5 Shows to See if You’re in New York in November

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New Yorkers are infamous for regarding their city as the center of the universe and, on especially self-satisfied days, as the only place to be. This city’s theater artists, though, know that big things happen in small and out-of-the-way places. Consider some of the new productions opening this month.

Their settings, which embrace both real and unreal estate, include a quaint little Scottish village that exists beyond the borders of time, a tiny Israeli desert town most notable for its lack of distinguishing features, an American high school soccer field and most of the vast area classified as Latin America. And, oh yes, space — as in the cosmos, where meteors fly.

The Band’s Visit

Indisputable proof that boring (or at least bored) people can be terrifically exciting company, this beautiful and surprising musical from the composer David Yazbek and the playwright Itamar Moses takes place in a terminally sleepy provincial corner of Israel. But then a touring Egyptian band (mistakenly) winds up there, and new life blooms, shyly and unexpectedly, beneath desert skies. A sold-out hit for the Atlantic Theater Company in the spring, this wide-awake sleeper arrives on Broadway with most of its original team intact — including its inspired director, David Cromer, and a cast led by Tony Shalhoub and the incomparable Katrina Lenk.

Tickets: thebandsvisitmusical.com

Brigadoon

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Perhaps the ultimate “escape from New York” fantasy, this 1947 Lerner and Loewe musical drops two jaded Manhattanites into a mirage of a Scottish town that has never been tainted by urban bustle and stress. City Center has come up with a dream team to give life to this dream location. Its director and choreographer is Christopher Wheeldon, who triumphed with the stage version of “An American in Paris,” and the cast includes Kelli O’Hara, Patrick Wilson and the virtuosic dancer Robert Fairchild (who can act, too). Like the town of its title, this deluxe concert staging of “Brigadoon” will materialize only briefly, from Nov. 15 to 19, to be exact.

Tickets: nycitycenter.org

The Wolves

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First seen in a Playwrights Realm production last year, Sarah DeLappe’s high-voltage drama of young women coming of age on AstroTurf is being remounted at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center. If you missed “The Wolves” during its previous incarnations, don’t make the mistake of doing so again. With a fresh, all-female ensemble that brims with the sap of life under the direction of Lila Neugebauer, it remains one of the most exciting debuts by an American playwright in years.

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