‘Mary Jane,’ ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and More New Broadway Shows

critic’s pick

A ‘heartbreaker for anyone human.’

‘Mary Jane’

Rachel McAdams makes her Broadway debut in Amy Herzog’s play about an impossibly upbeat mother caring for a gravely ill child and navigating the byzantine health care system.

From our review:

[Herzog] is not interested in locking down meaning. Like all great plays, “Mary Jane” catches light from different directions at different times, revealing different ideas. On the other side of the worst of Covid, “Mary Jane” feels less like a parent’s cry for more life than an inquest into the meaning of death.

Through June 16 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. Read the full review.

Critic’s Pick

A family drama that ‘feels like it’s a healing.’

‘Mother Play’

Paula Vogel’s tragicomedy is a showcase for Jessica Lange, who plays a ferocious matriarch to a sister and brother played by Celia Keenan-Bolger and Jim Parsons.

From our review:

Nearly parodic in her feminine grace, [Lange’s Phyllis] is also as hard as buffed, polished nails. Phyllis is in some ways a monster, but Vogel doesn’t traffic in monsters. As a writer, she understands that people do terrible things for unterrible reasons — out of love, out of fear, out of loneliness.

Through June 16 at the Helen Hayes Theater. Read the full review.

critic’s pick

A show that all the critics love.

‘Stereophonic’

David Adjmi’s rock drama, with songs by a real rocker (Will Butler), follows a 1970s band (not unlike Fleetwood Mac) on the cusp of fame through the prolonged, drug-fueled process of making a new album.