By Staff

Previews/Openings

Hello Failure
In the disorienting but affecting world created by playwright Kristen Kosmas, seven submariner’s wives, a hairdresser, a ghost, and a potted plant attempt to make it through the day. When the wives meet in a support group, one locks herself in the bathroom and conjures up the ghost of Horace Hunley, an infamous submarine maker whose creations always sank.
Opens March 6. Runs through March 22. Performance Space 122, 150 First Ave. (at E. 9th St.), 212-477-5288; $10-$18.

Ongoing

3800 Elizabeth
A staged “sitcom” about a trio of thirtysomethings living in Brooklyn, it opens in medias res before cutting to a theme song and opening credits, which are projected onto a white wall as the title sequence is acted out. There are even faux commercials—like an advertisement for a fake energy drink called Shabang, and a facetious “Find Religion” PSA—and cast bloopers at the end. 
Through March 16. The Battle Ranch, 111 Conselyea St. (betw. Skillman & Metropolitan Aves.), B’klyn; 8, free.

Beebo Brinker Chronicles
Beth and Laura were secret lovers in college, but they split up when Beth decided to commit to a boyfriend. Laura headed to New York, where she met the fearless Beebo Brinker. But Beth and Laura still have feelings for each other. Based on the groundbreaking lesbian pulp fiction of Ann Bannon, this play tells the story of four friends as they navigate the restrictions of 1950s society and the freedoms of Greenwich Village’s underground bars and clubs. (Jenny Fisher)
March 5-April 2. 37 Arts, 450 W. 37th St. (betw 9th & 10th Aves.), 212-307-4100; $46.25-$76.25.

Betrayed: The Iraqis Who Loved America Too Much
Pippin Parker stages George Packer’s play like a chess game in which any pawn may be beheaded at any moment—this approach delivering an astonishing emotional intensity. It’s also astonishing how faithful Packer is to his source material and how the play’s title resonates beyond its gently intertwining story lines. Betrayed is more than a morality play about well-educated, democracy-enamored Iraqis and the politicians and diplomats living bubble-like existences in the Green Zone: It’s also about our government’s betrayal of sense. (Leonard Jacobs)
Through April 13. Culture Project, 55 Mercer St. (betw. Broome & Grand Sts.), 212-352-3101; $25-$60.

Come Back, Little Sheba
Director Michael Pressman’s production, the first on Broadway since the 1950 original, doesn’t liberate William Inge’s play from the ranks of period pieces. But its heart-stirring images deliver a suffocating intensity, and actress S. Epatha Merkerson’s performance as Lola is a beautifully textured creation. (LJ)
Open run. Biltmore Theatre, 247 W. 47th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave.), 212-239-6200; $46.50-91.50.

In the Heights
This musical was born during Lin-Manuel Miranda’s sophomore year at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, when he broke box-office records at the university’s theater with this musical inspired by the people and music of his childhood in northern Manhattan. Nine years later, hip-hop free-styling, salsa, and merengue meet Broadway.
Open run. Richard Rodgers Theatre (betw. 8th & Broadway), 212-307-4100; $20-$110.

Liberty City
Playwright (along with Jessica Blank) and sole cast member April Yvette Thompson drew from her imagination and from the history of this neighborhood in Miami where she grew up as the daughter of a Cuban and Bahamian father and African-American mother. The 1960s optimism and radicalism of her parents came in conflict with grim realities when riots broke out in 1980 after five white police officers were acquitted in the trial of a black motorist who was beaten to death.
March 4-16. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th St. (betw. Bowery & 2nd Ave.), 212-239-6200; $20, $45.

Lower Ninth
Beau Willimon’s play never mentions Hurricane Katrina, but it leaves two men stranded on the roof of a flooded house—with a dead body. The all-star TV-actor cast does an excellent job, but Willimon doesn’t challenge himself to get at meaty social issues, he’s too busy skimming the surface. (JP) 
Through April 5. The Flea Theater, 41 White St. (betw. Church St. & Broadway), 212-352-3101; $40-$45.

Macbeth
Director Rupert Goold is on to something, setting the play in a totalitarian Stalinist state at the height of the Cold War, mostly in and around an industrial kitchen. From the mimed ladling out of soup to the pouring of wine, from the emergence of an oversized chocolate cake to Patrick Stewart meticulously preparing and wolfing down a sandwich as the grim Thane of Cawdor, this is the most indulgently epicurean Scottish play we’re likely to see. This Macbeth is innovative and mesmerizing; but ultimately it tickles the brain far more than it touches the heart. (LJ)
Through March 22. BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St., B’klyn, (betw. Rockland Pl. & Ashland Pl.), 718-636-4182; $30-$90 [SOLD OUT].

Open House
Brooklyn playwright Aaron Landsman’s fourth site-specific production is staged in 24 different people’s couches. The play interweaves the story of a real estate agent and his sales pitch with the story of a young couple trying to start a family and sustain a relationship in a city where everything is in flux. It’s an interesting conceit, but the play doesn’t really go anywhere; instead, it relies on real estate envy and apartment swapping angst. (Jerry Portwood)
Through March 16. Various locations, 866-811-4111; $15.

Passing Strange
A rock ’n’ roll/cabaret/theater hybrid, this play is one of the most experimental pieces to come to Broadway in some time. Stew narrates the story of a black teenager who leaves his family in L.A. to travel to Amsterdam and Berlin for sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. The sort of music you’d expect in a bar, not on the stage, drives the narrative until the ultimate, poignant conclusion. (JP)
Open run. Belasco Theatre, 111 44th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.), 212-239-6200; $26.50-$111.50.

Sunday in the Park with George
This was the musical that converted me to musicals. I was amazed that Stephen Sondheim could make a musical that sounded like a painting—particularly pointillism— and have us understand a great artist through a completely disparate medium. The current production is equally rousing; the music, lyrics and book remain just as impressive. The most obvious difference is director Sam Buntrock’s imaginative use of animation. Instead of cutouts and fly-ins, as in the original production, the stage is now a blank, white canvas on which digital projections of drawings and the famous A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte appear. It transforms a second act that I never much cared for into something relevant and real—at last. (JP)
Through June 15. Studio 54, 254 W 54th St, (betw. 7th and 8th Aves.), 212-719-1300; $36.25 – $121.25.

The 39 Steps
It’s raison d’être is, at first blush, delicious: a send-up of Alfred Hitchcock’s oeuvre as seen through the lens of one of his great early films from 1935, all in the name of turning Hitch’s horror-loving sensibility on its head. The hoary plot is tailor-made for a lot of goofy spoofing, especially with two actors, Arnie Burton and Cliff Saunders, playing dozens of subsidiary roles. But no matter how much laughter one derives from The 39 Steps, there’s no denying it overflows with comic shtick we’ve seen countless times before. (LJ)
Through Mar. 23. American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St. (betw. 7th & 8th Aves.), 212-719-1300; $51.25-$96.25.