Here’s my list of recommended Broadway and off-Broadway shows, updated each Thursday. In all cases, I either gave these shows strongly favorable reviews in The Wall Street Journal when they opened or saw and liked them some time in the past year (or both). For more information, click on the title.
Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.
BROADWAY:
– Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter, strong language, one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)
– Chicago (musical, R, adult subject matter, sexual content, fairly strong language)
– Doubt (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, implicit sexual content, reviewed here)
– The Light in the Piazza (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter and a brief bedroom scene, closes Mar. 26, reviewed here)
– Sweeney Todd (musical, R, adult situations, strong language, reviewed here)
– The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee* (musical, PG-13, mostly family-friendly but contains a smattering of strong language and a production number about an unwanted erection, reviewed here)
– The Woman in White (musical, PG, adult subject matter, reviewed here)
OFF BROADWAY:
– Abigail’s Party (drama, R, adult subject matter, strong language, reviewed here, extended through Feb. 1)
– Slava’s Snowshow (performance art, G, child-friendly, reviewed here)
– The Trip to Bountiful (drama, G, reviewed here, extended through Feb. 19)
CLOSING THIS WEEKEND:
– Hamlet (drama, PG, adult subject matter, closes Sunday, reviewed here)
– Absurd Person Singular (comedy, PG, adult subject matter, closes Dec. 18, reviewed here)
– Bach in Leipzig (comedy, G, too complicated for any but the brightest children to follow, closes Dec. 18, reviewed here)
– Orson’s Shadow (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, very strong language, closes Dec. 31, reviewed here)