The Compassionate Music of Meshell Ndegeocello

The Under the Radar festival (Jan. 5-21) has been the marquee name on the January festival circuit for many years, but it had to recover swiftly from an abrupt departure from the Public Theatre by co-producing its efforts with more than a dozen different spaces. I’m often in despair about how few foreign theatre productions we get in New York, apart from British imports, but U.T.R. has still managed to bring in several pieces from overseas, including work by one of my all-time favorite companies, the Italian group MOTUS. Also: there’s something beautiful about a festival that ties New York closer to the global community rallying with its own community so that it can go on.