17 Shows to See Off Broadway This May
Laura Benanti in Nobody Cares, which is running in May. Photo by Avery Brunkus.
Catch new plays starring Sandra Oh, Tony Shalhoub and BD Wong, a new musical with Laura Benanti and more
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– begins May 1
59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin May 1. Opens May 5. Closes May 18.
Since 2004, this annual showcase of UK productions has given Americans a taste of what’s playing across the pond. This 20th anniversary edition features eight shows and four begin this month, including Rodreguez King-Dorset’s Windrush Secret. In this profoundly personal solo show, the playwright-performer portrays three disparate characters—a black Caribbean diplomat, a white far-right politician and a white government official—to explore the impact of colonialism, racism and anti-immigrant laws in England, specifically the 2018 Windrush scandal that upended the lives of hundreds of Caribbean-British folks.
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– begins May 2
59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin May 2. Opens May 5. Closes June 2. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
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J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company: Lucky Stiff – begins May 3
AMT Theater, 354 West 45th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Begins May 3. Closes May 12.
Like City Center Encores!, J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company revives rarely performed musicals, though admittedly with smaller budgets. A flop when it premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 1988, this musical farce has become a cult favorite (and even a starry indie movie) thanks to its crazy story and wonderful songs by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Anastasia). Based on Michael Butterworth’s novel The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, it centers on a shoe salesman who must take the embalmed corpse of his recently murdered uncle on a vacation in order to claim an inheritance. High jinks and hilarity ensue.
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Just Another Day – begins May 3
Theater 555, 555 West 42nd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin May 3. Opens May 12. Closes June 30. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
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Invasive Species – begins May 7
Vineyard Theatre, 108 East 15th Street between Irving Place and Union Square East in Union Square
Previews begin May 7. Opens May 15. Closes June 30. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
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Syncing Ink: Master the Ceremony – begins May 7
The Apollo Stages at The Victoria, 233 West 125th Street between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevards in Harlem
Previews begin May 7. Closes May 19.
Back in 2017, before Kara Young had been nominated for Tony Awards for Clyde’s and Cost of Living, she got raves for her performance in The Flea’s Syncing Ink, a semi-autobiographical play by NSangou Njikam about a budding but rhyme-challenged rapper. Now she’s starring in a new production (with a new subtitle) of the coming-of-age play at the recently opened Apollo Stages at the Victoria on 125th Street in her home neighborhood of Harlem. Njikam is the aspiring emcee who gets a big assist from Sweet Tea (Young) on his artistic journey. Awoye Timpo directs.
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Soho Rep: The Fires – begins May 8
Previews begin May 8. Opens May 21. Closes June 30.
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Audible Theater: Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares – begins May 9
Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane between Sixth Avenue and MacDougal Street in the West Village
Begins May 9. Closes June 2. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
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Perelman Performing Arts Center: An American Soldier – begins May 12
Perelman Performing Arts Center, 251 Fulton Street at the intersection of Vesey and Greenwich Streets in the Financial District
Previews begin May 12. Opens May 14. Closes May 19. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
An opera based on the devastating 2011 suicide of Chinese-American Army Pvt. Danny Chen, An American Soldier explores the racism he endured in the military and the resulting courts-martial of his fellow troops. Composer Huang Ruo (Book of Mountains and Seas) and librettist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Soft Power) bring this heartbreaking story to the stage, directed by Obie Award winner Chay Yew.
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Julia Masli: Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha – begins May 15
Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street in Soho
Previews begin May 15. Opens May 18. Closes June 8.
A smash at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Julia Masli’s solo show has one goal: to solve your issues! There’s no script. Instead, Masli—who studied clowning with Philippe Gaulier, who counts Sacha Baron Cohen, Emma Thompson and Roberto Benigni among his students—asks the audience to share their challenges and she will come up with solutions… even if that involves calling your mom for a spontaneous heart-to-heart. Come prepared to reveal your problems!
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Second Stage: Breaking the Story – begins May 15
Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater, 305 West 43rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Midtown West
Previews begin May 15. Opens June 4. Closes June 23. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Alexis Scheer, whose Our Dear Dead Drug Lord was absolutely chilling, penned this world-premiere play about a foreign war correspondent (Maggie Siff) hoping to start a fresh life with her new husband at home. But can she ever truly shake her haunting experiences in the field? Jo Bonney directs a cast that includes Tony nominee Geneva Carr and the fabulous Julie Halston.
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Irish Repertory Theatre: Molly Sweeney – begins May 15
Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea
Previews begin May 15. Opens May 23. Closes June 30. If you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase discount tickets.
Irish Rep revives Brian Friel’s classic drama about a woman blind since infancy whose sight is restored with unexpected consequences. Sarah Street is Molly, John Keating is her meddling husband and Rufus Collins is the surgeon who changes their lives in this production, helmed by the theatre’s artistic director, Charlotte Moore. Part of Irish Rep’s year-long Friel Project.
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Clubbed Thumb: Usus – begins May 16
The Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street between Avenues A and B in the East Village
Begins May 16. Closes May 28.
One of the hottest theatre festivals in town, Clubbed Thumb Summerworks, kicks off its 27th edition this month with Usus, a world premiere by T. Adamson set in 1318 and centering on a half dozen Franciscan friars who clash with the controversial Pope Urban VI. While we realize that’s not a lot to go on, Summerworks is known for incubating offbeat yet engaging shows: What the Constitution Means to Me, Men on Boats and Grief Hotel all started here!
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Atlantic Theater Club: The Welkin – begins May 16
Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Chelsea
Previews begin May 16. Opens June 12. Closes July 7.
Tony-nominated playwright Lucy Kirkwood (The Children) penned The Welkin, about a young woman in 18th-century England who tries to avoid a death sentence by claiming to be pregnant. A dozen other women are gathered to suss out the truth. Saran Benson (Teeth) directs this darkly comic play about democracy with an ensemble cast led by Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve).
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Atlantic Theater Company: What Became of Us – May 17
Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues
Previews begin May 17. Opens June 4. Closes June 29.
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– begins May 22
59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin May 22. Opens May 25. Closes June 7.
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– begins May 22
59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Midtown East
Previews begin May 22. Opens May 25. Closes June 9.
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