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Theater; [Schedule]

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THEATER

Approximate running times are in parentheses. Theaters are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of current shows, additional listings, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/theater.

Previews and Openings

'BETRAYED' Previews start on Friday. Opens on Feb. 6. The Culture Project, which had success with Laurence Wright's My Trip to Al-Qaeda, adapts another New Yorker article with this play based on the work of George Packer on Iraq. Culture Project, 55 Mercer Street, SoHo, (212) 352-3101.

'CRIMES OF THE HEART' In previews; opens on Feb. 7. Kathleen Turner directs this revival of Beth Henley's Pulitzer Prize-winning dysfunctional-family drama (2:30). Laura Pels Theater, 111 West 46th Street, (212) 719-1300.

'GRACE' In previews; opens on Feb. 11. A scientist, played by Lynn Redgrave, discovers that her son has decided to become a Christian minister in this English import (1:30). Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 279-4200. 'HUNTING AND GATHERING' In previews; opens on Feb. 3. Brooke Berman's new play explores four interconnected New Yorkers trying to get by (1:30). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212) 279-4200.

'JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA' Performances on Tuesday and Wednesday. This concert version of a musical that blends high- and lowbrow with impunity will run for two days. Harvey Keitel stars as the unctuous talk show host. Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800.

'THE MADDENING TRUTH' In previews; opens on Wednesday. David Hay's new play portrays the third wife of Ernest Hemingway (2:00). Keen Company at the Clurman Theater, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200.

'NEXT TO NORMAL' In previews; opens on Feb. 13. Michael Greif (Rent) stages this new musical about a suburban family coming to grips with a secret (2:20). Second Stage Theater, 307 West 43rd Street, Clinton, (212) 246-4422.

'SISTERS, SUCH DEVOTED SISTERS' In previews; opens on Saturday. A drag queen negotiates the Glasgow underworld (1:00). Studio Dante, 257 West 29th Street, Chelsea, (212) 868-4444.

'THE SLUG BEARERS OF KAYROL ISLAND (OR, THE FRIENDS OF DR. RUSHOWER)' Previews start on Friday. Opens on Feb. 12. From the theater that brought you Avenue Q comes this quirky musical that takes place in front of a hand-drawn animated background by Ben Katchor, who also wrote the libretto. Vineyard Theater, 108 East 15th Street, (212) 353-0303.

'TWO THOUSAND YEARS' In previews; opens on Feb. 7. Mike Leigh's new play is about an assimilated Jewish family that must deal with a layabout son who suddenly becomes devout. Scott Elliott directs (2:20). Acorn Theater, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200.

Broadway

'AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY' Tracy Letts's turbo-charged tragicomedy about an Oklahoma clan in a state of near-apocalyptic meltdown is the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years. Fiercely funny and bitingly sad, it somehow finds fresh sources of insight in that classic staple of the stage, the disintegrating American family. And the cast, from the Steppenwolf Theater Company, is beyond sublime (3:20). Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200.

(Charles Isherwood)

'THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION' Aaron Sorkin's information-crammed, surface-skimming play about the creators of television suggests nothing so much as a classroom presentation on a seven-figure budget. Hank Azaria and Jimmi Simpson are the appealing stars; Des MacAnuff directs with his reliable blend of slickness and liveliness (2:00). Music Box Theater, 239 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Ben Brantley)

'THE HOMECOMING' A superlative revival of Harold Pinter's masterpiece of family warfare, directed by Daniel Sullivan, with a cast led by Ian McShane and, in benchmark performances, Eve Best and Raul Esparza. Four decades after its Broadway debut titillated and outraged American theatergoers, this extraordinary drama continues to unsettle (2:10). Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'IS HE DEAD?' What might have been a wheeze turns out to be a giggle. Mark Twain's previously unproduced farce from 1898, about a French painter who feigns his death, is brought to life by a cast (led by Norbert Leo Butz) and a director (Michael Blakemore) who make a tasty meal out of a profiterole (2:00). Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'DISNEY'S THE LITTLE MERMAID' The motto for this charm-free musical blunderbuss, based on the charming 1989 Disney movie, might be, You can't go broke overestimating the taste of preschoolers. Francesca Zambello directs an overwhelmed cast (2:20). Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley)

'THE NEW MEL BROOKS MUSICAL YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN' This tiring adaptation of Mr. Brooks's 1974 movie, directed by Susan Stroman and starring an amiable but overwhelmed Roger Bart, never seems to stop screeching at you. This means that: a) it soon wears out its voice, and b) it leaves you with a monster-size headache (2:45). Hilton Theater, 213 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

'NOVEMBER'David Mamet's glib, jaunty comedy about a corrupt, unpopular president seeking re-election suggests a Saturday Night Live sketch retro-styled as a Sid Caesar comedy sketch. Joe Mantello, in his Neil Simon mode, directs a cast led by Nathan Lane (as the quipping president) and Laurie Metcalf (as his doormat speechwriter) (1:35). Barrymore Theater, 243 West 47th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'ROCK 'N' ROLL' Tom Stoppard's triumphantly sentimental new play about love, revolution and really loud music, set in Prague and Cambridge, England. Directed by Trevor Nunn, and passionately acted by a cast that includes Rufus Sewell and Sinead Cusack, this production celebrates the enduring victory of the wayward human heart over fixed political doctrine (2:45). Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, 242 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'THE SEAFARER' A dark and enthralling Yuletide fable, written and directed by the wonderful Irish playwright Conor McPherson, set in a squalid house in Dublin on Christmas Eve. The production features one of the finest ensembles to grace a Broadway stage in years -- and possibly the finest representation of individual states of drunkenness ever (2:20). Booth Theater, 22 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'THE 39 STEPS' An absurdly enjoyable, gleefully theatrical riff on the 1935 Hitchcock movie, directed by Maria Aitken and featuring a cast of four that feels like a cast of thousands. This fast, frothy exercise in legerdemain is throwaway theater at its finest (1:45). American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street, 212 719-1300. (Brantley)

Off Broadway

'ALMOST AN EVENING' It's no disgrace that Ethan Coen's comic anthology, directed by Neil Pepe, lives up to its modest title. Slight, mind-teasing divertissements, acted by a deluxe cast, these tasty, bite-size comedies are almost an evening in the sense that tapas are almost a meal (1:30). Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, (212) 279-4200. (Brantley)

'THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE' A solid, well-acted production of Shaw's swashbuckling satire of Victorian melodrama (1:45). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 727-2737. (Jason Zinoman)

'HAPPY DAYS'Samuel Beckett's great comedy of life as atrophy is given heroic dimensions by the magnificent Fiona Shaw as a woman measuring out her days while buried waist-deep, and by the director Deborah Warner. A blazing interpretation, beautifully matched by Tom Pye's expansive mountainscape of a set, that magnifies, without distorting, the original text (1:45). Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, (718) 636-4100. (Brantley)

'NEW JERUSALEM: THE INTERROGATION OF BARUCH DE SPINOZA AT TALMUD TORAH CONGREGATION: AMSTERDAM, JULY 27, 1656'David Ives channels the 17th-century Jewish philosopher Spinoza in this lumpy but engrossing drama about freedom of thought and the dangers it poses to the powers that be. Buoyed by a genial cast, and lightly garnished with Mr. Ives's tart jokes, the play is essentially a courtroom drama set in a synagogue (2:15). Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, East Village, (212) 352-3101. (Isherwood)

'OH THE HUMANITY AND OTHER GOOD INTENTIONS' Will Eno's unmistakable voice -- stylized, compassionate, wry -- rings out with authority once again in these short plays, powerfully acted by Marisa Tomei and Brian Hutchison. A playful and thoughtful hour of theater about the lonely wildernesses inside us all. Directed by Jim Simpson (1:15). Flea Theater, 41 White Street, TriBeCa, (212) 352-3101. (Isherwood)

'SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE OR: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE' This stage version of Kurt Vonnegut's landmark novel is a pressure-cooker production, an intense, kaleidoscopic and meticulously choreographed 90-minute tour without intermission through his nonlinear narrative. Woe to the theatergoer unfamiliar with the book. But though this adaptation ups the sentiment, it is rewarding, if exhausting, for those who know the story well (1:30). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212) 279-4200. (Andy Webster) 'SPEECH AND DEBATE' Stephen Karam's modest dark comedy about three misfit high school students, which includes a singing, dancing tribute to The Crucible, is funny, cliche-free and brilliantly performed (1:45). Black Box Theater at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 West 46th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Caryn James)

'TROJAN WOMEN' The Classical Theater of Harlem falls woefully short in its effort to merge the Euripides play with recent civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia (1:10). Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue, at West 135th Street, Hamilton Heights, (212) 281-9240.

(Claudia La Rocco)

'WIDOWS'Ariel Dorfman's drama, having its New York premiere at 59E59 Theaters, is about oppression and violence in an unidentified Latin American country. It is the sort of play that makes you feel bad about being bored. The subject is heartrending, the execution uninvolving (2:15). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212) 279-4200. (Isherwood)

Off Off Broadway

'ALL ABOARD THE MARRIAGE HEARSE' Matt Morillo's bland two-character play about a couple squabbling over whether to marry has the substance and rhythm of a hokey old sitcom (1:30). Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, at Ninth Street, East Village, (212) 868-4444. (James)

'NORTH' The singer-songwriter Heather Christian and her talented band, the Arbornauts, take their audience down a wintry, baroque rabbit hole, offering a mostly magical rumination on longing, and art (1:10). The Club at La MaMa E.T.C., 74A East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 475-7710. (La Rocco)

Long-Running Shows

'AVENUE Q' R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:10). Golden Theater, 252 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'CHICAGO' Irrefutable proof that crime pays (2:25). Ambassador Theater, 219 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'A CHORUS LINE' What they did for love, redux (2:00). Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'THE COLOR PURPLE' Singing CliffsNotes for Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (2:40). Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'THE DROWSY CHAPERONE' A pasteboard pastiche of 1920s musicals, as remembered by a witty show queen (1:40). Marquis Theater, 1535 Broadway, at 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

'THE FANTASTICKS' The Little Musical That Wouldn't Die redux (2:05). Snapple Theater Center, 210 West 50th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

'HAIRSPRAY' Fizzy pop, cute kids, large man in a housedress (2:30). Neil Simon Theater, 250 West 52nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

'JERSEY BOYS' The biomusical that walks like a man (2:30). August Wilson Theater, 245 West 52nd Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'THE LION KING' Disney on safari, where the big bucks roam (2:45). Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street at Broadway, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

'MAMMA MIA!' The jukebox that devoured Broadway (2:20). Cadillac Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'MARY POPPINS' P. L. Travers meets Dr. Phil (2:30). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley)

'THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA' Who was that masked man, anyway? (2:30). Majestic Theater, 247 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200.

(Brantley)

'RENT' East Village angst and love songs to die for (2:45). Nederlander Theater, 208 West 41st Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

'SPAMALOT' A singing scrapbook for Monty Python fans (2:20). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley)

'SPRING AWAKENING' An explosively good new musical about teen angst in 19th century Germany, set to melodious post-punk pop music by Duncan Sheik (2:00). Eugene O'Neill Theater, 230 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood)

'WICKED' Oz revisited, with political corrections (2:45). Gershwin Theater, 222 West 51st Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley)

Last Chance

'AMAZONS AND THEIR MEN' In this gleefully over-the-top tale, pegged to an episode in the life of Leni Riefenstahl, Jordan Harrison, the playwright, imagines what it was like to be making a film about Achilles and the Amazons, with the Nazi threat building outside the door. The four actors display fine comic timing, and Ken Rus Schmoll, the director, keeps Mr. Harrison's inventive play moving at a brisk clip (1:30). The Ohio Theater, 66 Wooster Street, SoHo, (212) 352-3101; closes on Saturday. (Neil Genzlinger)

'EDWARD II' The Red Bull Theater Company spills buckets of blood in this sleek, erotic revival of Marlowe's tale of a distracted king (2:15). Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200; closes on Sunday. (Zinoman)

'JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT' The Flying Machine's solo show about the life and work of the French author Louis-Ferdinand Celine works as biography but not as adaptation (1:15). Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond Street, between Lafayette Street and the Bowery, East Village, (866) 811-4111. (Zinoman)

'THE RISE OF DOROTHY HALE' Myra Bairstow has fashioned an intriguing but uneven look at the real-life case of Dorothy Hale, a minor actress with important friends (including Harry Hopkins, adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt), who fell to her death from the Hampshire House on Central Park South in 1938. The case has eerie parallels to the Marilyn Monroe story (1:45). Theater at St. Luke's, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200; closes on Sunday. (Genzlinger)

'THREE MO' TENORS' Great opera it ain't, but there's kitschy fun and not too much that's cringe-inducing in this diverse musical vehicle for black tenors (2:00). Little Shubert Theater, 422 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200; closes on Sunday.

(La Rocco)