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HOT 5: DECEMBER OFF-BROADWAY
December 8, 2024, 11:24.57 am ET

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Photo: A Child's Christmas in Wales/Carol Rosegg

By Brian Scott Lipton

Sure, the Great White Way is packed with big splashy shows this month, and plenty of family fare abounds elsewhere including “The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular,” “Annie” (at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden) and “The Big Apple Circus” at Lincoln Center. But if you’re looking for something more intimate (and in some cases, more serious), consider these five current Off-Broadway offerings.

A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES

Rather than serving up a straight-up dramatization of Dylan Thomas’ classic story, this charming adaptation by Charlotte Moore has an appealing cast of six (including Broadway favorites Howard McGillin and Ali Ewoldt) reciting pieces of the poetic tale interspersed with two dozen holiday songs and carols, including “O Holy Night,” “I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In” and “Silent Night,” which is performed in both Welsh and English. (Irish Repertory Theatre).


Photo: A Guide for the Homesick/Russ Rowland

A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK

Ken Urban’s gripping new play stars McKinley Belcher III and Uly Schlesinger as two Americans who are drawn together in an Amsterdam hotel by their shared isolation and haunting secrets. As they open up about their troubled pasts, the narrative shifts between the present and the past, with the two actors portraying four roles in an acting tour-de-force. (DR2)


Photo: The Blood Quilt

THE BLOOD QUILT

Katori Hall's intense play, getting a long overdue New York premiere, is part August Wilson, part Eugene O'Neill, full of magical symbolism and (a lot of) realistic revelations that occur when four half-sisters (and one precocious teen) gather shortly after their mother's funeral. Excellent performances by all, an amazing set by Adam Rigg, and a long journey into truth -- and ultimately hope – make this a must-see drama. (Mitzi Newhouse Theatre)


Photo: Mrs Stern/Valerie Terranova

MRS. STERN WANDERS THE PRUSSIAN STATE LIBRARY

Acclaimed playwright Jenny Lyn Bader’s newest work, which has transferred from a limited run at 59E59, imagines the interrogation of the brilliant Jewish revolutionary Hannah Arendt in 1933 Germany by a young Gestapo officer trying to determine if she is an enemy of the state. (WP Theater)


Photo: Welcome to the Big Dipper

WELCOME TO THE BIG DIPPER

In this new musical comedy, -- based on a true story -- a monster blizzard forces two wildly disparate groups of travelers to shelter in place at an historic inn in far upstate New York that is on the brink of closure. The ensemble cast includes such musical theatre veterans as Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli (“Jekyll & Hyde”), Jillan Louis, Mia Pinero and Debra Walton. (York Theatre Company at Theatre at St. Jean’s)



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