“Ain’t No’ Mo” playwright Jordan E. Cooper announced on stage last night that thanks to his campaign his play is not closing this Sunday as had been announced; it’s been extended to next Friday.That’s still not much time to catch a play worth seeing.
There are other shows closing soon that opened this year that I consider worthwhile — some of them in my Top 10 of the year, others I’m glad I saw, even if other theatergoers more fully enjoyed them. There are a couple of shows that have been around for longer, whose closing deserves attention. Here are a dozen shows closing within the next six weeks, listed according to their scheduled closing dates with links to their websites and to my reviews or other pieces about them:
Closing Decembers 23
Ain’t No Mo
An over-the-top satire that aims to tickle, shock and draw blood, imagines an America in which all Black people are being flown to Africa. But it’s not a direct flight. There are stops at a Black church, an abortion clinic, a TV studio, a mansion, a prison, and finally, at African American Airlines, Gate 1619 (the date of the first Black slaves in the New World.) My Broadway review
Closing January 1
A Christmas Carol
Jefferson Mays’ celebrated solo show adapting Charles Dickens famous story, in which the actor portrays 50 characters. my Broadway review
Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish
The third go-round for this glorious show, “Fiddler on the Roof” in the Yiddish language (with English and Russian subtitles) directed by Joel Gray and starring Steven Skybell. My review of it in 2019
Closing January 8
1776
This Broadway revival of the 1969 Tony winning musical tells the story of the meeting in 1776 of the Continental Congress that resulted in the Declaration of Independence employs a cast composed entirely of female, non-binary and trans performers. This production has been controversial in several ways, but I recommend it. A strength of “1776,” both fifty-three years ago and now, is that it can be both a crowd-pleasing (yes, sometimes silly) musical and a thought-provoking glimpse at not just the founding of the United States, but its original sin, and the nation’s complicated relationship with freedom. my review
Into the Woods
This revival of Sondheim and Lapine’s clever and tuneful adult take on classic fairy tales is a transfer to Broadway from the New York City Center Encores! concert series, and a huge audience favorite that kept on getting extended and switching around the cast. One of my favorite of the year..My review
Stomp
This unusual show is closing after 29 years ensconced at the Orpheum Theater in the East Village since Feb. 27, 1994. It creates a wordless percussive dance using martial arts sticks and drumsticks, hands and feet, brooms and buckets and dust bins, oil cans and garbage cans and garbage can lids — also the occasional zippo lighter and shopping cart. Watch videos of their derring-do over the decades
Closing January 15
A Strange Loop
The Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning musical about a big, gay Black guy who is struggling to write a musical about a big, gay black guy who is struggling…One of my favorite of the year. My review on Broadway
Also:
Death of a Salesman (my review),
Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man & The Pool (my review),
The Music Man (my review),
Topdog/Underdog (my review)
Closing January 29
The Piano Lesson
In this revival, a starry cast work together as an ensemble, portraying a family of storytellers in a play haunted by ghosts – literal, metaphoric, historic…above all, by August Wilson,for whom this was the fourth of his ten-play series that he had spent the last 26 years of his life writing. my review
