This Month in Theater: June 2009

THE TIN PAN ALLEY RAG
The Tin Pan Alley Rag is a musical about two heroes of American music, songwriter Irving Berlin and ragtime composer Scott Joplin. Playwright Mark Salzman imagines that the two men meet, and discover that the Russian Jewish immigrant (Berlin) and the son of a slave who had a conservatory education (Joplin) have a lot in common. Stafford Armia directs a cast of 12, with choreography by Liza Gennaro. Fittingly, all the music and lyrics are by Joplin and Berlin.
Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111 W. 46th St., (212) 719-3100. Previews June 12, opens July 14-Sept. 6.

TWELFTH NIGHT
This is one of the bard’s most popular romantic comedies, with cross-dressing and mistaken identity throughout. Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway plays Viola, who, along with her identical twin Sebastian, is shipwrecked on the enchanted dukedom of Ilyria. Speed the Plow’s Raul Esparza plays Orsino, and the rest of the cast is outstanding as well: Michael Cumpsty, Audra McDonald, Hamish Linklater, David Pittu and Jay O. Sanders as Sir Toby Belch. Daniel Sullivan directs.
Delacorte Theater, Central Park, (212) 539-8750. June 9–July 12.

OUR HOUSE
Theresa Rebeck, co-author of a Pulitzer Prize finalist, omnium gatherum, and the recent stamp-collecting drama, Mauritius, has a new comedy with two plot lines: one involves America’s favorite female TV anchor being reassigned to host a reality show, and the other centers around a middle-American family and their real-life, day-to-day problems. Michael Mayer, Tony Award winner for Spring Awakening, directs a cast of seven.
Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St., (212) 479-4200. Previews May 15, opens June 9-21.

CLUBBED THUMB'S SUMMER WORKS
This is the 14th annual festival of new plays, staged by one of downtown’s classiest theater groups. This year’s trilogy features Gregory Moss’s punkplay, directed by Davis McCallum, about two teenage boys in the 1980s who discover the transformative power of punk rock; Madeleine George’s Precious Little, directed by Hal Brooks, about a pregnant linguistic professor who visits the gorilla cage at the zoo for some pre-natal comfort; and Kristin Newton’s Telethon, directed by 2009 Obie winner Ken Rus Schmoll, about a fundraising staff who let their hair down after the big annual event held at the local Dunkin’ Donuts.
Ohio Theatre, 66 Wooster St., (212) 352-3101. June 3–27.

THE BRICK'S ANTI-DEPRESSANT FESTIVAL
Every summer the committed (maybe they should be committed) Brick Theater people come up with a challenging concept, and they manage to find a dozen and a half inventive (and equally looney) theater troupes to come up with corresponding shows. Here is a small sampling of this month’s merriment: Adventure Quest, featuring a hero, true love, dick jokes and cartoon violence; Big Girls Club (the Happy Happy Dance Dance Princess Show), about gorgeous girl gorgers who go on a TV show called Butterfat; and Exit, Pursued by Bears, wherein Tickle Bear runs an online furry sex community.
The Brick, 575 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (212) 352-3101. June 5 – July 4.