From Paranormal Activity to Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), here are our critic’s picks of the best shows currently on the New York stage. Click the title show link to read our full review.
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Imperial Theatre, Broadway
Billy Crystal’s new monologue is a comfy cardigan of a show, full of warm reminiscences and genial impressions of everyone from Jack Nicholson to Robin Williams to Robin Williams doing Ronald Reagan. ★★★★☆
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through February 14 for $84 to $399
AMAZE
New World Stages, Off Broadway
‘Amaze’ is as well-constructed as any autobiographical one-man show you’re likely to see on an Off Broadway stage, and Allan definitely knows how to manipulate a big reveal. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes (with 1 intermission)
Tickets on sale through Jan. 31 for $59 to $265
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Public Theater, Off Broadway
In a remarkable performance, Andrew Durand captures the gravelly decrepitude of the “young” Benjamin in both his posture and initially tremulous voice, then matures into a regular guy, with a solid baritone, before assuming the youthful bounciness of warped senescence. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through December 20 for $149
DEGENERATES
Playwrights Horizons, Off Broadway
Else Went’s new drama transforms ripped-from-the-headlines sociology into incisive character study. This is engrossing, essential theater that should not be missed. ★★★★★
Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through November 8 for $75 to $129; later, Dec. 22 through Jan. 24
DELIRIUM
The Space at Irondale, Brooklyn
Igor Golyak’s adaptation of Ionesco’s lesser-known 1962 play is a rib-tickling, thought-provoking dark comedy for the age of doomscrolling. ★★★★☆
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through November 14 for $69 to $129
A FEW GOOD MEN
LCT’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway
Aaron Sorkin’s breakout play remains a crackerjack entertainment, which unfolds with brisk efficiency under Michael Arden’s coolly professional direction. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through January 10 for $114 to $421
A GHOST IN YOUR EAR
Minnetta Lane Theatre, Off Broadway
This theatrical ghost story becomes like a super-spreader event, a spectacular, specter-filled sensation may infect your waking and sleeping consciousness for days. ★★★★★
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through December 12 for $47 to $111
THE HAIRY APE
Irish Rep, Off Broadway
The Irish Rep’s stylish revival benefits from an evocative set and lighting design and a star-making turn by Jon Beavers as O’Neill’s brutish protagonist. ★★★★☆
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through November 15 for $55 to $125
I BECAME WE
Atlantic Theater Company, Off Broadway
Mona Pirnot and composer Jack D. Coen’s song cycle is a singular achievement, a choral masterpiece that is thoughtful, smart, funny, and frankly unforgettable. It contains multitudes. ★★★★★
Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through November 15 for $57 to $122
THE IMAGINARY INVALID
Todd Haimes Theatre, Broadway
Bill Irwin is surrounded by a cast of zanies who make a mountain of laughs out of a centuries-old Molière hill. ★★★★☆
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through November 22 for $78 to $289
JUST IN TIME
Circle in the Square, Broadway
‘Just in Time’ feels rejuvenated by Jeremy Jordan, who seems tailor-made to play Bobby Darin, a legend with a golden voice, a hard-charging style, and charm to spare. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes (with 1 intermission)
Tickets on sale through Feb. 7 for $69 to $599
THE LOST BOYS
Palace Theatre, Broadway
‘The Lost Boys’ may be the most spectacular surprise of the Broadway season — a technically astounding show that actually improves on its source material with more fleshed-out characters, a more coherent plot, and a hook-filled rock score that deepens our connection to both the players and their plight. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through March 7 for $55 to $270
MASQUERADE
218 West 57th St., Off Broadway
While ‘Masquerade’ offers a memorable adventure in the milieu of ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ it’s harder to be moved by Christine’s story when you’re the one doing most of the moving. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes (with no intermission)
Tickets on sale through May 30 for $175 to $395
OTHER DESERT CITIES
Hudson Theatre, Broadway
In the climactic second act, Julia Louis-Dreyfus drops her carefully manicured, Missoni-inspired armor to reveal a rawer, appealingly vulnerable woman underneath. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through January 17 for $167 to $1,118
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
August Wilson Theatre, Broadway
In its clever storytelling and ingenious stagecraft, the show re-creates the communal feeling of being in a crowded movie theater, with the added benefit of having both a live audience as well as performers who feed off all that pumped-up nervous energy. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through February 28 for $63 to $363
PRE-EXISTING CONDITION
Greenwich House Theater, Off Broadway
Marin Ireland, who based the play on her well-publicized experience with domestic violence, has written an actorly play that allows its entire cast to shine. ★★★★★
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through December 19 for $49 to $179
SCHMIGADOON!
Nederlander Theatre, Broadway
Cinco Paul’s score toes a delicate but delectable line between parody and pastiche, while director-choreographer’s Christopher Gattelli’s high-stepping production numbers match the eclectic score with a wide range of callbacks to classic Broadway moves. ★★★★☆
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through April 4 for $69 to $349
SCHOOL GIRLS: OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Broadway
‘School Girls’ sprays a thin mist of social commentary over its familiar genre-based story but it really shines in the comedic set pieces, including a hilariously off-kilter rendition of a Whitney Houston ballad. ★★★★☆
Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through November 15 for $70 to $321
TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK)
Longacre Theatre, Broadway
Every now and then, an enchanting new musical classic comes along out of nowhere, with pop-tinged bops that are as catchy as Velcro. ‘Two Strangers’ may not follow the template of a traditional love story, but it’s a crush note to New York City and one of the best new musicals of the year. ★★★★★
Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes (with one intermission)
Tickets on sale through Nov. 22 for $59 to $399
WAITING FOR LEFTY
Classic Stage Company, Off Broadway
Steven Pasquale’s directorial debut adds classic protest songs and a cast of 10 actor-musicians to Clifford Odets’ Depression-era drama, and the outrages still resonate. ★★★★☆
Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through November 22 for $66 to $236
WE’LL SEE
Public Theater, Off Broadway
Richard Nelson’s little bubble of a play proves that the mere act of coming together, in a theater or over a dining room table, may be the best defense against despair in the era of Trump. ★★★★☆
Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through November 29 for $99