Where: The Public Theater
First night: Wednesday, Oct. 21
Closing night: Sunday, Dec. 13
URL: PublicTheater.org
Like everyone else in American theater, I love these powerful, elemental dramas by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Metromix offered a rave review of "The Brothers Size" last season; now you can catch up on that and McCraney's two related plays (based on African myths) about sibling rivalry in a small Southern town.

Embraceable Me!
Where: Theater Row
First night: Friday, Oct. 23
Opening night: Wednesday, Oct. 28
Closing night: Saturday, Nov. 14
URL: RachelReiner.com
There's not much available on this Off-Broadway romantic comedy. It's a two-hander, a "he said/she said" type of play about a quirky, vulnerable duo who take the slow, careful route from friendship to love.

Fela!
Where: Eugene O'Neill Theater (B'way)
First night: Monday, Oct. 19
Opening night: Monday, Nov. 23
URL: FelaOnBroadway.com
This musical thrilled audiences Off-Broadway last season, and it's not hard to see why. Fela Kuti was a guru of Afrobeat, a 1970s fusion of jazz, funk, chant, and polyrhythm—but he was also an outspoken supporter of African rights, social justice, and economic equality. This combo of music and politics is explosive thrill!

In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play
Where: Lyceum Theater (B'way)
First night: Thursday, Oct. 22
Opening night: Friday, Nov. 18
URL: LCT.org
Sarah Ruhl is the darling of modern theater, a rare playwright whose so popular (with the in-crowd, at least) that she can write a Broadway play! "In the Next Room" is a period piece about the invention of the titular instrument-used in the 19th c. to "relieve hysterical women" of their tension.

Love Child
Where: New World Stages
First night: Friday, Oct. 23
Opening night: Saturday, Oct. 31
Closing night: Sunday, Jan. 3
URL: NewWorldStages.com
This pocket-drama about a play's disastrous opening night tickled audiences enough last fall for a return engagement. Two actors take every role in the play-within-a-play as well as several audience members. Part of the fun is watching the quick changes pile up as the chaos builds!

Made in Heaven
Where: Soho Playhouse
First night: Thursday, Oct. 22
Opening night: Monday, Nov. 2
URL: MadeInHeavenTheComedy.com
A "romantic" comedy about a set of conjoined twins who don't share everything-complications ensue when one comes out of the closet. With its high-concept set-up and quicky tone, the emphasis seems to be on snark and shock, not sincere emotions. But that doesn't mean it's not funny!

The Passion Project
Where: 3LD Art and Technology Center
First night: Tuesday, Oct. 20
Closing night: Saturday, Oct. 24
URL: 3LDNYC.org
3LD is one of my favorite places for serious modern performance art, and this short revival sounds especially strong. A revival of a hipster hit last season, "Passion" is an experimental technodrama that expands the silent film masterpiece about Joan of Arc into a 3D experience. It's 21st-century magic.

Ragtime
Where: Neil Simon Theater (B'way)
First night: Friday, Oct. 23
Opening night: Sunday, Nov. 15
URL: RagtimeBroadway.com
A surprise upset in '98 had "Ragtime" lose the Best Musical Tony to "Lion King". Adapted from EL Doctorow's masterful novel, the musical shows the tumult of NYC in the first decade of the 20th century: historical figures rub shoulders with representatives from the Yiddish, black, and WASP neighborhoods.

The Starry Messanger
Where: Theater Row
First night: Saturday, Oct. 24
Opening night: Monday, Nov. 16
Closing night: Saturday, Dec. 12
URL: TheNewGroup.org
Playwright Kenneth Lonergan returns to NYC theater to work with childhood chum Matthew Broderick. This play-about a nebbish working at the old Hayden Planetarium and debating an affair with a single mother-has kicked from company to company over the last few seasons, but word is it's ready for its debut.

What Once We Felt
Where: The Duke on 42nd Street
First night: Monday, Oct. 26
Opening night: Monday, Nov. 9
Closing night: Sunday, Nov. 22
URL: LCT3.org
I'm an unabashed fan of plays set in the future, so I'm looking forward to "What Once We Felt", a thoughtful drama about the last book to be published on paper. Ann Marie Healy, the playwright, is a talented, intelligent writer herself, so I expect some smart observations about modern culture.

Last chance!
The Cambria/Frederick Douglass Now!
Where: Irish Arts Center
URL: IrishArtsCenter.org

The Columbrine Project
Where: Actors Temple Theater
URL: TheColumbineProject.com

The Provenance of Beauty
URL: TheFoundryTheater.org