Theater: Off Broadway, a Triumphant ‘Toni Stone’

Through Aug. 11, roundabouttheatre.org.

After a theater season as thrillingly strong as the one we’ve just had, people scramble to see the hot-ticket shows. In the process, though, they miss some of the most exciting work — like Lydia R. Diamond’s baseball biodrama “Toni Stone,” a funny, poignant, enraging, uplifting story of passion and perseverance that opened to raves in June at Roundabout Theater Company but has gotten a bit lost in the fray.

At the center of a beautifully nimble production directed by the Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon, April Matthis gives a heart-grabbingly tough and tender performance as Toni Stone, the nation’s first woman to play big-league baseball, which she did alongside the men of the Negro Leagues. Racism, sexism and frilly gender expectations weigh heavily on her, yet Toni remains stubbornly devoted to the thing she does best, and that makes her feel whole: playing ball. You don’t have to be a sports fan to want to watch her win. LAURA COLLINS-HUGHES