Jason Zinoman

CRITIC'S PICK. This new Manhattan Theater Club production, which opened Thursday at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, is more tender and balanced, with Namir Smallwood rendering Peter as a gentler, less alien figure. The focus has shifted to his romantic partner, Agnes (Coon), a desperate sad sack haunted by a loss in her past. In a superb performance, Coon provides the alpha energy this time, her eruptive anger masking an inner conflict worn on her weary face. The director David Cromer still delivers effective jolts, yet his production feels disturbingly closer to home.

Critic's Pick. Inside a claustrophobic glass box, representing, at various points, the royal court, a prison and his own mind, Michael Urie looks desperate and insecure wearing the crown, alternating between rubbing and rolling his eyes. He appears most content when describing his miseries; self-pity is his happy place. In the Red Bull Theater’s vigorously populist revival of “Richard II,” his twitchy hands and darting glances also indicate something else, a signature of this magnetic performance: a guilty conscience.

With Mr. Crystal, jokes move quickly; everything else is slow. The show rambles for two-and-a-half easy-to-trim hours...At the show's heart, which is worn on its sleeve among other places, is an adoring portrait of his father, who died when Billy was 15...All the reverent stories don't add up to a flesh-and-blood character. Jack Crystal remains remote, larger than life, which may be where Mr. Crystal wants to keep him. It's the kind of show that you wish your son made about you.