June 8, 2017 | About Last Night

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:
• Dear Evan Hansen (musical, PG-13, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Groundhog Day (musical, G/PG-13, most shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Hamilton (musical, PG-13, Broadway transfer of off-Broadway production, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• On Your Feet! (jukebox musical, G, closes August 20, reviewed here)
• Present Laughter (comedy, PG-13, closes July 2, reviewed here)
• Six Degrees of Separation (serious comedy, PG-13/R, closes July 16, reviewed here)
• Sweat (drama, PG-13, Broadway transfer of off-Broadway production, original production reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:
• Pacific Overtures (musical, PG-13, closes June 18, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN HARTFORD, CONN.:
• Heartbreak House (serious comedy, PG-13, reviewed here)

“Am I claiming, you ask, never to use living people as models in my writing? Oh no. I use people. I use myself, which means that I use everything I find in my brain—experiences, impressions, memories, reading matter by other writers—everything, including the people who surround me and impinge on my awareness. Sometimes I am asked, ‘Do you think it’s nice of you?’ and I reply honestly, ‘I don’t know. It isn’t a question in my mind of being nice or not nice. I can’t help it any more than I can help breathing. I am not apologizing or defending myself: there it is. I do it and I will always do it as long as I write, and it’s no use trying to bring in the ethical aspects of writing. People who mind should stay away from writers. I think that they do, on the whole. People who don’t mind but say they do will go on talking to me, and they are happy, so I don’t worry about them.”