Concluding July 19
Pump Boys and Dinettes (Off-Broadway at New York City Center). Pump Boys and Dinettes, the final production of the 2014 Encores! Off-Center series, is directed by Lear deBessonet and features Jordan Dean, Hunter Foster, Mamie Parris, Randy Redd, Katie Thompson and Lorenzo Wolff. Pump Boys and Dinettes was conceived, written and originally performed by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. The show, according to City Center, is a "musical tribute to life on the roadside, with the actors accompanying themselves on guitar, piano, bass, fiddle, accordion, and kitchen utensils. A hybrid of country, rock and pop music, Pump Boys is the story of four gas station attendants and two waitresses at a small-town dinette in North Carolina." Visit NYCityCenter.org.
The Muscles in Our Toes (Off-Broadway at the Bank Street Theater). Stephen Belber's The Muscles in Our Toes is directed by Anne Kauffman and features Amir Arison, Bill Dawes, Samuel Ray Gates, Matthew Maher, Jeanine Serralles and Mather Zickel. Here's how it's billed: "In this dark comedy, four friends meet at their high school reunion, and ponder a plan to free their old friend who's been kidnapped by a radical political group. Absurdity, intensity and plain ole weirdness ensue when this inebriated, stoned, adolescently arrested, religiously confused group of friends attempts to tackle the task at hand and, at the same time, debate the forces of international terrorism." Visit LabTheater.org.
Concluding July 20
The Cripple of Inishmaan (Broadway at the Cort Theatre). The Michael Grandage production of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan stars Daniel Radcliffe alongside West End cast members Ingrid Craigie (Kate Osborne), Pádraic Delaney (Babbybobby), Sarah Greene (Helen McCormick), Gillian Hanna (Eileen Osborne), Gary Lilburn (Doctor), Conor MacNeill (Bartley McCormick), Pat Shortt (Johnnypateenmike) and June Watson (Mammy). According to producers, "Set on the remote island of Inishmaan off the west coast of Ireland, word arrives that a Hollywood film is being made on the neighboring island of Inishmore. The one person who wants to be in the film more than anybody is young Cripple Billy (Radcliffe), if only to break away from the bitter tedium of his daily life. Martin McDonagh's comic masterpiece examines an ordinary coming of age in extraordinary circumstances and confirms his position as one of the most original Irish voices to emerge in the second half of the twentieth century." Visit CrippleOfInishmaan.com. Holler If Ya Hear Me (Broadway at the Palace Theatre). The Tupac Shakur-scored musical Holler If Ya Hear Me, a non-biographical new work directed by 2014 Tony Award winner Kenny Leon about hope, friendship and life on the city streets, features Saul Williams, Christopher Jackson, Saycon Sengbloh, Ben Thompson, Tony nominee John Earl Jelks, Joshua Boone, Dyllon Burnside and Tony winner Tonya Pinkins. Holler If Ya Hear Me, the world inside Shakur's music and lyrics, "blazes to life in a non-biographical story about friendship, family, revenge, change and hope. Inner city lives struggle for peace against the daily challenges they face in this entertaining and original musical," according to press notes. "Through the poetry of one of the 20th century's most influential and culturally prominent voices, we are given a window into realities of the streets still relevant today." Visit HollerIfYaHearMe.com.
