Joe Dziemianowicz — Theater Critic

'Carousel' has such a glorious score that the music always shines bright - even in a revival as wobbly as the one now on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre. You know something is off when the lead roles are supplanted by secondary characters and endless dancing. Moreover, director Jack O'Brien ('Hairspray') hasn't discovered anything fresh and exciting in Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's 1945 classic that introduced such indelible songs as the plaintive 'If I Loved You' and jaunty 'June Is Bustin' Out All Over.'

There's something to admire about Mark Medoff's 1979 play 'Children of a Lesser God' - even if the just-opened Broadway production of it starring Joshua Jackson and newcomer Lauren Ridloff at Studio 54 is only fitfully engaging and stirring.

Direction by Casey Nicholaw ('Aladdin,' 'The Book of Mormon'), who's assembled an excellent cast, shines particularly bright. His staging packs style, invention and Red Bull-force energy that showcases the material to the max. Scenic design that makes smart use of video projections gives the show a seamless cinematic flow. Fey's book is faithful to the film and, naturally, preserves beloved lines - like 'fetch' and 'On Wednesday we wear pink.' But she's added fresh jokes and updates for the social media age as 16-year-old Cady (an appealing Erika Henningsen) goes from Africa (there's a sly nod to 'The Lion King') to a Chicago high school.

Everyone going to 'Three Tall Women' at the Golden Theatre hopes for a great revival. Good news: There are actually two. One is the superb new production of Edward Albee's 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that's been directed with a sure hand and more than a touch of class by Joe Mantello. The other is the breathtaking Broadway reboot of Glenda Jackson, a two-time Oscar winner and four-time Tony nominee who's been away from the New York stage since starring in 'Macbeth' in 1988. Four years later, she traded acting for U.K. politics and just recently returned to performing.

If the notion of Mozart's exuberant 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik' married to Styx's guitar-grinding 'Come Sail Away' or a lush Handel aria bleeding into Elton John's plaintive 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me' sounds like music to your ears, this may be the mash-up for you. Otherwise, not so much.

Chris Evans trades a Captain America shield for an NYPD badge in his Broadway debut in Kenneth Lonergan's drama 'Lobby Hero.' Evans's deft performance is one of the pluses of this fine-tuned show, which marks Second Stage's inaugural Broadway production at the renovated Hayes Theater.

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.