Elysa Gardner — Theater Critic

...after a slow start, White's play (jointly produced by Manhattan Theatre Club and MCC Theater) evolves, under Daniel Sullivan's meticulous direction, into a lovely, moving account of a clan's struggle to adapt to trying circumstances and a changing world. White's Broadway debut, The Other Place, produced earlier this year, also followed a middle-aged woman whose grasp on reality was challenged, but it was a psychological mystery that blurred lines between past and present, imagination and fact. This more conventionally structured study of unlucky souls seems to have been written under Chekhov's spell.

Holmes' Kill is more sharply focused than the 1996 film adaptation of the novel, and does a better job of incorporating folksy humor into the disturbing and at times pedantic story...we watch the defendant, Carl Lee Hailey, as a jury would; and since he is played by the magnificent John Douglas Thomson - who delivers the most fully realized performance here - we are moved by his anguish, rage, obstinance and fundamental dignity...Carl Lee is represented by Kill's hero, Jake Brigance, an idealistic young lawyer played on screen by Matthew McConaughey, who imbued him with a slick nobility. In the play, he seems both greener and more ambitious, traits that Sebastian Arcelus' nimble performance emphasizes, without making Jake less appealing or admirable.

At its best, the play is an entertaining, and ultimately touching, study of these characters; and the new production -- which the Roundabout Theatre Company imported from London's Old Vic (with a new cast) -- delivers that with predictable warmth and ease. The polished authenticity is established immediately by Peter McKintosh's handsome set, which captures the upper-middle-class comfort of the Winslows' existence in the years just before World War I... As that comfort is threatened by Arthur's crusade, Roger Rees makes the toll physically palpable. Rees' Arthur seems to age before our eyes, growing wearier and more feeble, but retains the overwhelming devotion to Ronnie that transcends family pride. It's impossible not to root for this patriarch, even when his loved ones are frustrated by him...The truth, while more complicated, is no harder to predict than any of the developments in Winslow Boy; but this winsome revival will charm you nonetheless.

What the blues are, exactly, is a preoccupying concern in this musical tribute, which opened Thursday at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre. They can be, Joplin tells us at different points, 'a good woman feelin' bad,' or 'the want of something,' or occasionally 'the devil himself.' Speaking these lines, Mary Bridget Davies, who plays the late '60s rock goddess, is utterly credible as a hippie icon, from her alternately blissed-out and earnest vibe to her groovy period costumes (the latter provided by designer Amy Clark). Yet under the direction of Randy Johnson, who also wrote the book, Night offers a distinctly post-American Idol version of the blues. Davies is accompanied on stage by a band and four other spectacularly gifted female vocalists, who alternate as the backing 'Joplinaires' and various artists whose work inspired Joplin's; and the fireworks they provide can border perilously on crowd-pleasing caricature.

When Edward proposes to his future wife, Sandra, hundreds of yellow daffodils sparkle against a clear blue sky.Somehow, though, the effect isn't as dazzling, or as moving, as you would hope -- particularly given the talented players involved in this production, which opened Sunday at the Neil Simon Theatre...Butz, Baldwin and Bobby Steggert, as the grownup Will, all bring a sense of genuine humanity to their roles. In the end, though, this Big Fish lacks the imagination or cohesion to reel you in like one of its hero's yarns.

Jones, one of the greatest stage actresses alive, conveys this in a performance that will amaze even her most ardent admirers in its depth and compassion...This Menagerie...is by no means Jones' triumph alone. The four-person cast is as meticulously assembled as the titular collection of tiny glass animals that is Laura's most cherished possession. Director John Tiffany guides the players with sensitivity and vigor, underscoring both the dreamy, surreal aspects of Williams' 'memory play' and the brutal reality that the characters seem determined to shut out. Celia Keenan-Bolger brings an exquisite physical and vocal delicacy to Laura...As Tom, the family member most in touch with the outside world and also the narrator (describing a past based on the playwright's), Zachary Quinto moves deftly from recollection to confrontation, from dry asides to heated outbursts. A perfectly cast Brian J. Smith completes the company as the affable but mysterious 'Gentleman Caller' whose meeting with Laura sends the play hurtling toward its climax.

Jones, one of the greatest stage actresses alive, conveys this in a performance that will amaze even her most ardent admirers in its depth and compassion...This Menagerie...is by no means Jones' triumph alone. The four-person cast is as meticulously assembled as the titular collection of tiny glass animals that is Laura's most cherished possession. Director John Tiffany guides the players with sensitivity and vigor, underscoring both the dreamy, surreal aspects of Williams' 'memory play' and the brutal reality that the characters seem determined to shut out. Celia Keenan-Bolger brings an exquisite physical and vocal delicacy to Laura...As Tom, the family member most in touch with the outside world and also the narrator (describing a past based on the playwright's), Zachary Quinto moves deftly from recollection to confrontation, from dry asides to heated outbursts. A perfectly cast Brian J. Smith completes the company as the affable but mysterious 'Gentleman Caller' whose meeting with Laura sends the play hurtling toward its climax.

Alas, the musical's mix of hokey humor and preachy sentimentality is bound to test the most altruistic spirit...By the time he reaches Jerusalem -- near the end of Doctor, which runs two and a half hours with an intermission -- anyone still paying attention will have accumulated enough material for a goodwill sermon and a Borscht Belt comedy routine. Surely, there are more entertaining, less trying ways to promote universal harmony.

The simultaneously dimwitted and hyperactive brainchild of TV scribe Austin Winsberg (Gossip Girl, Jake in Progress) and songwriters Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, First Date follows Aaron (Zachary Levi) and a gal, Casey (Krysta Rodriguez), as they meet over drinks and dinner. During an encounter that lasts, mercifully, only 95 minutes...And suffice to say that no cliché is left unturned...Levi nonetheless manages to make Aaron likable enough, just as Rodriguez gives Casey an authentic, appealing tartness. And being a romantic comedy, of course, First Date ends on a hopeful note.

Watching the new Beatles homage Let It Be (* * ½ out of four), certain audience members are bound to feel a sense of déjà vu - not for the Fab Four themselves, but for the last Broadway salute to them...Luckily, Let It Be's company, which includes supporting musicians, is competent enough as singers and instrumentalists to make the numbers compelling. A few of Fox's high notes were shaky at the preview, and the energy sagged a bit during an Unplugged-style acoustic segment that included such haunting classics as Blackbirdand Norwegian Wood. But more driving, muscular favorites, from Ticket to Ride to Come Together, were executed with enough panache to make you appreciate their magic, even without fully recapturing it. Which pretty much sums up both the appeal and the limitations of Let It Be - and other shows like it.

The tango is a dance that relies heavily on the physical and sensual rapport and tension between partners. The assorted couples in the regular cast - many of whom have appeared in previous stagings of Tango, which creator/director Luis Bravo conceived in the early '90s - lock into each other with an intensity that might seem almost satirical to the uninitiated...Smirnoff and Chmerkovskiy, in contrast, appear much more focused on seducing the audience...Their dancing may be technically impressive, but like the submedium that made them famous, it lacks wit, restraint and nuance.

The result is a combination of epic theater, burlesque and soulful spectacle that recaptures the show's shiny allure and its poignance while making it seem entirely fresh...The flawless company is led by Patina Miller as the Leading Player...and Matthew James Thomas as Pippin. The young stars work beautifully as both partners and foils: Miller, with her lithe body and megawatt smile, makes the Player both temptress and confidante, guiding Pippin with her siren's voice and sharp, sinuous dancing through a string of seductive but finally unfulfilling life choices. Thomas brings to his part a sweetly robust tenor and an earnestness befitting a naif with vague ambitions but little idea of what he truly wants.

Under Joe Mantello's pitch-perfect direction, Midler dives into the role with predictable relish -- which is not to say that she chews the scenery. However brassy her persona, Mengers clearly valued taste and discretion, as Pask's spacious, elegant scenic reminds us. Holding court over an audience whose members, as she repeatedly informs us, aren't nearly distinguished enough to warrant an invitation to her house, the actress brings an element of wry detachment to even some more personal observations.

Under Joe Mantello's pitch-perfect direction, Midler dives into the role with predictable relish -- which is not to say that she chews the scenery. However brassy her persona, Mengers clearly valued taste and discretion, as Pask's spacious, elegant scenic reminds us. Holding court over an audience whose members, as she repeatedly informs us, aren't nearly distinguished enough to warrant an invitation to her house, the actress brings an element of wry detachment to even some more personal observations.

For Carrie, played in the new Broadway revival (*** out of four) by a sparkling Cicely Tyson, Bountiful has become almost as mythic - a place she wants to revisit before receiving her greater reward. Standing in her way are her now middle-aged child, Ludie, and his self-serving wife, Jessie Mae, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Vanessa Williams. Ludie, struggling financially, frets about Carrie, while Jessie Mae frets about her mother-in-law's pension checks, which have been helping her sustain a modest but indulgent lifestyle.

Still, for anyone who's curious about its subject -- believers and non-believers alike --Testament offers an intriguing, and deeply compassionate, account.

In general, though, this minimalist Macbeth is more technically impressive than it is emotionally potent.

In general, though, this minimalist Macbeth is more technically impressive than it is emotionally potent.

Alas, a few glimpses of unfettered emotion cannot sustain a two-hour-plus parade of shrill melodrama. But if the latter is more your thing anyway, you're in luck.

It's a shame that it took 30 years to bring this briskly entertaining, deeply affecting play to Broadway; but at least Orphans has arrived in good hands.

...appearances can be deceiving in Richard Greenberg's endearing new play...By the time Act Two unfolds -- 20 years later, in the same apartment -- we have learned that these folks are all vulnerable to bad choices, the whims of fortune and the simple passing of time. That is Parties' bittersweet lesson; and in this Manhattan Theatre Club production, it is reinforced with warmth and wit by a seasoned cast nimbly directed by Lynne Meadow and led by Jessica Hecht, Judith Light and Jeremy Shamos as, respectively, Julie, Faye and Jeff, the most prominent and vivid characters...Hecht's artfully quirky performance makes it clear that Julie is both sharper and sadder than she lets on, while Light mines the gutsy fortitude behind Faye's whining.

In Knife, Tinseltown and its studio system at that time are presented as particularly egregious representatives of the dark forces of commerce to which such strivers can fall prey. Now in revival (* * 1/2 out of four) at the Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre, where it opened Tuesday, the play explores the dilemma of Charlie Castle, a promising stage actor-turned dissatisfied movie star married to a woman, Marion, who still loves him but hates what their life has become.

No living stage actor can make an audience laugh more adroitly than Nathan Lane. His wry line shadings, priceless expressions and expertly timed pauses have produced some of Broadway's funniest moments in recent decades. So it's happy news that Douglas Carter Beane's The Nance ( * * * out of four), which opened Monday at the Lyceum Theatre, offers Lane the juiciest role that he has had since 2001's The Producers. Here he's cast as Chauncey Miles, a burlesque performer who deals in naughty gags and racy double entendre and whose wit proves just as sharp, if more dry, offstage.

It's when the music stops that things get awkward. Gordy's book is thwarted not so much by his egotism - which is at least honest, and mitigated somewhat by self-effacing jokes - as his banality. Played by the excellent Brandon Victor Dixon, Gordy reflects on his struggles and triumphs, and dispenses advice, with a ham-handed earnestness that can suggest a speech to business students or self-help book more than a human being expressing himself.

The U.K.-based Matilda the Musical (***½ out of four stars), which opened Thursday at the Shubert Theatre, is the smartest musical to arrive on Broadway in years - and its creators never let you forget that. There's a distinctly British self-consciousness to acclaimed playwright Dennis Kelly and comedian/musician Tim Minchin's adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved children's novel, a critical and commercial smash in London.