12 Shows to See Off Broadway in September
In terms of COVID-19 safety protocols, all of these productions require theatregoers to provide proof of being fully vaccinated with an FDA or WHO authorized vaccine. If you plan to attend with a child under 12 who is too young to be vaccinated, check the show’s website for info on providing a negative COVID-19 test. Masks are also mandatory.
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Atlantic Theater Company: The Last of the Love Letters – August 26
Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Chelsea
Previews August 26. Opens September 13. Closes September 26.
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Hunter Theatre Project: What Happened? The Michaels Abroad – August 28
Frederick Loewe Theatre at Hunter College, 119 East 68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues on the Upper East Side
Previews August 28. Opens September 8. Closes October 10.
When Tony-winning playwright-director Richard Nelson began his Rhinebeck Panorama 11 years ago with the Apple Family quartet, he couldn’t imagine what the future would bring—and that was part of the point. From 2010 to 2013, he created one hyper-realistic play a year about the title clan as they grappled with national milestones such as the 10th anniversary of September 11, the 2012 reelection of Barack Obama and the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. He revised every installment extensively up until opening night, resulting in an uncanny reflection of the moment. Over the past decade, he’s launched similar series about other Rhinebeck residents, the Gabriels and the Michaels, as each white, left-leaning family faced the same challenges we were all navigating in real time. After three Zoom plays during the pandemic about the Apple family, Nelson turns his attention back to the Michaels as they process what we’ve been through in What Happened?, which finds the clan traveling abroad for the first time since our world was upended. Real-life spouses Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders, who’ve portrayed characters in all three series, star in this final chapter of Nelson’s 12-play cycle.
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Blue Man Group – September 3
Astor Place Theatre, 434 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in the East Village
Starts September 3. Open run.
When Blue Man Group opened in 1991, it was considered offbeat performance art. Thirty years later, it’s a well-established international brand that continues to charm whimsy-loving audiences of all ages. The times may have changed but Blue Man Group stays, more or less, the same, with a trio of literal blue men engaging in absurd and hilarious antics without uttering a sound—although they’re backed by quite a loud band. This family favorite transcends generations and is a great first show for elementary schoolers, who invariably crack up at the goofy and slightly gross gags. Warning: If you don’t want to get hit with various liquids, don’t sit up front.
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New York Theatre Workshop: Sanctuary City – September 8
Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher Street between Bleecker and Hudson Streets in the West Village
Previews September 8. Opens September 21. Closes October 17. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living, queens, Ironbound), Sanctuary City was only a few previews in to its six-week run in March 2020 when it abruptly closed due to the pandemic. Although New York Theatre Workshop filmed the production for posterity, the institution committed to bringing it back once possible. That time has come. Like many of Majok’s previous plays, Sanctuary City focuses on the plight of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, as three longtime friends fight to establish a place for themselves and each other in the US. Olivier Award winner Rebecca Frecknall directs Jasai Chase-Owens, Sharlene Cruz and Austin Smith in this moving piece, which unfolds in an unexpected, nonlinear way. Note: Sunday performances are socially distanced, with empty seats on both sides of each party.
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Bedlam: Persuasion – September 11
Connelly Theatre, 220 East 4th Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village
Previews September 11. Opens September 28. Closes October 31.
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Second Stage Theater: Letters of Suresh – September 14
Tony Kiser Theater, 305 West 43rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews September 14. Opens October 12. Closes October 24.
Second Stage Theater presents a world premiere by playwright Rajiv Joseph, who was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. A companion piece to his Animals Out of Paper, which ran at Second Stage in 2008, Letters of Suresh is an epistolary work, as notes between strangers and loved ones unravel intimate mysteries and reveal our need for human connection across time and tragedy. May Adrales directs Ali Ahn, Ramiz Monsef, Kellie Overbey and Thom Sesma in this haunting play.
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Colt Coeur: Polylogues – September 17
HERE, 145 Sixth Avenue at Dominick Street in Soho
Previews September 17. Opens September 20. Closes October 9. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Colt Coeur’s last in-person show before the pandemic was Eureka Day, a critically acclaimed dark comedy about anti-vax parents at a private school—talk about incredible timing! The company returns to the stage with another piece about a polarizing topic, Polylogues, performer-playwright Xandra Nur Clark’s interview-based solo show about real people’s experiences with nonmonogamy. Clark wears headphones on stage so she can listen to the candid recordings as she channels these intimate stories. The result is a no-holds-barred examination of open sexual relationships and their impact on loved ones.
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A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet – September 17
DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th Street between Union Square East and Irving Place near Union Square Park
Previews September 17. Opens September 27. Closes November 21. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
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Little Shop of Horrors – September 21
Westside Theatre, 407 West 43rd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in Midtown West
Starts September 21. Closes January 9, 2022.
Newsies Tony nominee and controversial nerd Jeremy Jordan was less than a week away from taking over the role of Seymour in Michael Mayer’s hit revival of Little Shop of Horrors when theatres shut down. Appropriately, “on the 21st day of the month of September,” he’ll finally step into Seymour’s weatherworn shoes to woo his downtrodden dream girl Audrey and grapple with a manipulative man-eating plant. Original stars Tammy Blanchard and Christian Borle return as Audrey and her sadistic dentist boyfriend in this camp classic with songs by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman.
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St. Ann’s Warehouse: Only an Octave Apart – September 21
St Ann’s Warehouse, 45 Water Street near New Dock Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn
Starts September 21. Closes October 3.
Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse reopens with a musical collaboration between groundbreaking artist and activist Justin Vivian Bond and Metropolitan Opera countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. Titled Only an Octave Apart, this staged concert features the singers exploring the discordant yet complementary histories of opera and politically subversive cabaret, two art forms dominated and “kept alive for generations by queens,” as per the fabulously blunt Bond. Expect offbeat humor, eclectic songs and thrilling harmonies from these two iconoclasts.
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Playwrights Horizons: What to Send Up When It Goes Down – September 24
Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Dyer Avenues in Midtown West
Starts September 24. Closes October 17.
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Beyond Babel – September 30
The Gym at Judson, 243 Thompson Street between West 3rd Street and Washington Square South in the West Village
Starts September 30. Closes November 21.
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