Current Broadway Show listings

Broadway

★ ‘ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S THE 39 STEPS’ An absurdly enjoyable, gleefully theatrical riff on the 1935 Hitchcock movie, directed by Maria Aitken and featuring a cast of four that feels like a cast of thousands. This fast, frothy exercise in legerdemain is throwaway theater at its finest (1:45). Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Ben Brantley)

★ ‘AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY’ Tracy Letts’s turbocharged tragicomedy about an Oklahoma clan in a state of near-apocalyptic meltdown is the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years. Fiercely funny and bitingly sad, it somehow finds fresh sources of insight in that classic staple of the stage, the disintegrating American family. And the cast, from the Steppenwolf Theater Company, is beyond sublime (3:20). Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Charles Isherwood)

‘A CATERED AFFAIR’ John Buccino and Harvey Fierstein’s short, slow and somber depiction of a blue-collar family planning an expensive wedding, inspired by the 1956 movie, is so low-key that it often seems to sink below stage level. John Doyle directs a scrupulously subdued cast led by Faith Prince, Tom Wopat and Mr. Fierstein (1:30). Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

‘CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF’ Anika Noni Rose and Terrence Howard deliciously embody those eternal adversaries, irresistible force and immovable object, as the battling husband and wife in the first act of this otherwise flabby revival of Tennessee Williams’s melodrama. Debbie Allen directs, none too certainly, a cast that also includes James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad (2:45). Broadhurst Theater, 235 West 44th Street, Manhattan; (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

‘THE COUNTRY GIRL’ The sole source of suspense in this inert revival — directed by Mike Nichols and starring Morgan Freeman, Frances McDormand and Peter Gallagher — is whether three of the finest actors around can ever make you care about what their characters are going through (2:10). Jacobs Theater, 242 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

‘CRY-BABY’ Tasteless, though not in the way you would expect from a show adapted from a movie by John Waters, the king of cinematic vulgarity. This bad-boy-meets-good-girl 1950s spoof has all the flavor of week-old, prechewed gum. Mark Brokaw directs a forgettable cast. (2:20). Marquis Theater, 1535 Broadway, at 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

‘DISNEY’S THE LITTLE MERMAID’ The motto for this charm-free musical blunderbuss, based on the charming 1989 Disney movie, might be “You can’t go broke overestimating the taste of preschoolers.” Francesca Zambello directs an overwhelmed cast (2:20). Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley)

‘GREASE’ A limp revival of a musical set in a high school that feels like a musical put on by a high school. Kathleen Marshall directs and choreographs a charisma-free ensemble, whose leads (Max Crumm and Laura Osnes) were cast via reality television (2:15). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

★ ‘GYPSY’ As the dangerously obsessed Momma Rose, Patti Lupone has found her focus. And when Ms. LuPone is truly focused, she’s a laser, she incinerates. Directed by Arthur Laurents, this wallop-packing incarnation of the great musical showbiz fable, also starring the superb Boyd Gaines and Laura Benanti, shines with a magnified, soul-revealing transparency (2:30). St. James, 246 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

★ ‘IN THE HEIGHTS’ Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the bubbly Latin pop score for this musical about barrio life, also gives a captivating performance as the owner of a bodega who dispenses good cheer along with cafe con leche. Zesty choreography and a host of lively performers are among its other assets; its fundamental flaw is a vivid streak of sentimentality (2:20). Richard Rodgers Theater, 226 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Isherwood)

★ ‘MACBETH’ Patrick Stewart brings fearsome insight to the title role in Rupert Goold’s good and nasty production of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Though the show has enough flash, blood and mutilation to satisfy Wes Craven fans, it’s Mr. Stewart’s brilliance that makes it a must-see. With Kate Fleetwood (excellent and original) as his stained trophy wife (2:45). Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

‘THE NEW MEL BROOKS MUSICAL YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN’ This tiring adaptation of Mr. Brooks’s 1974 movie, directed by Susan Stroman and starring an amiable but overwhelmed Roger Bart, never seems to stop screeching at you. This means that: a) it soon wears out its voice, and b) it leaves you with a monster-size headache (2:45). Hilton Theater, 213 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

‘NOVEMBER’ David Mamet’s glib, jaunty comedy about a corrupt, unpopular president seeking re-election suggests a “Saturday Night Live” sketch retro-styled as a Sid Caesar comedy sketch. Joe Mantello, in his Neil Simon mode, directs a cast led by Nathan Lane (as the quipping president) and Laurie Metcalf (as his doormat speechwriter) (1:35). Barrymore Theater, 243 West 47th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

★ ‘PASSING STRANGE’ The rock ’n’ roll autobiography of Stew, a singer-songwriter who grew up in bourgeois black Los Angeles and trekked to Europe to find himself as an artist. The portrait of an artist in search of himself is an old story; Stew’s unique perspective, exuberant music and witty lyrics — and the show’s uniformly delightful cast — give it a vivid new sheen (2:10). Belasco Theater, 111 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood)

★ ‘SOUTH PACIFIC’ Bartlett Sher’s rapturous revival of this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic recreates the unabashed, unquestioning romance American theatergoers once had with the American book musical. Kelli O’Hara and Paulo Szot are the revelatory stars of a pitch-perfect cast (2:50). Vivian Beaumont Theater, 150 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

★ ‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE’ A glorious revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1984 musical about art according to Seurat. Making enchanting use of 21st-century technology to convey a 19th-century Pointillist’s point of view, this production also shimmers with a new humanity and clarity Daniel Buntrock directs a revelatory cast, led by Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell. (2:15). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Brantley)

★ ‘XANADU’ An improbably entertaining spoof of the majestically awful movie from 1980 about a Greek muse (Olivia Newton-John, roller-skating into oblivion) who inspires a young artist in Venice Beach, Calif., to chase his disco dream. Kerry Butler mimics Ms. Newton-John’s Aussie accent and sports her signature skates-and-leg-warmers look, but also puts her own affectionate stamp on a seriously silly role. The impish playwright Douglas Carter Beane, who wrote the adaptation, also supplies great material for the domineering comic actresses Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa. Blissfully idiotic, practically sublime (1:30). Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood)