Diane Snyder

HHamlet is a daunting role for any actor, even if that’s the only part you have

Featuring mostly catalogue songs of hers, it’s an aural explosion of powerful ballads and pop tunes infused with R&B, soul and hip hop. The fact that the characters in Kristoffer Diaz’s book appear to be enacting a fable of street life, designed to teach, inspire and give audiences a chance to hear Keys’ rich tunes sung to the hilt, may lessen the story’s heft, but Michael Greif’s spirited production is still a crowd-pleaser that seems destined for Broadway.

The world premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s final musical isn’t a big Broadway venture. Wisely, Here We Are – an imperfect show but a touching requiem for the man who reinvented and reinvigorated musical theatre – has come to life in The Shed, a 550-seat Off Broadway space. It’s a venue well suited to this odd, adventurous tuner that Sondheim worked on before he died in 2021 at the age of 91, since it’s not a show likely to stimulate audiences who aren’t already devoted Sondheim-ites...

Not many musicals get to be ground-breaking 63 years after their Broadway premiere. But the enterprising Belgian director Ivo van Hove's reimagined West Side Story is a marvelous surprise. This classic American musical inspired by Romeo and Juliet comes alive in a production bursting with frenetic energy, passion, pathos and those glorious Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim songs. It's a stunning achievement for van Hove, known for deconstructions of celebrated works such as A View From the Bridge and Network.

Sometimes confounding and excessive, Slave Play is also funny and intelligently provocative as it examines the lingering impact of slavery through the distress and desires of characters who aren't what they first seem.

A $28 million musical championing bohemian artists? Sounds perfectly logical when that show is the stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's blockbuster Moulin Rouge! The audacious director has never been afraid of stylish excess, as his vibrant, often dizzying 2001 film demonstrated. And although it isn't a seamless Broadway transfer, this lavish, rollicking production, from director Alex Timbers and book writer John Logan, serves up some suitably visual and aural splendours.

Although his furrowed brow and expressive eyes register surprise and emotion, he's largely stationary during lengthy scenes when Ann is speaking or singing to him. It's only when designer Peter England's black-and-white projections roll by to simulate Kong scaling the Empire State Building or galloping with Ann in tow that the beast lives up to his promise. All said, he might feel more at home, and make a bigger fortune, in a Las Vegas spectacular.

The purest prostitute on Hollywood Boulevard is plying her trade on Broadway in Pretty Woman: The Musical. The romcom that catapulted Julia Roberts to stardom in 1990 has been repurposed for the stage in a joyous production that should do the same for the career of British actress Samantha Barks. Despite the movie's enduring popularity, its appeal has always eluded me, not so much because of its sanitised depiction of streetwalking as its hazy characters and sluggish pacing.

The play - whose story is credited to Rowling, playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany - has an emotional honesty that, like the books, never sinks into sentimentality and guarantees its endurance. At its essence is a story about parents and children, specifically fathers and sons, struggling to connect with a loved one they can't understand.

But what's especially lovely (or should that be 'loverly'?) is watching the tempestuous pair gradually fall in love. Ambrose brings a beautiful voice and a winning combination of humor, pluck and fragility to the role. Hadden-Paton mitigates some of Higgins's fury by yelling at Eliza in a tone that's more playful than patriarchal. Although the character is still a bundle of rage at times, it's clear his feelings for Eliza run deep.

They play it safe. While the film was Disney's non-traditional take on the time-honoured princess tale - with spirited sisters finding their way back to each other instead of marrying handsome princes - this is not a daring reinvention of the material, but a repackaging of the film for the stage. It's the surest way to please the movie's faithful fans. Although darker than its predecessor in tone and design (sets and costumes are by Olivier winner Christopher Oram), this new Frozen is brisk and entertaining for most of its two hours and 20 minutes, with the same characters that won the hearts of filmgoers brought to three-dimensional life.

Now the grand playhouse has been transformed into a brightly festive Bikini Bottom, underwater home of that bubbly, lovable cartoon character and cultural phenomenon SpongeBob SquarePants, making his Broadway debut in a self-titled musical that's an absolute delight. Silly, heartfelt and charming, it has infectious songs written by an array of top music talent - from Aerosmith to Lady Antebellum to Cyndi Lauper - and it's been cleverly conceived and directed by the innovative Tina Landau.

It's a lot to pack into a two-hour show, but Moore is a fairly sturdy anchor, and he can certainly inspire a crowd. 'Reach down and do that thing you're afraid of doing,' he prompts. For him, it's dancing, but for someone in his audience, it may be that run for political office.

'Times are hard for dreamers,' sings Amélie Poulain, as she leaves behind her solitary childhood for Paris in the quirky, occasionally charming new Broadway tuner based on the 2001 French comedy. Times aren't so easy for those who dare to musicalize great movies, either, especially when they show excessive fidelity to the source. Despite plenty of talent onstage and off, Amélie, A New Musical is a series of playful moments that don't add up to a memorable musical.

Gyllenhaal and Ashford harmonize not only when they're singing - Move On is a heart-tugging highlight - but also when George and Dot just gaze lovingly yet uncomprehendingly at each other. (It's a shame they won't be eligible for Tony Awards; the short run prompted producers not to invite voters.) But it's Sunday, the signature song that closes both acts, that brings down the house as the ensemble re-creates Seurat's painting.

: Few actors can juggle successful film and theatre careers simultaneously. But Cate Blanchett has made it look astonishingly easy, winning two Oscars while also starring in Sydney Theatre Company productions of Hedda Gabler, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Maids, among others. For her Broadway debut in The Present, at the Barrymore Theatre, she shares top billing with fellow Aussie Richard Roxburgh, and the fireworks set up to mark her character's 40th birthday at the end of the first act of this adaptation of Chekhov's Platonov aren't the only sparks igniting in this intense, invigorating three-hour show.