6 Shows to See in New York This Month

1. Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is the most delightful new musical on Broadway. It’s about the sister of the bride and the son of the groom transporting the cake to a wedding. She’s American, he’s British, and neither is exactly welcome at what promises to be a very swanky event. Writers Jim Barne and Kit Buchan wed a laugh-out-loud book to an irresistible score, entirely performed by just two actors and the band. Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty run the musical-theater equivalent of a marathon eight times a week, more than earning their instant standing ovation. The show is a total charmer, and perfect for date night.

2. The Wasp
I’m pleased to report that The Wasp, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s thrilling two-hander about high school frenemies plotting murder, has been extended through November 23. It’s making its New York debut at a Financial District loft, where Colby Minifie is giving one of the most unhinged performances of the year as a professional-class woman carrying loads of emotional baggage in her enormous purse. Rory McGregor’s production beautifully walks the line between genuine horror and camp, which makes for a very satisfying theatrical experience.

3. Messy White Gays
I had a similar response to Messy White Gays, a black comedy set in a Manhattan high-rise in which a circle of A-gays contemplate the recent murder of one of their ilk, and how this will impact Sunday brunch. Mostly a platform for playwright Drew Droege’s magnificent shade and stinging one-liners, it’s unlikely to be included in the next anthology of great American drama, but it will have you rolling in the aisle. Pete Zias’s memorable performance as an expired Broadway twink named “Thacker” is a real scream. You can even pick up a branded jockstrap at the merch stand—Droege knows his audience.

4. Richard II
Speaking of messy white gays, I was LIVING for the unexpected throuple drama running through Red Bull Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s Richard II, which is the first new production in the Astor Place Theatre since Blue Man Group moved out. Michael Urie plays the titular Plantagenet nepo-baby opposite Grantham Coleman as Henry Bolingbroke, his eventual usurper. While the supporting performances are uneven, the verse feels fresh and alive in the mouths of these two great actors. Director Craig Baldwin has reframed the story in the 1980s which, while not always clarifying, does exude a kind of doomed decadence that feels appropriate.

5. Oedipus
Director Robert Icke certainly understands how a modern setting can help audiences connect with even the most ancient drama. His adaptation of Sophocles’s Oedipus at Studio 54 reimagines the Theban king as a 21st-century politician with a secret so dark he doesn’t even know about it. Mark Strong plays the title character opposite Lesley Manville, who holds the audience rapt as her Jocasta monologues for a good 10 minutes. I know that because Icke has placed a countdown clock stage right (presumably to indicate when the polls close). It’s a bold move in a classic play, inviting audiences to count the seconds until they can leave. But in this stellar production, it powerfully conveys the irresistible approach of fate.

6. The Seat of Our Pants
Of course, the world was always doomed to end and then be reborn. That is the central message of Thornton Wilder’s 1942 play The Skin of Our Teeth, which Ethan Lipton has adapted into a new musical at the Public Theater. The Seat of Our Pants stars Shuler Hensley and Ruthie Ann Miles as Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus, a timeless family that survives the apocalypse three times. Micaela Diamond is excellent as family maid Sabina, successfully making Wilder’s original humor land for a contemporary audience. I’m not really a fan of the original play, but Lipton’s heartfelt and slightly absurd tunes feel like the missing ingredient in this story that distressingly has a lot to say about our world in 2025.