5 Shows to See in New York This Month

1. Big Feelings
First, you ought to catch the final week of Ryan Drake’s Big Feelings at the Cell. This immersive drama invites us back to school where Ms. Joy is giving a spectacular final performance on her last day teaching first grade. Why? That’s a secret, and the slow reveal is half of what makes this play so satisfying. The other half is Julia Greer, who plays Ms. Joy with utter commitment. “Greer is the reason this wild concept works,” proclaims TheaterMania’s Hayley Levitt. She obviously has something to teach us.

2. Hershey Felder: The Piano and Me
So does Hershey Felder, who has spent three decades stepping into the shoes of the likes of Frederick Chopin, Leonard Bernstein, and Irving Berlin. His latest role is arguably his most challenging: himself. In The Piano and Me, Felder tells the story of growing up in Montreal as the son of Eastern European immigrants. It was through his Hungarian grandfather that he first discovered his love of classical music—and the piano specifically. Felder tells all, ornamenting his story with virtuoso performances of Bach, Rachmaninoff, and Gershwin. It’s a play and a concert, all in one.

3. The Whoopi Monologues
Lincoln Center Theater is conducting a big experiment this month with The Whoopi Monologues, in which some of the most talented actors working today (Kecia Lewis, Kara Young, Kerry Washington, Danielle Pinnock, and Dominique Fishback) take on Whoopi Goldberg’s 1984 Broadway debut solo show. Do these monologues work without the performer who wrote them for herself? According to TheaterMania’s Kenji Fujishima, yes. In fact, he calls it “a showcase of some of the finest Black talent across generations.”

4. Shifters
The Cherry Lane Theatre has been knocking it out of the park since it reopened last year under new management (the film studio A24). Natalie Palamides’s Weer and a revival of Clare Barron’s You Got Older both enjoyed excellent reviews and extended runs. That makes the theater’s current offering, Benedict Lombe’s Shifters, worth seeing. It’s about old friends who reunite at a wake, their divergent life paths, and the unfinished business of their love. Hayley Levitt called it “the next dramatic gold mine,” which should make it the perfect ticket if you’re in the market for a thoughtful new play.

5. The Saviors
Regular readers of this newsletter will already know my enthusiasm for Well, I’ll Let You Go, Bubba Weiler’s play about a sudden death and the spouse left to pick up the pieces. That show ended its encore run at Studio Seaview last month, but Weiler has a new one. The Saviors is about a young man taking shelter in a church and two altar boys who see their lives changing forever. It’s being produced at Atlantic Theater Company, which is housed in an old church and should provide the ideal setting. The show also stars one of my favorite stage actors, Crystal Finn, who was so good earlier this year in Cold War Choir Practice. She’s reason enough to book a ticket.