Joe Dziemianowicz — Theater Critic

Revisionist reboots of modern classics can open your eyes - or make them glaze over. Broadway's stark, stripped-back new take on 'The Glass Menagerie' starring Sally Field lands, alas, in the latter category. Tennessee Williams' 1945 masterwork has never emerged smaller, flatter or less poignant. Or soggier, thanks to a downpour inside the home where the story unfolds. Yes, that happens.

In its 2015 Off-Broadway run, the comedy by Joshua Harmon ('Bad Jews') struck me as 'hilarious, heart-tugging and annoying.' On Broadway at the Booth Theatre, same goes. Hilarity comes from spry, occasionally crude one-liners showcased to the max by the fine cast as well as Trip Cullman's deft direction. Heart-tugging moments arise between Jordan and his age-addled grandmother (Barbara Barrie).

Jake Gyllenhaal's got it, by George! A handsome, nimble singing voice to go with his solid acting chops, that is. It's all on exhibition in Broadway's wonderful revival of 'Sunday in the Park with George' at the newly renovated Hudson Theatre. This Pulitzer-winning musical by composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer James Lapine premiered 33 years ago. Its power to stir the heart and head with its radiant score and unfading story about the art of making art - and love - is as strong as ever.

It's been 23 years since she originated the role of Hollywood has-been Norma Desmond on Broadway in Andrew Lloyd Webber's sumptuous, if uneven, musical version of Billy Wilder's classic film. Norma's got the same turban, same neuroses and the same pipe dreams only La La Land can inspire. Close, meanwhile, goes heavy on the fragility, vulnerability and dark humor for the part played on film by Gloria Swanson. If a few vocals are strained, Close commands the stage in this concert production from the English National Opera.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson directs the atmospheric production and fine-tuned ensemble, which includes Harvy Blanks and Ray Anthony Thomas as neighborhood guys.

Par for the course in Chekhov, this Sydney Theatre Company production written by Blanchett's husband Andrew Upton and directed by John Crowley ('Brooklyn') is filled with lost souls, regrets, an uncertain future and pistols. The action, set in Russia in the mid-1990s, signalled with maxi dresses, mom jeans and apt pop tunes like 'What Is Love?', begins with preparations for a birthday bash. Anna (Blanchett), a widow and landowner on the verge of ruin, is turning the big 4-0. She's less interested in blowing out birthday candles than blowing up her life - as in, with dynamite.

The current theater season is only about halfway over. No matter. It's still a sure bet that when it comes to thrilling and unforgettable moments few will rival the one that comes 15 minutes into the dazzling 'Dear Evan Hansen,' at the Music Box Theatre. Yes, that special.

The main takeaway of the new Broadway musical 'A Bronx Tale' is that talent is a terrible thing to waste. The show's makers and shapers, including Chazz Palminteri, who adapted his 1989 play, and Robert De Niro, who starred in and helmed the '93 film version and now shares directing credit with theater veteran Jerry Zaks, haven't squandered their gifts.

The main takeaway of the new Broadway musical 'A Bronx Tale' is that talent is a terrible thing to waste. The show's makers and shapers, including Chazz Palminteri, who adapted his 1989 play, and Robert De Niro, who starred in and helmed the '93 film version and now shares directing credit with theater veteran Jerry Zaks, haven't squandered their gifts.

The clean-cut crooner looks thicker in the waist and more unkempt than usual. Fitting, since he's playing a 19th century Russian slacker. The padded pounds and scraggly hair can't conceal Groban's burly burnished singing. The show, like his voice, is a pop-opera-hybrid. And he shines bright like high beams in this richly imaginative work created by Dave Molloy.

The clean-cut crooner looks thicker in the waist and more unkempt than usual. Fitting, since he's playing a 19th century Russian slacker. The padded pounds and scraggly hair can't conceal Groban's burly burnished singing. The show, like his voice, is a pop-opera-hybrid. And he shines bright like high beams in this richly imaginative work created by Dave Molloy.

Finn's alternately lighthearted and poignant score in this mostly sung-through show is another major asset. While things get a bit heavy-handed as one man's life ends while another begins at a bar mitzvah, it's hard to grouse when you're being moved to tears. There are plenty of those - laughs, too - thanks to the uniformly wonderful cast. Borle, a two-time Tony winner, is very affecting as Marvin comes out and, finally, comes of age. Rannells, of 'Girls,' brings swagger and sweetness to the pragmatic Whizzer. Block is blessed with a couple of the show's best songs - 'I'm Breaking Down' and 'Holding to the Ground' - and does them proud. Both are stuck in my head. Even the scenery is eloquent in its own way. A huge gray Rubik's Cube-like set piece underscores the idea that the world is puzzling. Fitting since Trina sings: 'Life is never what you planned.' Plan on being deeply touched and richly satisfied at this show.

For the play's first hour and forty-five minutes, a supporting cast of comic pros who portray hard-boiled reporters are mired in mostly expositional banter that goes in circles and stalls. John Goodman fares no better as a shifty sheriff and basically just relies on a high-pitched voice that's half as amusing as it's meant to be.

Heading into 'The Cherry Orchard' you already know that the glorious fruit trees are inevitably going down. But pretty much everything falls flat in the case of the vapid new Broadway revival of Anton Chekhov's classic tragicomedy about a family on the edge of collapse.

For Mary-Louise Parker die-hards, 'Heisenberg' won't disappoint. As the endearing, annoying, unknowable Georgie, half of a May-December odd couple brought together by an unexpected kiss, the ex-'Weeds' dope dealer looms very large. So much so there's just enough oxygen left for Denis Arndt as Alex, the generous and gentle seventysomething object of Georgie's affection.

Gil and George have written a play, and it's aswirl with jokes and jabs at actors, stage hokum and overripe clichés. The crotchety geezers bat that around for a while, then launch into NY and personal history. They lurch along and revisit their public access show 'Too Much Tuna' - a chance for puppet master Basil Twist to show off his magic and for Seth Meyers to join the duo on stage. There's an unannounced cameo at each performance.

Gil and George have written a play, and it's aswirl with jokes and jabs at actors, stage hokum and overripe clichés. The crotchety geezers bat that around for a while, then launch into NY and personal history. They lurch along and revisit their public access show 'Too Much Tuna' - a chance for puppet master Basil Twist to show off his magic and for Seth Meyers to join the duo on stage. There's an unannounced cameo at each performance.

The whisker of a plot and lyrics are drawn from T.S. Eliot's 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.' A posse of pusses gather to see which one gets a shot at a new life. Who could it be? The Rum Tum Tugger (Tyler Hanes), who struts like a rock star? Twinkled-toed Jennyanydots (Eloise Kropp)? The frisky and nimble Skimbleshanks (Jeremy Davis)? The amazing often airborne Mistoffelees (Ricky Ubeda)? Or a dozen others? It's not much of a spoiler that it's shunned and bedraggled outcast Grizabella (Leona Lewis). After all, she gets 'Memory.' Too bad she inspires so little sympathy. The show's first tagline was 'now and forever.' More fitting for 'Cats' 2.0 - now and whatever.

What if God was one of us? Occasionally characters say something so right that you can't help but nod in complete agreement. The line's so in sync with what's inside your head that you're convinced your brain's been plugged into a la 'The Matrix.'

The new Broadway musical 'Shuffle Along' dazzles like no other show this season -- but it also disappoints...When the cast is singing and tearing up the floor with choreographer Savion Glover's muscular and thrilling tap-dancing it's pure unmitigated heaven. But between numbers, biographies are sketched out and behind-the-scenes blow-by-blows are shared. The narration turns entertainment into dull lecture hall...Mitchell, Porter, Dixon and Henry are terrific. But the ace in the hole -- and in tap shoes -- in this enterprise is Audra McDonald. The six-time Tony winner delivers her patented magic in the role of Lottie Gee, a Jazz Era star with a silver voice and acid tongue. McDonald is funnier, friskier and more light-footed than ever...Even though the narration lacks drama, the tap-happy new show gleams with ambition and topnotch talent.

O'Neill is at his most autobiographical in this Tony- and Pulitzer-winning drama. Repetitive and long-winded too. Even a perfectly tuned production can be an endurance test. Performances aren't all equal in Jonathan Kent's nearly four-hour Roundabout staging. As the morphine-addicted Mary, Oscar-winner Jessica Lange maximizes her meaty role's potential. Lange is blessed with an expressive voice and uses it like a musical instrument -- soft and coquettish, warm and motherly, then barbed and brutal as if dredging words from a bottomless well of despair.

Authors Claudia Shear ('Dirty Blonde') and Tim Federle ('Better Nate Than Ever') make some smart changes. Winnie's dad has passed away, which underscores that death is part of life. The book's elaborate ending has been simplified. Composer Chris Miller and lyricist Nathan Tysen...wrap the story up in a warm and folksy score. It fits the 19th-century time period...Characters are pretty sketchy, but the cast makes the most of what they've got...In the end, 'Tuck Everlasting' is allowed to breathe. Like people, musicals need that to live.

The play by Becky Mode...has been updated for a world that's slightly less obsessed with the 'it' restaurant of the moment...Mode doesn't chase stinging satire, just laughs -- and snags a few good ones. Director Jason Moore keeps things moving briskly and as dynamically as possible...Ferguson has proven himself a likable clown in Shakespeare plays and musicals like 'On the Town' and 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.' But that's not the same as being a chameleon capable of shifting instantaneously from one vivid character to another. Ferguson lisps, growls and crosses his eyes gamely, but people on the other end of the phone line are rarely remarkable. The actor is fully committed, yes, but the production isn't totally satisfying.

Director Diane Paulus ('Pippin') does a fine job guiding actors to lively performances. But her staging is heavy-handed. The pie metaphor is unobtrusive on film, but it's force-fed on stage. Musicals, like dough, get stiff when overworked. Still, the show strikes a chord, in large part thanks to Mueuller's sweet and touching performance. In this fairy tale the girl loses the guy - and good riddance. Everybody wins. So do audiences with Mueller onstage.

With its wicked wit, catchy ear candy and sexy cast, 'American Psycho' gives you a killer buzz - for a while. Euphoria sinks once corpses pile up in this glossy new Broadway musical...Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa ('Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark') and composer-lyricist Duncan Sheik (a Tony winner for 'Spring Awakening') are mostly faithful to the novel. But they heighten the ironic humor and lessen the graphic violence of both the book and the Christian Bale film...The pace and interest slacken in the second act...Walker ('Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson') hits all the right notes, seemingly without effort...