Cutting Hair and Cracking Wise, All While the Radio Plays

You know this place, even if you don’t know the language. It’s the wacky small business where little business gets done but where an eclectic group of people gather to crack wise and occasionally say something pithy, and it has been a staple of American sitcoms over the years: a general store, a diner, a neighborhood bar, a taxi garage, a barbershop.

A barbershop is the location of choice for “La Barbería,” a rollicking play with music by David Maldonado and Arí Maniel Cruz that has taken up residence at New World Stages. The production, performed in Spanish with only a very occasional dollop of English, has a not-very-heavy message about community and assimilation, but mostly what it has is a cast with verve and great comic timing.

Beny (Manny Perez) is the proprietor of this particular shop, which is in Washington Heights, and he is feeling the pressures of gentrification: someone wants to buy his building and is willing to pay a lot of money for it. Among those giving him advice on the decision he has to make — or, just as often, distracting him from making it — are Nurys (Sunilda Caraballo), his sister; Cheo (Mateo Gomez), the elder statesman of the group; and Sandy (Ivan Camilo), an employee more interested in juggling women than cutting hair.

This small universe is thoroughly Dominican, and Beny’s decision is ultimately whether to continue to be a stakeholder in his community or to take the money and move on, as have so many other nationalities that once dominated Washington Heights. Music (the original songs are by Waddys Jáquez, the director) pulses through this barbershop, courtesy of a balky radio, and it’s among this show’s best and worst features — best when used humorously (Mr. Camilo’s pelvis-gyrating entrance number stops the show), worst when someone in this cast of not-great singers tries to execute a serious number. “In the Heights” has nothing to fear here.

But those missteps disappear quickly in the frenetic pace. The show’s comedy is an odd mix of sophisticated urban humor and shameless bawdiness, yet it works; both the audience and the cast seem to be having a great time. But note: the quality of your experience will be in direct proportion to your facility with Spanish; there are no headphones or supertitles here. Non-Spanish-speakers will get only the broad outline of the plot and the physical humor; for the many one-liners and quick asides, an ease with the language is essential.