David Rooney — Theater Critic

Few theatergoing experiences are as joyously liberating as being part of a packed house roaring with laughter at low comedy. That shouldn’t imply any lack of genuine wit in the broad farce and bawdy humor of One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean’s gut-busting update of the Carlo Goldoni commedia dell’arte nugget, The Servant of Two Masters. Striking an ingenious balance between meticulous planning and what plays like anarchic spontaneity, Nicholas Hytner’s production has been a deserved success in London. With virtuoso ringmaster James Corden on hand to juggle the demands of dual employment while wrapping the audience around his pudgy finger, the show now looks set to slay Broadway, too.

The Bottom Line - This adaptation of the Peter Pan origin story is rich in antic humor and theatrical invention, but the stardust loses potency and becomes a tad precious on a larger stage.

The attention-grabbing opening – with much fanfare accompanying the presentation of the six-member cast wearing tracksuits, in the style of NBA game starters – indicates a degree of sports-minded theatrical imagination at work. But the insurmountable problem for Simonson is that listening to people talk about the excitement of a game – albeit with a few clips – is no match for experiencing it. ... Audiences looking for conflict, probing character development or dramatic tension are likely to be underwhelmed.

The attention-grabbing opening – with much fanfare accompanying the presentation of the six-member cast wearing tracksuits, in the style of NBA game starters – indicates a degree of sports-minded theatrical imagination at work. But the insurmountable problem for Simonson is that listening to people talk about the excitement of a game – albeit with a few clips – is no match for experiencing it. ... Audiences looking for conflict, probing character development or dramatic tension are likely to be underwhelmed.

While Buenos Aires-born Roger is new to Broadway, this production made her a star in London, where it originated in 2006. At the risk of sounding harsh, the actress is physically unprepossessing – short and beaky – not to mention occasionally shrill in the vocal department. But she acts the hell out of the role. ... The other bit of headline casting is Ricky Martin as Che. Moving away from the original production’s clear allusions to Che Guevara, he appears here as an enigmatic peasant worker who serves as the bio-musical’s narrator and its voice of skepticism, seeing the beatified “Santa Evita” for the ravenous spotlight-seeker she really is. His dramatic presence could be more aggressive, but Martin’s Latin-pop vocals are a smooth fit for the role, and his relaxed charm and dreamboat looks will yield few complaints. Fans eager for him to bust some serious dance moves have to wait until midway through Act II, but he eventually turns on the trademark sizzle.

In a full-throttle performance that holds nothing back, Tracie Bennett channels an off-the-rails Judy Garland near the completion of her downward spiral, giving End of the Rainbow a fiercely dynamic center. But there’s a gulf between the vehicle and the vulnerable human being that the actress rarely traverses in this bio-drama with songs, thanks to writing by Peter Quilter that hits every obvious note except the pathos, and to Terry Johnson’s unrelentingly emphatic direction. ... A gutsy performance trapped in a one-note play that gives us the broad outline of the tragic star but lacks the insight to penetrate her heart.

It may not have the satirical sting it no doubt carried back in 1960, but Gore Vidal’s The Best Man still has plenty of bite even in our more jaded age, when chronic moral affront has so polluted the national political landscape that it’s seemingly beyond clean-up. An ideally timed antidote to a mercurial presidential primary race running low on levity, Michael Wilson’s Broadway revival is shrewdly cast, with a starry ensemble that lands every laugh while bringing sly shadings to their characters... The Bottom Line - A top-notch cast breathes fresh life into this entertaining round of political marksmanship by a keen-eyed observer whose experience in the D.C. swamp informs every line.

Rousing songs by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, high-energy dance numbers, an appealing cast and an uplifting story make this reconceived version of the Christian Bale movie one of Disney Theatrical's most entertaining new properties in years...You can call the show brashly formulaic, sentimental or simplistic, but Newsies adheres to a time-honored Disney tradition of inspirational storytelling in the best possible sense. It woiks.

Rousing songs by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, high-energy dance numbers, an appealing cast and an uplifting story make this reconceived version of the Christian Bale movie one of Disney Theatrical's most entertaining new properties in years...You can call the show brashly formulaic, sentimental or simplistic, but Newsies adheres to a time-honored Disney tradition of inspirational storytelling in the best possible sense. It woiks.

The hit of last summer’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where McAnuff is artistic director, the production’s key onstage asset is its Judas Iscariot, Josh Young. And given that this account of the final week in the life of Jesus of Nazareth is told from his betrayer’s point of view, it’s fitting that Young’s electrifying vocals and brooding presence dominate. ... The 1971 religious rock opera remains a psychologically lite relic of its time, but it gets propulsive treatment in this energized, vocally robust revival.

A Sundance discovery and a breakout hit for Fox Searchlight in 2007, the Irish indie movie has become a captivating Broadway musical, with a superb cast of actor-musicians led by Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti...Once is a small-scale but warmly affecting show, crafted with profound respect for the power of music. For anyone who feels that Broadway has become the domain of bloated spectacles and cynically overworked brands, this will be a refreshing artisanal tonic.

Impeccably cast down to the smallest roles, with an ensemble led by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Linda Emond and Andrew Garfield, this emotionally wrenching production evokes the unmistakable atmosphere and attitudes of mid-century America while also putting down trenchant roots in today’s world. ... I had never before experienced the overwhelming impact of the drama to this degree, nor appreciated the extent to which Miller’s observations are culturally specific while at the same time universal and prophetic.

A deserving winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Margaret Edson’s Wit is a work of delicately calibrated opposites. It pits detached clinical observation on one side against raw human emotion on the other, while somehow making dry humor and wrenching pathos travel hand in hand. In Lynne Meadow’s unerringly focused staging for Manhattan Theatre Club, and above all in Cynthia Nixon’s shattering performance, that balancing act is rendered with piercing accuracy.

Fugard writes impeccably honed dialogue; it’s just that there’s so much of it, and his reams of exposition are far from seamless. Without a director capable of accessing the lightness and delicacy in his dense thickets of words, his plays can veer into windy speechifying. There’s also a tendency here for the playwright to belabor his metaphors, making the 2½-hour drama repetitious, often dull and stylistically dated. This is at heart an intimate play that seems needlessly stretched, swimming in a too-large theater.

The Bottom Line. Boldly reinterpreted and performed with spectacular feeling, this revival brings an American masterwork back to blazing dramatic life.

The Bottom Line. Boldly reinterpreted and performed with spectacular feeling, this revival brings an American masterwork back to blazing dramatic life.

When it premiered Off-Broadway early this summer in a site-specific production on a Greenwich Village gymnasium basketball court, Lysistrata Jones had a scrappy attitude and energy that were impossible to resist. Hustled uptown in a rushed transfer onto a traditional Broadway stage, this contemporary musical riff on the bawdy Aristophanes sex comedy from 411 B.C. shows signs of strain. That doesn’t mean the show’s entertainment value has been erased. But its more insubstantial qualities are magnified, demonstrating that commercial transfers are rarely an automatic slam-dunk.

If this production is a mixed bag, hearing these songs in the hands of a full orchestra and vocally talented cast is its own reward. And given how many great scores remain archived away because the shows that contain them are unviable, Mayer and Parnell at least deserve credit for this adventurous experiment.

As over-written as it is, Diamond’s script has enough amusing lines and perceptive observations -- particularly about the behavior men learn or reject from their fathers -- to keep it engaging. But her characters don’t exactly draw you in, and neither these actors nor the staging help.

These gifted performers are given songs that dip into bluegrass or country, gospel or rock, not to mention that ubiquitous Wildhorn favorite, the blustery power ballad. But the composer and lyricist show little flair for marrying story with song. And while several of them are catchy, the numbers mostly remain derivative pseudo-pop, too often regurgitating the same ideas. That and the superficial book drain the blood from what should be a dynamic story of fugitive lovers on a date with death.

As generic as its title suggests, An Evening With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin coasts along on the two performers’ relaxed humor and genuine fondness for each other. But it rarely goes anyplace personal or revelatory...For musical-theater nuts, hearing these two veterans sing will never be a chore. But here, disappointingly, it’s also no great reward.

Bottom line: A slender but enjoyable play about the courage and self-knowledge required of any artist, with an ace ensemble led by Alan Rickman in fine form.

Cattrall reaffirms her considerable talent. Her Amanda has emotional nuance, vulnerability and odd, unexpectedly humanizing glimmers of a common touch beneath the cultivated veneer of exquisite boredom and petulance...Canadian actor Gross is every bit Cattrall's equal.

He makes no claims to being the world's greatest singer or dancer. Jackman's voice leans toward the nasal side at times, but he compensates with tremendous power. And while his dance moves stick within a limited range, his energy and limberness go far beyond. Basically, he sells it, which in the age of the techno-spectacle, is something rare and magnetic. It's obvious that he's having a blast up there, and his enjoyment is contagious.

He makes no claims to being the world's greatest singer or dancer. Jackman's voice leans toward the nasal side at times, but he compensates with tremendous power. And while his dance moves stick within a limited range, his energy and limberness go far beyond. Basically, he sells it, which in the age of the techno-spectacle, is something rare and magnetic. It's obvious that he's having a blast up there, and his enjoyment is contagious.