The week’s other openings

Buzzer

Pillsbury House Theatre, Minneapolis, (612) 825-0459

Tracey Scott Wilson’s play offers “a stark answer” to the idea that America has become “post-racial,” said the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Guided by director Marion McClinton, Namir Smallwood “nails the role” of a young African-American lawyer who moves back into the gentrified neighborhood where he was raised.

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Mean

The Ochre House, Dallas, (214) 826-6273

Mitchell Parrack is “nightmarishly good” as the star of this “strangely thrilling” musical about Charles Manson, said the Dallas Observer. A fictional prequel to the Manson cult killings, Matthew Posey’s play renders Manson as a barroom pest but lets hints of his madness come through in songs that “create beautiful pictures of terrible things.”

Galileo

Classic Stage Co., New York, (212) 352-3101

In this new production of a Bertolt Brecht play, F. Murray Abraham brings the titular 17th-century astronomer to life with “flashes of fiery humanity,” said The New York Times. The performance saves Brecht’s work, which makes Galileo’s fall and humiliation “intellectually stimulating” but overly episodic.