Joe Dziemianowicz — Theater Critic

There's plenty to like about the new Broadway arrival 'Honeymoon in Vegas.' That goes double for the terrific score...If only the overall production were sexier, funnier and more surprising. As is, the show, directed by Gary Griffin ('The Color Purple') is cute and old-fashioned, a good time...Jason Robert Brown...deserves huzzahs for making the kicky musical cocktail of catchy melodies and clever lyrics that drive this show. The songs smartly change tempo and tone, shifting from classic showtunes to jazzy stylings to island breeziness as the action moves from New York to Nevada to Hawaii...Griffin's production speeds along efficiently...But the director trips up occasionally on nonessential material...The three leads lend charm and appeal. O'Malley is plucky and makes her 'Anywhere But Here,' a musical ultimatum, stand out...McClure ('Chaplin') gets the show off on a winning note with the tuneful 'I Love Betsy,' and goes full-throttle from then on out. Danza is a charmer with his Sinatra-like singing and tap-happy moments. He'll never convince as a bad guy, but Danza's the boss of good fun.

Jake Gyllenhaal and 'The Affair's' Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson ace their Broadway debuts in 'Constellations,' a compact play with big ideas about life, love and death that is, happily, as brainy as it is sweet-hearted...It's like being in an echo chamber filled with fun-house mirrors and can be a bit off-putting -- at least until the structural framework makes itself evident. Payne makes sure that it does, and that everyone's on the same page...director Michael Longhurst's staging touches both the head and the heart deeply. Even Tom Scutt's lovely set, a bare stage below and beside a huge collection of inflated white balloons, packs a poetic touch. And the cast is swoon-worthy. Gyllenhaal is laid-back and ever-genunine as the passive Roland. Wilson, a two-time Olivier Award winner, is sensual and irresistibly carefree -- a perfect foil. Together, they have something elusive: combustible chemistry. Heavenly sparks ensue.

There's nothing subtle about the conceit, but it still works four decades later. And the credit for that belongs to Cooper, who was nominated for Oscars for 'Silver Linings Playbook' and 'American Hustle.' To reflect Merrick's physical ravages, the Hollywood A-lister twists and holds his body in punishing positions. For two hours, he forges his mouth into a misshapen O and labors to speak. Grim stuff. But the production boasts ample humor, largely due to Cooper's delivery.

Albee's title applies to virtually any scenario. But Agnes and Toby are keenly concerned with the delicate balance of keeping reality -- or anything, or anyone, unpleasant -- outside their front door...Agnes is tightly wrapped, in terms of both manner and costume, which smartly underscores the sense of insularity. Close, with her aristocratic take on Agnes, comes within inches of coming off as arch. That approach doesn't hurt the character. But Close's unintentional habit of tripping over Albee's dialogue doesn't help. Lithgow, meantime, is riveting every moment he's on stage -- which is a lot -- even when Tobias is silent. As he takes the character from quiet restraint to explosive urgency, he doesn't miss a beat and never for a second loses his equilibrium. His is a delicate -- and distinctive -- balance.

For a musical about true-life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, the strange and stirring 'Side Show' has a nagging habit of losing its grip. Chalk it up to dramatic inconsistencies and thin characterizations. Even so, there's a lot to like about the revised vision...Beyond a laudably offbeat topic, two very good leading ladies and a shadowy, evocative design, this show's most stunning jewels are brilliant songs by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist Bill Russell, who revamped the book with director Bill Condon...Despite its unusual material, this reimagined 'Side Show' remains standard singing bio. Par for the course, the tale of two long-forgotten curios zips along quickly but feels like a lot is missing -- and what's here is sanitized...We take a journey with these dreamgirls, but there's no truly satisfying payoff -- or a portrait that goes deeper than the skin.

As in his 2008 Off-Broadway play about marital mystery, 'Parlour Song,' Butterworth displays a gift for moody atmospherics here. Scenes can sometimes go slack, like during rhapsodic arias about fishing. Director Ian Rickson, the author's longtime collaborator, showcases the play with a quiet, intimate staging. The audience is just a few feet from the cast, which include the very fine Cush Jumbo and Laura Donnelly. But the show is all about Jackman. His sturdy star turn is manly, measured and speckled with melancholy. Without him, 'The River' is a play that could flow by in a small Off-Broadway theater and not make much of a ripple.

The play concerns the complexities of marriage and marks McGregor's bang-up Broadway debut. With no sign of struggle, he's charismatic and convincing as he plays Henry's various facets -- witty, glib, snobbish and, importantly, romantic. This Scottish actor is in good company. Fellow Great White Way rookie Maggie Gyllenhaal impresses as Annie...Gyllenhaal...makes her vibrant, sensual and reckless enough to break a heart without remorse. The pair's chemistry provide the show with a beating pulse. But this Roundabout revival also suffers from fits of arrhythmia.

'Disgraced' debuts on Broadway aglow with a Pulitzer Prize and awash in the same pros and cons of its 2012 Off-Broadway run. On the plus side, the play is lean and timely...On the downside, conveniences stack up. And Akhtar relies on the hoariest devices around...Even with flaws, 'Disgraced' is observant and smart. Kimberly Senior, who directed the world premiere at Lincoln Center, guides a good-looking and handsomely acted production...Like sports cars, the actors hugs their characters' curves. Dhillon, who played his role in London, nails Amir's glossy arrogance and sense of loss. Emily is sympathetic, as played by a low-key and quiet Mol, while Radnor is convincing and natural. Pittman, an Off-Broadway holdover, again delivers a precise turn as pointed as Jory's sexy stilettos. Blunted by contrivances, the impact of 'Disgraced' isn't as sharp -- or as potentially dangerous -- as it could be.

Sting brings it. The pop god delivers his A-game in 'The Last Ship,' a new musical about coming home and letting go that overflows with heart. Not bad for a Broadway debut as a composer. Chalk it up to beginner's luck. Or to decades of experience writing songs that tell stories. Either way, the rich and lively score, which includes two songs from earlier solo work, courses with meaning and emotion.

Three footloose sailors aren't the only ones who get lucky in 'On the Town.' The audience does, too. Director John Rando has assembled a great cast for this fizzy and frisky revival...Tracing a tale of World War II tars on leave in the big city, the production feels like a big, juicy kiss...The whole cast is excellent, but Yazbeck (center) is a standout. Rando ('Urinetown') mines the script for all its boisterous humor and smartly makes space for hushed interludes...Choreographer Joshua Bergasse keeps the fleet of agile and athletic dancers leaping, kicking and spinning like a top. The cast is top-to-bottom excellent. In sailor suits and stipped to their skivvies, Johnson and Alves are adorable and able-bodied. Umphress adds sass and brass as the go-for-it taxi driver, and Stanley is delicious as the oversexed scientist. Jackie Hoffman is a hoot-and-a-half playing a boozy voice teacher and a few more small roles...it's a helluva entertainment.

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick made magic and a megahit together in 'The Producers'...Now the Great White Way's dynamic duo is back on stage...The reunion is wildly hit and miss -- Lane is the hit, while Broderick is the, well, you know....Wicker is custom-tailored for what Lane does best. Catty one-liners? Check. Sly slow burns? Check. High-spirited howls? Check. Lane makes the familiar fresh and delivers gusts of laughing gas. Meanwhile, Broderick drains the air and momentum as playwright Peter Austin, Wicker's BFF...What's lacking are surprises. Characters get one dimension apiece...Completing the cast is Micah Stock, a Broadway rookie who more than holds his own as a simpleton coat check with the gift of ingratiation. One reason he makes such an impression is that he shows up on Broadway without any baggage -- so the audience gets the joy of discovering a new talent making his major stage debut. Besides good old dependable Nathan Lane, this diversion has good timing going for it. People are desperate for laughs and comedies on Broadway are bloody rare. If only McNally's 'Play' was more well-done.

Director Marianne Elliott, a Tony winner for her stunning staging of 'War Horse,' proves a master at orchestrating visceral and wildly energetic scenes as well as poignant hushed moments. The show's design is another asset, including the set whose walls look like graph paper... When Chris imagines himself tumbling in space, held aloft and spun by his fellow actors, it's lump-in-the-throat time. Not everything works as weightlessly. The play-within-the-play device can confuse, as when Christopher gives fellow actors notes about their performances.

The curtain rises on 'The Country House' by Donald Margulies to reveal a snazzy living room -- and you just know things will get ugly. That's standard operating Broadway procedure: Cozy interior, turbulent encounters. And aside from one exceptional performance, this clichéd, but ultimately harmless, comedy-drama directed by Daniel Sullivan is an old-fashioned, by-the-numbers affair...Margulies skimps on character details but gives his creations the gift of gab...The cast proves capable. Danner is solid in a role that's not much of a stretch. Lange turns on the emotions as required when the story takes a turn to 'Ordinary People' territory. Sunjata adds appeal as a sudden celebrity. Best of all, Steele transforms her character from more than a wounded, walking wisecrack into the show's heart and soul.

Like many great comedies, this play tickles the funny bone and touches the heart. One very sweet scene is a hug between Alice and her dad (Mark Linn-Baker). He dabbles in fireworks and lights a bright red sparkler that mirrors her head-over-heels feelings for Tony. It's a beautiful moment. When it comes to the memory of it, you can take it with you.

Before her career was totally upstaged by personal traumas, Mia Farrow could be flighty and flinty, delicate and dynamic -- and always real -- in her acting. Good news, she's still got the magic. It's in full view in the first-class Broadway revival of A.R. Gurney's 1988 play, 'Love Letters.' And Farrow's matched note-for-note by Brian Dennehy...Stage vet Dennehy brings a steady sturdiness as Andy, narrowing his eyes and shifting in his seat to suggest regret and uncertainty under the calm surface. Melissa is the more colorful character. Farrow brings her to life with vivid facial expressions and vocal inflections.

Kenneth Lonergan has made a career on stage and film with stories that summon the funny and sad quirks of ordinary lives. He's at the top of his game in his 1996 play 'This Is Our Youth,' now running at the Cort Theatre in a terrific revival...Cera mines every ounce of Warren's comedy and ache. His forlorn charm...makes you want to hug him. Culkin brings just the right cockiness for Dennis. The lesser-known Gevinson, who's famous in fashion circles, is the show's wild card -- and she's an ace. She brings a weird and wonderful vitality as the pretty and opinionated Jessica. Director Anna D. Shapiro...showcases the play's ample humor and the disquieting tones. Nearly two decades after its New York debut Off-Broadway, 'This Is Our Youth' has aged well.

'Holler If Ya Hear Me,' Broadway's first rap jukebox musical, brings highs and lows too. The production is vibrant, raw and rousing, but it shoots itself in the foot with predictability and unintelligibility...Leon...guides a fluid, gritty and graceful production. Wayne Cilento's movement and choreography energize everything...The main problem -- and it's a big one -- is clarity: Muddy diction and unsure sound mix become a wrecking ball to Shakur's gloriously constructed rhymes. 'Matilda' brought the same what-are-they-saying woes, but rap is all about the words.

Though Michelle Williams is credible but not memorable in her Broadway debut as songstress Sally Bowles, her performance can't mar the Roundabout's redo (re-revival?) of its Tony-winning 1998 take at Studio 54...As before, the oily emcee looms especially large. Alan Cumming won a Tony for the role 16 years ago. Beaming with creepy charisma, the sly Cumming is better than ever conjuring an androgynous bottom feeder whose smile hides something much darker and grimmer... a platinum-blond Williams assumes an English accent and an almost jolly and girlish demeanor flecked with desperation. She comes off so feathery that Sally could fly away -- except for her full-tilt go at the title song. Besides that final scene, Williams comes off paler and wispier than desired. Maybe next time.

With 'Torch Song Trilogy,' 'La Cage aux Folles' and 'Kinky Boots' to his credit, playwright Harvey Fierstein knows a thing or three about the fluidity of gender, identity and sexuality -- and about men raiding women's closets. His fact-inspired story -- directed with sensitivity and style by Joe Mantello -- unfolds at a Catskills bungalow colony that caters to heterosexual transvestites. Very niche.

Transformation is tricky, sometimes even painful. But Broadway's sensational 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' starring a kick-ass Neil Patrick Harris is a reminder that change doesn't have to hurt. John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's raucous pop-rock musical -- a show with proudly ratty downtown roots and rabid fans -- survives and thrives uptown. Allegories are elastic, after all. And, yes, this frisky, unapologetically raunchy fable of love, loss, fury and freedom is flashier on the Great White Way thanks to director Michael Mayer's gleaming production...Lean and mean NPH throws himself into the role and against the walls with reckless flip-your-wig and in-your-face abandonment. And he summons the wounded spirit and sense of yearning to which everyone can relate. That carries us along and makes us care for this odd character.

There's a compelling and worthwhile story out there about an age-addled woman's battle to live out her life in her own home. 'The Velocity of Autumn' isn't it. Toggling between glib one-liners and florid speeches, Eric Coble's two-hander adds nada to this topical conversation, along the way wasting a meaty subject, the talents of Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella and the audience's time and money...The inevitable conclusion is supposed to show how explosive life can turn. But the story presents life in such broad strokes and black and white that there's nothing at stake.

[Foster] sings, 'I am on my way.' Buckle your seatbelts, folks. So are you. And what a wonderful trip it is...Songs by composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist Brian Crawley add dimensions and textures, too. Summoning country-fried rhythms, gospel glory, bittersweet ballads and tender lullabies, the score is a rich and beautiful thing. Well-integrated too. Numbers make perfect sense and fuel characters and the plot like high-test gasoline...This journey unfolds a half-century ago, but you don't have to look far to see that the idea that life can change dramatically and devastatingly in a flash. What you do next becomes the question - and it makes this Violet evergreen.

Ace storyteller McDonagh ('The Pillowman,' 'The Lieutenant of Inishmore') makes these folksy characters' behavior and conversations churn with wicked laughter and wise insights. Like most fables, things darken as truths and lessons emerge - like the one about how people who love and help us also hurt us. Better yet, there's the one about how a journey to a far-away place leaves you flat and a kiss from a local girl gives you a reason for living. Now if only fate would cooperate. Through it all Radcliffe tightly hugs the curves of the spirited Billy's journey. He vividly captures the melancholy, determination and, all too fleetingly, his joy.

Even though 'Act One' could use pruning, there's something missing: It never reveals what made Hart special. Story structure? Colorful characters? Snappy dialogue? The basic fact should be the starting point, but it's missing in action here.

Steinbeck's story isn't exactly subtle. Director Anna D. Shapiro ('August: Osage County') packs shading and meaning into an evocative production in which danger lurks everywhere...Shapiro's ace cast grips, too, but not terrifyingly...O'Dowd ('Bridesmaids') is such a likable and endearing actor that he automatically brings goodwill to a role. The Broadway rookie's thoughtful performance as the loud, clumsy and sweet overgrown child creates a sense of imminent catastrophe. As George, who's torn between protectiveness and outrage, Franco's confident, straightforward, no-frills performance works just right. He can do a lot with a look.