‘SOFT POWER’ at the Public Theater (previews start on Sept. 24; opens on Oct. 15). A metatheatrical exploration of politics and culture and a riff on “The King and I” as seen through a trick mirror, David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s musical of a sort arrives at the Public. It conjures a world in which a Chinese businessman meets Hillary Clinton at a campaign fund-raiser, an experience that inspires a hallucinatory blockbuster show. Leigh Silverman directs.
212-967-7555, publictheater.org