By Staff

Previews/Openings

The American Dream / The Sandbox
Edward Albee directs his two early one-acts, the first about a dysfunctional family, the second continues the story of the perverse Mommy and Daddy.
Opens March 25, runs through April 19, Cherry Lane Theatre 38 Commerce St. (betw. Barrow & Bedford Sts.), 212-239-6200; $10-$60.

Ongoing

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)
Through 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. 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.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone
In Sarah Ruhl’s new play, mousy Jean (Mary Louise Parker) is unnerved by a man’s cell phone ringing nearby. She doesn’t know he’s dead, but she answers the phone anyway. Once she sees the guy is a goner, she keeps answering the phone, slowly trapping her in the residue of the deceased.
Through March 25. Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-420-8000 or 212-279-4200. $70.

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.
Through March 22. P.S. 122, 150 1st Ave. (at E. 9th St.), 212-477-5288; $10-$18.

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 do an excellent job, but Willimon doesn’t challenge himself to get at meaty social issues, he’s too busy skimming the surface. (JP)
Friday Night Lights’ Gaius Charles, NYPD Blue’s James McDaniel and The Wire’s Gbenga Akkinagbe are the stars. 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].

Medea
Theodora Skipitares returns to the experimental theater with her latest puppet adaptation of a Greek classic, featuring 5-foot Bunraku-style puppets, masks, live music and video projections.
La MaMa, 74A E. 4th St. (betw. Bowery & 2nd Ave.) Through March 30 212-475-7710; $25.

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; it relies too much 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 a 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
The current production of Sondheim’s play about George Seurat is just as rousing as the original; the music, lyrics and book are still 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.