Torch Song playwright Harvey Fierstein’s new biographical play about New York’s legendary, hat-wearing “political firebrand” Bella Abzug will make its world premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club Off Broadway next October, with Fierstein himself taking the title role. A solo show, Bella Bella, directed by Kimberly…

Manhattan Theatre Club has announced the Broadway premiere next April of the West End hit Ink, a play about Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of UK tabloid The Sun. Ink was written by James Graham, an Olivier Award winner whose credits include Labour of Love and Finding Neverland. The production is directed by Rupert…

With a commission from the American Repertory Theater and its artistic director Diane Paulus, Eve Ensler adapted her harrowing, revelatory 2013 memoir In the Body of the World into an equally harrowing, revelatory play. I’d call it an unblinking work, but in truth I doubt anyone will come away from this evening…

Three timely plays given superb productions offer stark contrasts to the Broadway blockbusters you probably can’t get into anyway, as well as some of the best performances on view anywhere. • School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play. As the title suggests, Jocelyn Bioh’s drama draws some inspiration from Tina…

If the question of whether a woman can have it all makes your eyes glaze over, you’re probably a man. One theatergoer’s fallow field can be another’s fertile ground. In the case of Penelope Skinner’s Linda – which opened Tuesday at the Manhattan Theatre Club in a sleek production directed by MTC a.d. Lynne Meadow – a…

Harold Prince’s long-gestating career retrospective Prince Of Broadway will open in August at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s flagship Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The show, featuring scenes from the life and legendary c.v. of Broadway’s most Tony-decorated denizen, will be produced by the non-profit by special…

John Legend, who’s increasingly using his stature as a Grammy and Oscar-winning singer and songwriter (for “Glory,” co-written with Common for the film Selma) to promote theater projects that align with his social activism, has signed on as a co-producer of the upcoming Broadway premiere of August Wilson’s Jitney. The…

What would we do without odd couples? Not just Neil Simon’s Oscar and Felix but all those mismatched friends, lovers, spouses, siblings, parents, partners, pets, cousins, exes, execs, scoundrels, thieves and other ill-suited collaborationists whose sum is more than the equal of their farce? With Ripcord, David Lindsay…

Chekhov meets Beth Henley in Of Good Stock, Melissa Ross’ melodramedy getting its New York premiere  at Manhattan Theatre Club’s off-Broadway MainStage (after a spring unveiling in an entirely different production this spring at South Coast Rep). We’re in the comfortably appointed Cape Cod cottage bequeathed by a…

UPDATE, Friday A.M.: Corrects production history of Hot l Baltimore in last paragraph. Outcasts and losers link The Visit and Airline Highway, the two final entries in 2014-2015 Tony Awards sweepstakes (the nominations for this year’s awards will be announced on Tuesday morning). Seeing them — the former is a musical…

With the sold-out run of Constellations starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson having just closed at its Broadway…

Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre collective, already repped on Broadway with This Is Our Youth, now in previews, will have a second Tony-eligible show this season when the Manhattan Theatre Club imports the supertroupe’s production of Airline Highway. The new play by Lisa D'Amour (Detroit), directed by Tony-winner Joe…