After spending five months on the west coast, you better believe I was excited to be back in New York City to see theater. I’ve spent all of June making up time, cramming in as many shows as possible (which happens to be eleven).

Here’s a brief recap and my thoughts on each one…

Airline Highway by Lisa D’Amour (Broadway)

When you walk into the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on 47th Street, you’re stepping into their world — the rundown Hummingbird Motel in Louisiana, home to a community of full realized characters who struggle to pay for their week-to-week rooms. We are the outsiders here, eavesdropping as they plan a living funeral for neighbor Miss Ruby who is nearing death but wants to be present for a final celebration of her life. A former member of their community nicknamed Bait Boy (who moved away to marry an older wealthy woman and became somewhat of a kept man) returns to his old stomping grounds… with a platter of sandwiches from Whole Foods. Tension builds as the community learns more about Bait Boy’s current life and reminds him of the man he used to be. Bait Boy’s teenage stepdaughter has accompanied him — she’s writing a paper for school about countercultures and wants to interview the personalities here. She, in effect, represents us — the audience — as an outsider trying to understand this community, and her character feels forced. But I love the world of this show and I did not want to say goodbye to these people when the curtain went down. While the whole ensemble is impressive, Julie White and K. Todd Freeman deliver particularly standout performances. Worth noting: Airline Highway is the only new play by a woman to open on Broadway this season. It closed June 7th.

Hand to God by Robert Askins (Broadway)

One of the funniest plays I’ve seen in years, and it reaches an unexpected depth that really impresses me. It’s about a mother and son who recently moved to a community in Texas following the death of her husband / his dad. The teenage son has a puppet named Tyrone attached to his hand 24/7 which is a coping mechanism for the loss of his dad. They join a local church where the mom starts a weekly puppetry club, and this is where we meet the supporting characters (all of which are fantastic). Meanwhile, Tyrone’s control over the teenage son’s life begins to increase — and this is not a Sesame Street-inspired puppet; if Tyrone was a movie, he’d be rated NC-17. A series of wickedly funny and tragic events transpires. You’ll want to go along for the ride. Open-ended run.

Something Rotten! by the Kirkpatrick brothers (Broadway)

This show is a riot and MUST SEE for musical theater fans. It’s about two playwrights (the Bottom brothers) trying to complete with Shakespeare in 1595. To beat the Bard at his own game, one of the brothers visits a soothsayer (loosely related to Nostradamus) to tell him what the next great hit will be. His answer? Something called “a musical,” where actors tell a story through song an dance. A second visit to this soothsayer reveals that Shakespeare’s next hit will be something called Omelette (i.e. Hamlet)… so the Bottom brothers write the world’s first musical about eggs. It’s a love letter to musical theater with samplings of famous show tunes scattered throughout. Check out the number they performed at the Tonys for a better idea of this show’s hijinks. Open-ended run.

It Shoulda Been You by Barbara Anselmi and Brian Hargrove (Broadway)

This is a musical comedy with big theater names and remarkably forgettable music and lyrics — when walking out of the theater, I couldn’t name a single song I just heard. But I did have fun. Tyne Daly and Harriet Harris get to show off their savvy comedy chops, Lisa Howard hits every note (both vocally and within the nuances of her performance), and Sierra Boggess is always fun to watch. The plot appears deceptively simple — it’s about two families coming together for a big wedding with lots of tension on both sides. But then there’s a major twist that I won’t spoil, and that twist elevates the plot just enough to make this an intriguing show. There are lots of genuinely funny moments as great actors do the best they can with so-so material. Open-ended run.

The Visit by Terrence McNally, John Kander, and Fred Ebb (Broadway)

Oh boy, this show is weird. I knew it would be a little ‘out there’ going into it (did you see the number they performed on the Tonys?) but I was in it for Chita Rivera, and she delivers. Basic synopsis: The wealthy and famous Claire Zachanassian returns to the tiny impoverished European village she grew up to reconnect with her teenage lover. Turns out she just wants to punish him for abandoning her when she became pregnant with their child all those years ago (they are now around 80 years old). She tells the town that she will provide them with millions to revamp their society — more money than they can dream of — but only if they agree to kill her former lover. So they do and he dies and they get the money. But not before Claire and her former lover reconnect… at which point I’m like, “Wait you still love him, does he really have to die?” But her plan is to take his body back to her home so that someday she can be buried next to him. Super weird plot with haunting music and eerie direction by John Doyle. Oh, and there’s eunuchs. To me, it falls flat, and rather than engaging with the material I just sat back in wonder at just how weird it all was. Closed June 14th.

Guards at the Taj by Rajiv Joseph (off-Broadway)

This is a new play by Pulitzer finalist Rajiv Joseph. The ‘elevator pitch’ is that it’s about two guards watching over the Taj Mahal the night before this architectural masterpiece is unveiled to the public for the first time after 16 years of construction behind high walls. That sounds sweet, right? A little history, a window into another culture for armchair travelers. I was hooked based on that one-sentece description alone. But before seeing the show, I’d heard that the second scene causes jaws to drop… and wow, I never could have predicted the gruesome turn this two-hander (!) would take. Let me be clear: this is an expertly written play and I can’t recommend it enough. But if you’re squeamish, maybe sit this one out. There are plans for this show to be produced around the country; many regional theaters have already programmed it into their upcoming seasons (like the Geffen in LA, La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, and Woolly Mammoth in DC). Production in NYC has been extended through July 12th.

Nice Girl by Melissa Ross (off-Broadway)

On the surface, this play is deceptively simple — a 37-year-old named Jo who still lives at home with her mother in a suburb of Boston begins to make strides towards improving her life — but playwright Melissa Ross dives into the deep end, exploring Jo’s world with layers and nuance and tremendous heart. We observe her at times tortuous relationship with her mom, her budding friendship with a girl at work, and potential relationship with the local butcher. Every line of dialogue counts here. Ross’s observations about life and happiness strike more than few chords. Each beat of this play rings true and I was fully engaged from start to finish. Nice Girl finished its extended run at the Labyrinth Theater Company on June 21st but I hope this gem of a script has life beyond this production. Melissa Ross has another play called Of Good Stock currently running in NY through July 26th (starring Alicia Silverstone); I hope to see it.

The Flick by Annie Baker (off-Broadway)

I was very bummed to miss the 2013 run of this show at Playwrights Horizons. But following its Pulitzer Prize win for playwright Annie Baker last year, the same cast and director have reunited for a return engagement at Barrow Street Theater. The show is about three employees at an independent movie theater in a Boston suburb: Avery, a black college student; Sam, a late 30’s full-time employee; and Rose, a free-spirited twenty-something who runs the projector. The play is a slice of life — or, at 3 hours and 15 minutes long, more like the whole pie — detailing little moments that happen over the course of numerous shifts at the movie theater. Annie Baker is not afraid to let her characters (and the audience) sit in silence for long stretches while Avery and Sam sweep up popcorn between the aisles. It’s unlike any play I’ve ever seen, and I mean that to be the highest compliment. Runs through August 30th.

The Way We Get By by Neil LaBute (off-Broadway)

I’ve never seen a Neil LaBute play until now. This one is rather starry, as Thomas Sadoski and Amanda Seyfried play a couple who wakes up in the middle of the night after hooking up for the first time at a wedding. Slowly (perhaps too slowly) layers of their backstory are revealed and we find out just why Thomas’s character is so reluctant to jump into a relationship with someone who is clearly the woman of his dreams. Their love story is most unusual (no spoilers here), and that twist makes this play slightly more intriguing than a typical romance with complications. Closed June 22nd.

Significant Other by Joshua Harmon (off-Broadway)

Jordan is a perpetually single gay guy, for reasons that become obvious as he social media stalks his crushes to such a degree that he can barely function around them in reality, too caught up in the fantasy he’s built in his head. So it’s especially painful for him to watch his three single girlfriends get engaged and then married one by one, until only he remains unattached among their tight-knit group. Jordan struggles to feel happy for his friends while dying a little inside with each passing bachelorette shower and wedding reception — we see three of each, and every time it cuts a little deeper. It’s a special show and I’m glad I caught it. Running through August 16th.

Fun Home by Lisa Kron & Jeanine Tesori (Broadway)

This year’s Tony Award winner for Best Musical! I am so proud of this show — how far it’s come, and how many lives it has touched. It’s about the most unlikely of subjects — a father and daughter are both gay; he eventually kills himself and she becomes a lesbian cartoonist. Oh, and Fun Home is short for funeral home, which is the Bechtel family business. A musical would be considered heavy if it featured ONE of those aspects as its central theme (funerals… sexual identity… suicide), but Fun Home goes for the jugular by tackling them all at once. It’s a memory play — adult Alison flashes back to her childhood and we see her younger self first begin to identify as a lesbian. We see her college-age self come out of the closet. She interacts with her parents and brothers, as we learn about the extent of her father’s predatory behavior towards young boys in her hometown. And then we witness the final moments between Allison and her father before he kills himself. Throughout all these memories, adult Alison literally walks around the younger versions of herself, adding commentary as she grapples with the past in order to move forward. It’s a beautiful tangle of a story expertly staged by director Sam Gold (who also directed The Flick) — pieces of furniture drop in and out via trap doors, moving seamlessly from one memory to the next. This theater is in the round, and it’s one of the smallest houses on Broadway so the show feels incredibly and appropriately intimate. When I first saw this show off-Broadway at The Public in late 2013, it was staged on a proscenium with adult Alison mostly watching the action from her drawing studio in the back. Now we see her walk around the space, more of a participant in her memories. I could go on and on about this show — how important it is for audiences to see, how it’s making commercial Broadway more relevant — but I think you get the point. Fun Home is a special, special show. Open-ended run.

Congrats if you’ve made it through my rambling reviews! Do you now have a desire to see any of these shows? Have you seen anything of note lately that you’d like to tell me about so that I can add it to my never-ending list of shows to see?