Concluding Aug. 25
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Broadway at the Golden Theatre). Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the Tony Award-winning comedy by Christopher Durang, currently features Creed Garnick, Julie White, Kristine Nielsen, David Hyde Pierce, Shalita Grant and Liesel Allen Yeager. Here's how it's billed: "Riffing on some of Anton Chekov's most time-tested themes, Christopher Durang proves in his hysterically funny and surprisingly affecting new romp, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, that whether you're in 19th Century Russia or 21st Century Pennsylvania, the human condition never changes. Vanya (Pierce) and Sonia (Nielsen) have never left the confines of their childhood home – a rambling farmhouse in Bucks County, PA – while having to witness the glamorous exploits of their sister, Masha (White), a famous movie actress, from afar. A surprise visit from Masha and her 20-something boy toy, Spike (Garnick), throws the normally quiet household int0 utter upheaval as its residents and visitors get swept up in an intoxicating mixture of lust, rivalry, regret, and the sudden possibility of escape. Only one thing is certain: no one will get out of this without looking absolutely ridiculous!" Visit VanyaSoniaMashaSpike.com.
Murder for Two (Off-Broadway at Second Stage's McGinn/Cazale Theatre). Jeff Blumenkrantz and Brett Ryback star as suspects and detective, respectively, in the two-person whodunit musical Murder for Two for Second Stage Theatre. Here's how the musical is billed: "Mixing classic musical comedy with a dash of Agatha Christie, everyone is a suspect in this house of eccentric characters unfazed by the dead body on the floor. But this whodunit comes with a killer twist: one actor investigates the crime (Ryback), the other plays all thirteen suspects (Blumenkrantz), and they both play the piano! This madcap mystery will tickle the ivories and your funny bone." Visit 2ST.com.
The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin (Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre). Roundabout Theatre Company's world-premiere production of Steven Levenson's The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin features Christopher Denham, Lisa Emery, Sarah Goldberg, David Morse and Rich Sommer. Unavoidable Disappearance, according to the Roundabout, is described as such: "Tom Durnin did the time for his white-collar crime. Now, he’s determined to win back the respect he believes he deserves—even if that means ripping apart the new life his family has so carefully put together in his absence. Tom’s son warily allows his father to camp out on his couch, hoping the man who let everyone down has finally turned a new page. After a lifetime of empty promises, can Tom find a place in a family that has worked so hard to move on without him?" Visit RoundaboutTheatre.org.
The Designated Mourner (Off-Broadway at The Public Theater). Wallace Shawn's The Designated Mourner features Shawn, Deborah Eisenberg and Larry Pine. According to the Public, The Designated Mourner "is a monologue-triptych in which three artist-intellectuals recount their experiences as their once-liberal country sinks into political crisis. A famous poet-intellectual, his daughter, and her husband—people made of very different moral fiber despite their shared highbrow interests—witness the subtle and flagrant transformations of everyday life, public affairs and personal relationships until they finally are dragged into the middle of things themselves. This searing and disturbing drama, prescient of much that occurred during the Bush/Obama years, has been called Shawn's masterpiece." Visit PublicTheater.org. I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan (Off-Broadway at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row). John S. Anastasi's I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan features Patricia Richardson, PJ Benjamin, Robert Emmet Lunney and Danielle Faitelson; understudies are Catherine Marotta and Daren Kelly. In I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan, press notes state, "when it comes to air traffic, Ray Deluso has everything under control. But on the ground, his life is a struggle after a rebellious political decision in the early eighties. Twenty years later, pride, anger, and obsession threaten the only things that matter to him: his wife and daughter. Can Ray find forgiveness and gain control, even if it means letting go?" Visit Telecharge.com.
