Off-Broadway is brimming with variety this month, from bold new works to fresh takes on familiar classics. Here are twelve productions that caught our attention for their range and imagination, including reinventions of U.S. history, the bible, Shakespeare, French drama, Jane Austen, and cosmic meditation.
Mexodus: What if the Underground Railroad ran south? Writer-performers Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson turn that question into a full-throttle musical jam session. Using live-looping pedals, guitars, and beatboxing, the duo reimagines the journey of those who escaped slavery by crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico. Through Nov. 1, Minetta Lane Theatre, AudiblexMinetta.com.
Oratorio for Living Things: Composer-performer Heather Christian’s unique piece is something between a concert, a ritual, and a cosmic meditation. It surrounds the audience with singers and musicians who weave together blues, gospel, classical, and choral sounds into an immersive experience touching upon music, memory, time, and the vastness of space. Through Nov. 16, Pershing Square Signature Center, signaturetheatre.org.
Oh, Happy Day!: Playwright-performer Jordan E. Cooper and director Stevie Walker-Webb, the team behind “Ain’t No Mo’,” reunite for a gospel-fueled family comedy that turns biblical myth inside out. Set at a raucous backyard birthday party in Laurel, Mississippi, it imagines a modern-day Noah’s Ark as the Johnson family faces an impending flood plus a flood of long-buried secrets. Through Nov. 2, Public Theater, publictheater.org.
Kyoto: The climate crisis becomes a political thriller in a new play set during the real-life 1997 Kyoto climate conference, transforming a roomful of diplomats, strategists, and lobbyists into the players of a high-stakes global drama. This marks the U.S. premiere of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production. Through Nov. 30, Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, lct.org.
Richard II: Michael Urie reunites with Red Bull Theater, where he previously starred in “The Government Inspector,” to take on Shakespeare’s doomed monarch in a reimagining set in 1980s Manhattan. Astor Place Theatre, Oct. 28-Nov. 30, redbulltheater.com.
Endgame: The Irish theater company Druid will celebrate its 50th anniversary with Garry Hynes’ production of Samuel Beckett’s classic play, which finds dark humor and piercing humanity in four characters trapped in a crumbling room — and perhaps at the end of the world. Irish Arts Center, Oct. 22-Nov. 23, irishartscenter.org.
Pygmalion: Gingold Theatrical Group will mark its 20th anniversary with a new revival of George Bernard Shaw’s provocative satire of class, power, and identity, which is today best remembered as the source material for “My Fair Lady.” The production, directed and adapted by David Staller, takes visual inspiration from the iconic line drawings of Al Hirschfeld. Theater Row, Oct. 22-Nov. 22, gingoldgroup.org.
The Baker’s Wife: Ariana DeBose will headline the first full-scale New York production of Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein’s 1976 musical romance. While the original production closed on tour before reaching Broadway, it later developed a cult following through regional productions and the much-recorded ballad “Meadowlark.” Lynn F. Angelson Theater, Oct. 23-Dec. 21, classicstage.org.
Archduke: Playwright Rajiv Joseph (“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”), director Darko Tresnjak (“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”), and actor Patrick Page (“The Gilded Age”) team up for a darkly comic look at how history is made, in which the young men who assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand are reimagined as hapless dreamers lured by nationalism and hunger. Laura Pels Theatre, Oct. 23-Dec. 21, roundabout.org.
Are the Bennet Girls Ok?: Performed by an all-female ensemble (plus one man playing every male role), Emily Breeze tears into “Pride and Prejudice” with humor, irreverence, and regency England visuals while focusing intently on the character relationships. Through Nov. 9, West End Theatre, bedlam.org.
Queens: Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok (“Cost of Living”) revisits her 2018 drama, which is set in an illegal basement apartment in Queens and follows generations of immigrant women who built new lives from scratch—until a young Ukrainian woman’s arrival forces them to confront what they left behind. The cast includes Anna Chlumsky, Marin Ireland, Julia Lester, and Brooke Bloom, Oct. 15-Nov. 30, City Center Stage I, manhattantheatreclub.com.
Tartuffe: One of two productions of the classic French play to play Off-Broadway this fall, Tony Award winner André De Shields (“Hadestown,” “The Wiz”) stars in an immersive production on the Upper East Side that transforms a historic Italian-imported library into the decadent world of Molière’s comedy. Limited to just 100 guests per night, the production begins previews October 1. Through Nov. 23, House of the Redeemer, tartuffenyc.com.
