Brian Scott Lipton

Admittedly, there are moments when this eye-and-ear-popping production lives up to the idea that too much of a good thing is not necessarily a good thing. And even at the end of this lengthy extravaganza, you may still not really understand what a “jellicle cat” is! But really, who cares? You’ll still have a wonderful memory to hold onto!

Indeed, if witty, pointed arrow-like zingers that consistently hit their targets are enough for you, then “Becky Shaw” is the right play for you to see.

Guirgis also seems to assume everyone in the audience either knows the movie or has their brain turned off for the first act, since there’s no explanation until the second act for why the seemingly decent Sonny has turned to a life of crime. When it comes, it’s a doozy: the once-married Sonny is now gay and wants the money so his cross-dressing boyfriend Leon (Esteban Andres Cruz, making the most of his little stage time) can have transgender surgery. Sadly, Leon isn’t sure he wants the surgery – or a life with Sonny – and their brief phone call is quite heartbreaking.

Small details aside, though, Rosenblatt succeeds (with some dramatic license) in painting the big picture: Dahl was a brilliant author and an awful human being. As for Lithgow, he succeeds in reminding us just how much of a theatrical giant he still is!

I suspect any theatergoer who is a faithful devotee of Dumas’ novel will be disappointed, as is anyone who is truly expecting an early look at a musical that will become the next Broadway blockbuster. But everyone else can count on being at least modestly entertained and relish the excellent efforts of this mostly top-notch cast!

Unquestionably, Lili-Anne Brown’s production is exquisitely cast and so polished – even on opening night -- that it could return intact to Broadway tomorrow. And yet, time hasn’t changed the fact that for all the bathtub gin and chorine carousing on stage, the proceedings are so unrelentingly bleak – and the music so challenging – that I’m not convinced the piece could ever find a sustainable commercial run.

Instead, we are about to laugh – but not as we first expected – as we watch David Ireland’s pitch-black, provocative, and political comedy, “Ulster American,” boasting unsurprisingly superb performances from stage favorites Max Baker and Geraldine Hughes, and (perhaps a surprise) the liveliest, most engaged work I’ve seen from Matthew Broderick in many years!

Further, I would have been really happy if someone had told Galante that the 1966 megahit “I Say a Little Prayer” was not written for the 1968 Broadway musical “Promises, Promises,” but simply added into the score of the 2010 Broadway revival. (It might also have been nice to remind audiences that Aretha Franklin was a major interpreter of that song – among others -- and not just Dionne Warwick!) Still, for almost all my 65 years, this guy has been in love with the music of Burt Bacharach. So, hello, I may even be going back to “Going Bacharach” before this run ends.

The online blurb for New York Theatre Workshop’s new production of Moliere’s 1664 comedy “Tartuffe” promises “a mad-dash production full of ferocious wit, outrageous design, and downright buffoonery.” I beg to differ. While it’s possible you may have a reasonably pleasant time, especially if you’ve never seen this classic comedy before, that description is not exactly truth in advertising.

Unsurprisingly, Harrison has more questions and conundrums to pose in this taut 80-minute play about the trials of aging and the nature of memory. But the work (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) is more than a mere intellectual exercise or adventure in science-fiction. (If you are a movie nut and very good at math, you’ll realize the work is actually set in 2062.) It’s a decidedly human drama.

A production of the legendary American Dance Machine, the two-act 90-minute show, co-directed by Nikki Feirt Atkins and Randy Skinner, will serve as a pleasing exercise in nostalgia for many older patrons and a welcome education for others (especially younger folk) as it re-creates such landmark sequences as ‘Cool’ from ‘West Side Story,’ ‘One’ from ‘A Chorus Line,’ and ‘Simply Irresistible’ from ‘Contact,’ all of which remain as thrilling – and as groundbreakingly innovative -- as the day they were created.

Without question, both Young and ‘Succession’ star Nicholas Braun, in a stunning New York theater debut, make a much more persuasive case for the play than the show’s production at Second Stage did back in 2010. But the work still often feels a bit too much like an acting exercise rather than a fully realized drama, despite the pair’s protean efforts (which includes moving around the two beds that are the main feature of Arnulfo Maldonado’s spare set and changing in and out of Sarah Laux’s well-chosen costumes in full view of the audience).

Admittedly, though, there isn’t a lot to unpack here (it ain’t “Chess”), but the show thankfully feels both simple and honest. (Again, it ain’t “Chess.”) Most of all, I can think of no two people better equipped to carry this delightful musical than Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts. Let’s hope they don’t stay strangers to the Broadway stage.

Does it really help to know what the future will bring? And if you do know, should you do what you can to change it? That turns out to be both a question on many people’s minds right now, for both political and practical reasons. It’s also the philosophical debate at the heart of Tom Hanks and James Grossman’s whimsical yet frustrating play “This World of Tomorrow,” now at The Shed under Kenny Leon’s solid direction.

Giving what I think is his best-ever Broadway performance – actually making us feel sorry for the difficult Freddie – Tveit stops Act II in its tracks with his extraordinary rendition of the ultra-difficult ‘Pity the Child’… Frankly, for all its great songs, ‘Chess’ contains a few too many clunkers… Still, thanks to its superb stars, ‘Chess’ remains a knight – I mean night – to remember.

Sure, ignorance may indeed be bliss, the truth doesn’t always set you free, and, yes, love may be blind. But ending “Oedipus” on an upbeat flashback is the greatest tragedy of this otherwise impressive update.

In the end, “The Queen of Versailles” really is the only show on Broadway that has everything but Yul Brynner – and it firmly remains a puzzlement!

If you’re seeking purely escapist fare, you might just want to head next door to “Buena Vista Social Club.” But more adventurous theatergoers, or anyone who loves great acting, should definitely turn onto “Little Bear Ridge Road.”

Although many people may recall the opulence of the original Broadway production, this more minimalist version is frankly more effective, allowing one to focus on the plot and the performances. David Korins' set is decidedly but intelligently spare, relying primarily on two large stepladders and a few well-chosen set pieces (including a Model T Ford). Linda Cho’s period costumes are quite impressive. Adam Honore’s lighting design and 59 Studio’s projection designs both help fill the vast Beaumont stage. Finally, Ellenore Scott’s spot-on choreography is thoughtful and often makes up for the lack of scenery. Yes, it's sad that 2025 proves to be the right time for “Ragtime,” but that doesn’t mean you should pass up the chance to witness this truly unforgettable production.

Whether running around the stage with kinetic, barely pent-up energy or cowering on the floor, seemingly terrified of having to find the rights words to explain himself, Will Harrison makes one of the most impressive Broadway debuts in recent history as the troubled Jacob Dunne in James Graham’s new play, “Punch,” now at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Commanding a mostly bleak stage for almost all of the play’s two-and-a-half hours, shifting colors with the quicksilver ability of a chameleon, Harrison is (pardon the pun) a knockout – and well worth your time and money to see him!

Unquestionably, Reeves and Winter have the necessary chemistry to play these men who have spent countless years together, barely separated for more than a few hours at a time. We believe they are unable to leave each other, more out of familiar comfort than actual fear. In fact, they won’t even commit suicide unless they’re sure both can succeed at the task. The duo brilliantly captures the pair’s codependence, if little else. That said, “Godot” Is essentially a vaudevillian exercise that requires two actors who can transform Beckett’s verbal exercises, such as when they take turns calling each other horrible names (including “critic”), into laugh-inducing comedy routines. Sadly, you’re more likely to hear chuckles (if not silence) during these exchanges.

Sure, the set is even more basic than it was, the cast has completely changed (in some cases for the better), and the audience seems even younger. But the infectious music of Swedish supergroup ABBA can still make you sing and dance in your seat, bringing an almost-constant smile to your face even as you remember (or, for first timers, realize) just how inanely some of their two dozen mega-hits have been shoehorned into Catherine Johnson’s relatively ridiculous book.

What’s your damage? After a Monday evening performance of the Off-Broadway musical “Heathers,” now at New World Stages under Andy Fickman’s clever direction, I was afraid my damage was shattered eardrums from the excessive shouting by an audience who seemed to think they were watching a Taylor Swift concert. Somehow, this offbeat show – based on a quirky 1989 movie about a high school run by a trio of bullying girls and previously seen Off-Broadway in 2014 (and then revised for numerous runs in London) – has become a cult-like phenomenon. Which leads to the question: Is there something to shout about? Fortunately, the answer is yes.

Ultimately, as well, I left perplexed why this tale really needs to be told, especially to Broadway audiences in 2025. I admit some women (and a few men) in the audience will find “Call Me Izzy” to be inspirational or perhaps even motivational, while many other theatergoers will simply be content to be in Smart’s presence and hear her talk the talk. To me, however, the entire enterprise simply feels like a case of wrong place, wrong time, and wrong theater. (Studio 54 is way too vast for such an intimate piece, no matter how hard scenic designer Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams tries to convince us otherwise.) Call me cynical, if you must.

Despite the unmatched skill of Birney and Emery, who both infuse Margulies’ words and his silences with layers of meaning, the ultimately too-slight “Lunar Eclipse” feels as inconsequential as its titular subject. Just as George is disappointed that the clouds muted his chance to the view the eclipse’s colorful “Japanese Lantern” effect, audiences may leave the theater feeling that the play was also a missed opportunity for something more spectacular.