Don’t miss the Big Excellent 20th Reunion, a new original queer musical playing at Theatre 80 now through Jun 23. Erica Klein, a young woman of color, attends her adopted mother’s 20th high school reunion to deliver her last message to her dearest friends. But when Erica arrives, it’s quite apparent she’ll first have to let all of them come fabulously out of the closet. This humorous and deeply intimate story is relatable for those who have ever loved family and friends who are queer, are from interracial and/or adopted families, or have been touched by cancer and HIV.
Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons stars as one of modern theatre’s most lovable characters, Elwood P. Dowd, in Harvey at the Roundabout Theatre Company through Aug 5. Charming and kind, Elwood has only one character flaw: an unwavering friendship with a six-foot-tall, invisible white rabbit named Harvey. The hijinks begin when Elwood’s sister takes him to the local sanatorium. But when the doctors commit her instead and Elwood—and Harvey—slip out of the hospital unbothered, a hilarious whirlwind of confusion and chaos is set off as everyone in town tries to catch a man and his invisible companion.
La MaMa presents the world premiere of The Etiquette of Death, a Chris Tanner Production in collaboration with some of New York’s finest downtown artists. Death can be a messy and terrifying horror—or it can be a quiet, unapologetic thief in the night. The contributing artists, including Penny Arcade, Lance Cruce, Angela DiCarlo, Martha Girdler and Greta Jane Pedersen, offer a collage of scenes, songs, poetry, music and dance that explores the artifice and manners that surround this unruly journey. The Etiquette of Death runs from Jun 14–Jul 1 as the final show of La MaMa’s 50th anniversary season.
The Long View Theater Company presents And Ms. Reardon Drinks a Little at the Shell Theater opening Jun 24. The play centers on the three Reardon sisters: deserted by their father in childhood, dominated by their recently deceased mother in early adulthood, and now in their prime battling their own demons. One sister is slightly controlling, another drinks just a bit too much and the third has gone just a tad crazy. When one sister presses the need to institutionalize another, the simmering resentments of many years burst alive in a scandalously hilarious sibling brawl.
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