Michael Dale

In between, a terrific cast bangs out the gritty, wise-cracking dialogue of newspapermen turned playwrights Ben Hecht andCharles MacArthur with the precision of freshly greased keys striking at the platen of a Royal typewriter. Nathan Lane and John Slattery lead the way, but the twenty-five member ensemble is made up of name stars and below-the-title theatre pros who each contribute solidly to a rousing production.

Pop star Leona Lewis has been cast as Grizabella, the cat of tragically faded glamour who sings the musical's dramatic 11 o'clocker, 'Memory.' She has no acting credits in her bio and it shows, making the evening's climactic moment a sad letdown, especially when considering the many underused Broadway actresses who can really make a meal out of it.

Broadway's faithful didn't have to wait long before the second coming of David Javerbaum's cute and charming comedy, An Act of God. In the beginning (last May) Jim Parsons premiered the nightclubby diversion at Studio 54. Now Sean Hayes stars in a limited run at the Booth, described by his character as 'the only theatre named for the brother of a man who assassinated a President in a different theatre.'

There's no shortage of thrills and amazement to be enjoyed by their latest assemblage of remarkable artists who tumble in the air, swing on straps, balance onto each other and perform gasp-worth feats of strength and muscle control. However, PARAMOUR is a venture presented by the company's theatrical enterprise in an attempt to create a new and original book-and-score Broadway musical that incorporates their regular ensemble of performers into the story.

Under Doug Hughes' direction, Langella makes fluid transitions from charmingly self-assured to nervously befuddled to positively terrified. The 90-minute piece serves better as an actor's showcase than a satisfying play, and the star subtly and believably builds to a shuddering climax. Erbe is rock solid as a woman trying to stay in control of an impossible situation. One would expect her to be the next to start losing her mind.

For a musical about literary folk, Bright Star's words never approach the stimulating freshness and intelligence of other current musicals about writers; namely HAMILTON, FUN HOME, the revival of SHE LOVES ME and Off-Broadway's DADDY LONG LEGS. Nice music, fine performances, but other than that, barely a twinkle.

How do you describe admiration for a display of such sad and stark emotional vulnerability without it feeling like objectification of the fictional characters who have gone through the experience, and those who are confronted by similar ones in real life?...In varying degrees, Williams and Daniels, both excellent, effectively confront the audience to feel sympathy for their characters as it becomes increasingly clear what emotions are for each other. On top of that, you can admire the actors for just the taking on the responsibility of using their craft to take them 'there' eight times a week.

Plays about the different ways women choose to respond to institutionalized rape during wartime are not standard Broadway fare, and ECLIPSE's transfer from its October-opening run at The Public Theater, should be considered a major achievement, no doubt accelerated by the facts that the playwright is known for her acting role on the popular television series THE WALKING DEAD, and one-fifth of its superb ensemble is Academy Award-winner Lupita Nyong'o.

The play is essentially a monologue for Erie, as he tries making buddies with the new, disinterested night clerk in an attempt to change his luck...Sadly, Whitaker's performance is far too undistinguished...Under Michael Grandage's direction, he's a rather ordinary, friendly presence, who continually speaks in a repetitive sing-songy rhythm. There's little depth, or even vocal variety in his portrayal and the proceedings get dull quickly. It would be unfair to say that Wood steals the show with his tiny role, but his fine, understated turn is a lovely display of a stage actor's craft.

In his fresh, funny and chilling take on the genre, The Humans...playwright Stephen Karam believably adds elements of an old-fashioned Irish ghost story to the mix...Director Joe Mantello's exemplary ensemble is granted a wonderfully detailed and realistic two-level set by David Zinn, allowing for simultaneous action on both floors. Fitz Patton's sound design perfectly replicates the chorus of noises from city living and orchestrates them into a nightmarish soundscape. At one point Richard, more or less the observer of the gathering, describes a comic book series about a race of monsters who live in fear of humans. They may have a point. Stephen Karam sure does.

The playwright probably has something to say about forgiveness or the allure of bad boys, but while there's a decent amount of cleverness in his lines, the story never amounts to anything of significant consequence. Director Lynne Meadow's production is fine and neither she nor her actors should be blamed for the overall sluggishness of the overwritten proceedings, but aside from Lavin, who deftly blends from acerbic to gently sentimental, OUR MOTHER'S BRIEF AFFAIR is hardly one to remember.

Michael Frayn's perfectly constructed bit of nonsense, with no shortage of slamming doors and flying sardines, is back in an uproarious new Roundabout revival solidly mounted by Jeremy Herrin...What gives the play its momentum is the grave seriousness with which each character deals with their lot. The gifted clown Andrea Martin is just darling as Dotty, an actor of cultured tones who plays the screeching cockney maid and can't clear up in her head exactly what her blocking is in regards to moving a plate of sardines. Megan Hilty bursts onto the stage with air-headed moxie, all dolled up like Jayne Mansfield, and is a scream playing bombshell Brooke as an awful actor who faces front and presents her every line to the audience in between mouthing the lines of her colleagues. Jeremy Shamos is very funny as the good-natured, but nervous wreck Frederick, and has a bit of physical business about regaining his footing that might very well get him nominated for an Astaire Award...NOISES OFF is a night of wild, frenetic fun that guarantees more laughs than COPENHAGEN, DEMOCRACY and BENEFACTORS combined.

While actors doubling as the orchestra, the concept Doyle is best known for, is eschewed here, his other frequently used techniques - staging that limits personal connections between characters and production values that don't clearly communicate locations - are out in full force. Granted, this production originated at London's modestly-sized Menier Chocolate Factory, so a bit of scaling down is to be expected, but the orchestrations could at least be restored to their original 18 pieces instead of remaining at six.

Remember when Andrew Lloyd Webber's music was demonized as despicably subversive irreverence that undermined everything that was good and decent about America? If you were around in the early 1970s you'd surely remember that he and lyricist Tim Rice were considered quite the dangerous radicals when JESUS CHRIST SUSPERSTAR hit these shores. You can celebrate those good old days now with the English Lord's enthralling, high-energy kickass new hard-rockin' musical at the Winter Garden. Add to the mixGlenn Slater's solid set of lyrics, the funny and sincerely touching book by Julian Fellowes and a top flight cast led by director Laurence Conner, andSchool of Rock is a big, beautiful blast of musical comedy from start to finish.

And even if that Bluetooth device that's stuck in his ear for most of the night has someone cueing him for every line...Pacino's not letting on. He's detailed, committed and always interesting to watch. The play itself is pretty meat-and-potatoes Mamet with the star playing a standard Mametian patriarchal, alpha male son of a slime ball...While Pacino's Mickey is erratic and caustic, speaking in an unpredictable cadence and tone, Christopher Denham's Carson is soft and unobtrusively in control of every potential crisis. Though onstage for nearly the entire play, he spends much of it quietly handling matters in the background, while Mickey is bullying his way through an unseen cast of supporting characters...but the balance he adds to the play is invaluable and the most effective asset of director Pam MacKinnon's production.

Since coming to Broadway after winning three Emmy Awards for playing the low self-esteemed Jackie in ROSEANNE, Laurie Metcalf has yet to strike a false note in her rich and diverse collection of stage portrayals... It's her unbending commitment to honesty, even in the most heightened of melodramatic situations, that drives director Will Frears' marvelously entertaining production of William Goldman's play based on novelist Stephen King's Misery.

The direction seems to greatly favor those seated on stage, and while Strong is admirably forceful, there seems to be a lack of subtlety that the director imposes throughout evening. Rather than let Eddie's desires slowly reveal themselves, he smacks us on the head with them. Also smacking the audience are the bombastic tones of designer Tom Gibbons' lugubrious soundscape, which is peppered with bits of Fauré's Requiem. Miller's fine play would be better served by allowing the actors to provide such subtext.

In a Broadway season that is shaping up as one to feature far more diversity on stage than what is typically seen, it's wonderful to see a new, original and daring musical drama like Allegiance come to town in a high-profile production with a predominantly Asian cast playing out a history lesson about institutionalized racism in America.

For as long as director Jerry Mitchell and choreographer Sergio Trujillo can keep their new Broadway musical in motion, and they do so for nearly all of its wonderfully vivacious and entertaining first act, On Your Feet is a dazzling display of Latin-American musical culture, telling the professional and romantic story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan...Bookwriter Alexander Dinelaris'...cleverest move is to ignore chronology, letting the songs serve the situations...Ana Villafane makes an impressive Broadway debut as Gloria, growing from a shy teen to a confident professional...As Emilio, Josh Segarra is a strong and sympathetic presence...On Your Feet's second act suffers from a common trap when jukebox musicals turn dramatic; there are no songs that specifically address the issues at hand. With little to dance about, the show drags its heels to the plot's triumphant finish that immediately blasts into a boisterious finale, full of spangled costumes and energetic dance solos.

As Great Britain's oldest prince to ascend to the throne (he'll be turning 67 this month), the excellent Tim Pigott-Smith combines the weary countenance of one who has been dragged through the mud for decades with the brash enthusiasm of a new ruler ready to make his mark in history; though he's aware he has comparatively little time to do so. The text fluidly explains in dialogue how Britain's monarch holds a symbolic, apolitical position and is kept abreast of parliamentary matters by the country's true leader, the prime minister.

Director Evan Cabnet's gorgeously understated mounting of Helen Edmundson's adaptation looks like a somewhat faded oil painting come to life...The first-rate cast has Keira Knightley's introverted Thérèse subtly expressing the acceptance of her sorrow, so that when unfamiliar urges take over it allows merely the slightest change of physicality to clearly state that she's overwhelmed by raw emotions she has no idea how to control. Matt Ryan's Laurent is a master manipulator of women who is so taken with the instinctively sexual Thérèse that he, too, loses control. Gabriel Ebert's gangly and adolescently humored Camille resembles a repulsive Dickins caricature. Judith Light is quietly threatening as the aunt...Thérèse Raquin may no longer have the ability to shock audiences, except for the fact that its immorality is expressed with such thoughtful delicacy.

No, this not a reinvented version of CAROUSEL that's opened at the Cort, but the first Broadway production of A.R. Gurney's clever and off-beat 1995 comedy, Sylvia. On the surface, the play is about a married man in Manhattan who bonds with a stray dog in Central Park who has a tag around her neck saying Sylvia, and takes her home, much to the consternation of his wife. As scripted, Sylvia is played by a woman dressed in normal clothing that merely suggests her identity as a dog. And while the play is a breezy, hip and sentimental comedy, there's always the visual subtext of a young woman happily and unconditionally fawning over the older man who keeps her at the end of a leash.

By Broadway standards, the intimate Helen Hayes theatre might be considered the Main Stem's version of an eight foot by eight foot platform, so Dames at Sea's premiere Broadway production is also a tiny affair featuring six actors with more or less equal-sized roles. Anna Louizos' fine set changes at intermission, but stays just the way it is for each of the two acts. There are no dark moods in Ken Billington and Jason Kantrowitz lighting and director/choreographerRandy Skinner's staging plays out to the house. Under such conditions, actors have no production values to cling to.Dames at Sea offers only one special effect. Talent. Lots of it. And it's right smack in the middle of the stage for all to clearly see.

The hottest ticket in town at The Public, Hamilton has only grown as a phenomenon with its move to Broadway, with its web site advising customers that good seats will start becoming available in January. And while some have pondered if Hamilton's success signals Broadway's greater acceptance of diverse contemporary music, the musical's major appeal is as old as Rodgers and Hammerstein: good writing. They loved it in the 1700s, and they're loving it now.

The breathtaking new Broadway musical inspired from Vincente Minnelli's 1951 film An American In Paris is not ballet choreographerChristopher Wheeldon's first Broadway credit, but it's his first as a director/choreographer, and one can't help thinking of the greatest work of Robbins as dramatic stage pictures and ravishing movements swiftly and effectively reveal emotions that would require pages of dialogue. It isn't just the dancing that's impressive; it's how Wheeldon places the evening in a heightened reality that embraces a people's desire to wake from a nightmare and get back to the business of artistic creation.