4 out of 5 stars

“Lights Out,” about Nat King Cole’s final TV variety show, is no jukebox-musical biography, and hurrah for that. There are plenty of wonderfully performed song-and-dance numbers, but playwrights Colman Domingo (yes, the movie star) and Patricia McGregor have more in mind, jarring us from mid-century nostalgia with reflections on racism and seething tensions beneath the surface. The show’s self-described “fever dream” surrealism can be awkward, even heavy-handed, yet its audacity is Off-Broadway as it should be. And star turns by Dulé Hill (Cole) and Daniel J. Watts (Sammy Davis Jr.) are … unforgettable, including a tap duet for the ages. — Adam Z. Horvath

At New York Theatre Workshop through June 29, 2025; nytw.org. (Review date: May 29, 2025)