Michael Kuchwara — Theater Critic

This is slice-of-life theater, lovingly captured in an eclectic score by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also serves as the show's narrator. Miranda also stars, portraying Usnavi, a sheepishly charming tour guide through this Latino 'hood. If Quiara Alegria Hudes' tale of generational conflict, new love and efforts to snag a piece of the American dream seems scattered, you don't mind its lack of focus because the hardworking actors are so appealing. The genial performers deftly inhabit set designer Anna Louizos' richly detailed tenement and street-scene setting, which has been expanded for the more technically lavish Broadway production.

Watching 'Mary Poppins,' the Disney-Cameron Mackintosh extravaganza now on view at the New Amsterdam Theatre, is a little like eating an entire box of expensive chocolates — all by yourself. You may end up feeling a bit overstuffed, but, boy, the experience will be fun. Tasty, too. This lavish stage version about the world's most blissfully competent nanny is an amalgamation of the 1964 Disney movie that made Julie Andrews a film star and the classic children's books by P.L. Travers.

Jersey Boys' wears its jukebox-musical credentials without apology. And well it should. When it sings and moves, this musical biography of pop icons Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, which opened Sunday at Broadway's August Wilson Theatre, really rocks. The energy is unstoppable, particularly from the four lead performers -- Christian Hoff, Daniel Reichard, J. Robert Spencer and the amazing John Lloyd Young as Valli. Only when it attempts to tell the story of the lads' rise to fame and fortune does 'Jersey Boys' occasionally falter, sinking into a soapy resume of their lives.