1. Dance of Death
If we can’t have Albee to whet our hunger for familial dysfunction, we’ll take Strindberg. Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren ably provide the bickering, shrieking, and deception as a discontented couple who spend their days verbally jabbing and parrying.
Broadhurst Theatre
583 Broadway, near Prince Street
235 W. 44th St.
2. Christmas With the Crawfords
“You may keep the doll and the bracelet …” Packed with more allusions to Mommie Dearest than a Wednesday night at Stonewall, this campy calamity imagines Christmas at home with Hollywood’s favorite wire-hanger-wielding, Christina-smackin’ psycho diva.
3. Everett Beekin
Richard Greenberg’s serio-comedy follows not one but two generations of a Jewish family, which means twice as much kvetching as in your requisite Neil Simon play. (See John Simon’s review of Simon’s 45 Seconds From Broadway)
Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
150 W. 65th St.
212-239-6200
4. Hedda Gabler
Sure, the critics are divided about this current production – but as far as domestic devastations go, you won’t do much better than scheming Hedda and her delta-male scholar husband.
Ambassador Theatre
215 W. 49th St.
212-239-6200
5. Where’s My Money?
Affairs gone bad, marriages gone worse, and a pair of divorce lawyers who add extra layers to the whole mess. The tart-tongued characters filling John Patrick Shanley’s latest study in bad relationships are more thunder-than moonstruck.
MTC Stage 2 at City Center
131 W. 55th St.
212-581-1212