Joe Westerfield

To call this his masterwork may be a bit misleading, it is certainly among his best work, but then he has about 20 best works, including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Travesties, The Coast of Utopia and The Real Thing to name a few. Those are pretty fine hairs to split at that level of excellence.

People who go in with strict, preconceived notions of what Funny Girl or who Fanny should be will probably be disappointed. They usually are. But as someone wiser than me once said, 'You curate the experience you want.' Certainly the now-familiar songs by Bob Merrill and Jule Styne are there, topped by two certified hits: 'People' and 'Don't Rain on My Parade,' but this is no carbon copy of the original. This is a funny Funny Girl, and Beanie Feldstein is a truly funny, funny girl.

If one goes into Studio 54 expecting a dusty old collection of boulevard comedies, they are in for a real surprise and a real treat. These are truly funny comedies of manners-usually bad manners-that have aged quite well, and Parker and Broderick are in top form, keeping things fresh and moving. Parker in particular gives a virtuoso comic performance. In each play, she moves easily from landing a subtle comic line to broad physical comedy to some very touching moments. And all the time, she keeps any Carrie Bradshaw mannerisms under wraps. She just has to come back to Broadway more often.

For 90 minutes or so, Linney gives a captivating-no, several captivating-performances, telling and living the story of Lucy Barton's life. As present-day Lucy she is closest to the Laura Linney most fans know from hosting Masterpiece or Love Actually: charismatic, smart, self-assured, yet vulnerable. As her mother, she is nasally blunt and distant but loving in her own way. As younger Lucy, at least in the presence of her mother, she is submissive, sad and a little scared.

The Angel's introduction is as grand as the come, and that's fitting for such a grand revival of Angels in America. Twenty-five years ago, the play was important and relevant-and in the age of Trump, it might be moreso, on both counts, today. But the reason it persists, the reason companies will stage this work for decades to come, is that it's first and foremost great, riveting drama. And its time has come-again.