Joe Dziemianowicz

Twenty-five years after its Tony- and Pulitzer-winning first Broadway run, the scope and richness of the seven-hour, two-part saga - the taut 'Millennium Approaches,' followed by the somewhat messier 'Perestroika' - remain as impressive as ever.

Disney powers-that-be, along with director Michael Grandage, have basically plopped the cartoon about two sisters estranged by and bound by magic onto the stage. Playing it so safe is like wearing boots for a spin at a skating rink. You won't fall down - but you won't dazzle either.

Still, there's something to his scripted quip about being memorable. Lithgow's show is personal and has heart. But it also has a weak pulse. Long story short: The two-hour piece, directed for the Roundabout by Daniel Sullivan, makes for a slim evening.

Rylance is riveting as the bedeviled ruler, but his star turn still raised mixed feelings. At times he is deliciously daft and spontaneous, but he's also occasionally too stagy and calculating to ring true. In some moments, you see him working. The play's bright creative stroke is having Sam Crane, who's wonderfully sympathetic, act the part of Carlo, and sweet-voiced countertenor Iestyn Davies sing as Farinelli. (James Hall sings at some performances.) As selections by Handel are sung, both actors stand side-by-side in near-mirror images. It's a stirring comment on one man's duality.

First comes the reunion. Then, the reckoning. So it goes in 'The Children,' a slow-moving but ultimately thought-provoking and haunting drama about legacies and how the past always catches up with the present.

Fun is the name of the game in this family-friendly production. But it also offers grown-up insights about community, friendship, intolerance and blindly putting one's faith in others. Just a simple Sponge? 'SpongeBob,' at the Palace Theatre, is simply a pleasure.

Over a fast-moving 90 minutes, the score mixes captivating calypso beats and warm ballads, all brought to life vividly by the fine-tuned cast. Exuberant dancing adds bursts of excitement. Imaginative storytelling lends delights. Pieces of wood combine to become a Daniel's car. A whirled length of hose turns into a whooshing almost musical instrument. In the end, Ti Moune's journey doesn't lead to happily ever after - but to a mythical sort of transformation.

That makes for dishy entertainment. Since its run 2013, the play, inspired by Henri Becque's 1880s drama 'La Parisienne,' has been overhauled to be up-to-the-minute. At times the dialogue is too stiff to sound natural. But politics are in Willimon's wheelhouse. Before he created 'House of Cards,' he wrote the terrific play 'Farragut North,' which became the George Clooney movie 'Ides of March.' Still, his dramatic renovation is win-lose.

Amy Schumer's Broadway debut is no trainwreck. Her deft and daffy performance is a bright spot in wild and crazy guy Steve Martin's 'Meteor Shower' at the Booth Theatre. The play, seen in previous runs in California and Connecticut, is heavy with absurdity and modestly laced with laughs. But it has the lightweight feel of an extended, if not overextended, skit.

If your happy place is an Odd Lot outlet, then 'Home for the Holidays' will be right up your aisle, er, alley. That's not an endorsement. It's just that this seasonal pop-up concert on Broadway is one motley mix. A trio of TV reality show vocal contest winners share top billing: Candice Glover of 'American Idol,' Josh Kaufman of 'The Voice' and Bianca Ryan of 'America's Got Talent.'

That sets the show, directed by Tony Taccone in near-nonstop motion. Leguizamo zips around the stage of Studio 54, where books are stacked and a two-sided blackboard stands ready for a workout. When the chalk dust settles 95 minutes later, Leguizamo has cannily surveyed the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, plus the role of Hispanic soldiers the Revolutionary War - and a lot more.

'The Band's Visit' takes place in the desert and, like a mirage, it shimmers. But better. Because this hushed, heart-melting musical is real - and truly magical.

It makes for a Broadway play that's accessible, but not illuminating or surprising. Once those guys with the tape machines show up, it's clear where we're headed. Too bad, considering that Akhtar's 2013 Pulitzer-winning 'Disgraced,' about racial and religious divides, packed a wallop even with its flaws. 'Junk,' at the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center, is polished but lacks a satisfying punch. A sly little jab at the end isn't the same thing.

'The Lion King' has secured Julie Taymor's status as a director with style and vision. But her work here is short on passion and inspiration. Awkward sliding panels, which dominate the set design, add to the choppiness of the play. Scenes from operas add pageantry but mostly feel like padding. On the other hand, the drama also omits details. That includes what the initial attraction is for Gallimard when he thinks Song is a man. The fluidity of gender is certainly topical today, but the question of how Song carried on the gender-bending ruse for so long remains unanswered. Song's anatomically explicit courtroom testimony of the mechanics of his duplicity still leaves questions. Basically it comes down to that people see what they need to see.

The moment showed the power and charm of the 68-year-old rocker. It also reminded that the show - a soldout sensation before a note was sung or word was spoken - is not a just a concert in a Broadway theater. Threaded with 15 songs and stories pulled from his year-old memoir, 'Born to Run,' the Broadway debut of New Jersey's finest is a tightly scripted chronological narrative tracing his life.

Without the time-leaping construction, the play is pretty conventional. It also has an annoying habit of overexplaining itself. In this case, a character quotes William Blake, noting that 'joy and woe are woven fine.' Good and bad ebb and flow in life. Well, yeah. While ideas are underlined and highlighted, characters tend to be fairly one-dimensional. But under the sensitive direction of Rebecca Taichman (a Tony winner for 'Indecent'), a first-rate ensemble breathes vibrant life into the adult Conway children.

In his various guises, Prince alludes to luck, success and failure, unusual projects and finally to just 'do the work.' It's not a deep dive into the mind of a master - more like, Shallow Hal. If you're okay with that and want to luxuriate in moments from some wonderful shows, you'll be entertained by the cast. Chuck Cooper, Janet Dacal, Bryonha Marie Parham, Brandon Uranowitz, Kaley Ann Voorhees and Michael Xavier all get time to shine and take advantage of that to varying degrees.

Moore's easygoing rapport with the audience goes a long way in these memories, and in stories of death threats. That includes real ones involving weapons and a figurative when 'Dancing with the Stars' asked Moore to be on the show, an inviation he likened to a death notice. Tony-winning director Michael Mayer ('Spring Awakening') keeps things rolling smoothly.

Look closely and you'll see that Lili Taylor and Janeane Garofalo share a faint resemblance. For their roles as estranged sisters in 'Marvin's Room,' that comes in handy. The Broadway revival of Scott McPherson's 1990 play needs that sort of help. While the acting is fine, the comedic elements of the story about the intertwining of life and death sometimes feel forced. That includes early scenes with a ridiculous doctor. Anne Kauffman's staging for the Roundabout, moreover, doesn't always maximize the material. The pacing is Valium-induced sluggish and the out-of-scale physical production is ill-suited to the intimate goings-on.

This dramatization of George Orwell's 1949 dystopian classic serves as a reminder. For all its moving set pieces, along with a busy, ear-blasting soundscape, frequent blackouts, blinding lights and live video, it's strangely unmoving and low-impact. The action meanders and jumps in time, so some familiarity with the story is a must. On the plus side, authors and directors Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan deserve credit for letting Orwell's cautionary story about a world of fake news and government control speak for itself.

As each character gets their big scene, their name is projected in enormous letters. Each character adds to the conversation about serious subjects - marriage, men and women, freedom, rights, equality. The issues aren't new but presented in intriguing ways. Still, something nags: Since you can't backdate a divorce do Nora's current efforts even matter? That doesn't come up in this production, which plays Nora's situation very much as comedy. Metcalf, a seasoned stage vet who's known for the sitcom 'Roseanne,' can clown with the best of them. Just saying the word 'no,' Metcalf's face is an avalanche of motion.

Songs by Oberacker and Taylor are workmanlike and pleasant, but tend to be monochromatic. Songs that the group sings and ones that drive the plot are pretty indistinguishable, so musically it's a blur. The physical production can be one as well. Andy Blankenbuehler, the Tony-winning 'Hamilton' choreographer, handles dances and direction. There's stylized movement, ghosts of fallen military men following the vets and lots of athletic hoofing. The production is vigorous to the point of sometimes being distracting. Blankenbuehler's large cast steps up. Cott is appealing and gives his all. Osnes sings like a dream - even when the material isn't one. Tony winner Beth Leavel takes on the tiny role of Julia's mom, June, who dispenses quips and advice. 'Listen,' June sings, 'what matters when things happen is what happens after.' That's as deep as 'Bandstand' gets.

Broadway's crazy good revival of 'Six Degrees of Separation' is proof of theater's enduring impact. Even if you've never seen John Guare's smart, juicy and still-potent 1990 comedy - or the film version - you probably know the meaning of the title. You've likely used it in conversation. Guare didn't invent the notion of six degrees, but his play, based on true events, popularized it and made it shorthand for how everybody's connected. Or, on the other hand, kept at a distance - by just six other people.

A young woman with no memory tries to find out who she is in the new Broadway musical 'Anastasia.' The show, despite being filled with some very good songs and performances, suffers from its own identity crisis. It's got a split personality and is torn between whether it's serious drama or frothy musical comedy. One wishes that the creative team - the same one behind 'Ragtime' - of Terrence McNally (book), Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) had found a way to make it cohesive and more balanced.

'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' is a middle-of-the-road musical with a pale score, a flavorless book and a dearth of eye candy that could have at least made it a spectacle...Heading a large, game and polished cast, Christian Borle, a Tony winner for 'Something Rotten!' and 'Peter and the Starcatcher,' has panache as Wonka. He plays the chocolate maker as snarky, not all that sinister. As Charlie, young Ryan Foust was terrific in the performance I saw; he shares the role with two others.