Robert Feldberg

But 'fun' was what I returned to. It most exactly suggests the experience of seeing Rupert Holmes' musical, a production that embraces its audience in distinctively enjoyable ways.

It's the 'Annie' you expect to see — not a song or scene has been changed — but, working with choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and a vivacious cast, Lapine has created a crisp, colorful, shiny-bright production loaded with theatrical energy. Of course, he had Grade-A material to work with. Every time I see a production of 'Annie,' I'm impressed again with what a really good show it is.

Its latest revival, which opened Thursday night at the Walter Kerr Theatre, is a showcase, of sorts, for two popular and very capable young actors, Hollywood's Jessica Chastain ('The Help,' 'Tree of Life') and TV's Dan Stevens ('Downton Abbey'), each making a Broadway debut. Both give committed and persuasive, if not transcendent, performances. They're supported, and occasionally overshadowed, by two canny veteran stage performers, David Strathairn and Judith Ivey.

Witty, sarcastic, cruel, clownish, with the timing of a stand-up comic, Letts makes George a very funny, scarily driven man, the quicksilver center of the evening. You can see the stakes rise in the color of his face, which turns bright red as his anger peaks. Meanwhile, Morton, a perfect acting mate, gives glimpses of fear beneath Martha's boisterous, belittling manner, prefiguring the last, poignant line of the play.

Taken on its own, 'Cyrano de Bergerac' is an extremely entertaining play, and this production allows the audience to enjoy it. If not great or memorable, it's good, and very solid.

The superbly-acted 'Grace,' which opened Thursday night at the Cort Theatre, is odd and utterly compelling. The play, by Craig Wright, pokes fun at a common religious belief, while making as eloquent and sensitive an argument for the rewards of faith as you'll find.

Ibsen wrote the play, at least in part, as a response to the public outcry against his previous play, 'Ghosts,' which bashed Victorian morality and made reference to syphilis. Lenkiewicz seems to give special emphasis to Stockmann’s conflicting qualities. The problem with that, aside from meshing his contradictions into a single, recognizable human being, is that it sticks out of the play like a sore thumb. None of the other characters are in any way complex. The bad guys are essentially nasty, two-dimensional opportunists.

'Chaplin,' the bio-musical that opened Monday night at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, is a mixture of the imaginative and the timeworn. The good things in it begin with Rob McClure’s deft performance in the title role — at times presented on film, in the style of a vintage movie.

Esparza is a dynamic musical-theater performer, but the allegedly charismatic Jonas remains unappealing from beginning to end. And by bringing in, and trivializing, the question of the power of faith, the show feels particularly smarmy. 'Leap of Faith' attempts entertainment by manipulation, but you can see the wires all the way.

There are few things in the theater more distressing than a labored farce.

'The Lyons' — and shouldn't that be 'The Lyonses,' as the plural form of a name ending in 's'? — works only half the time. But that half, taking the notion of family dysfunction to the outer limits of humor, is darkly entertaining theater.

There's little poignancy in the performance. When Blanche goes crackers at the end, it seems to come out of nowhere, rather than being the inevitable result of a long slide. [...] Blair Underwood, another performer from films and TV who is normally a sensitive actor, overdoes Stanley's macho-ness to the point of excluding any other qualities.

It has all the depth, nuance and drama you'd find on the back of a bubble-gum card. [...] The actors playing the basketball stars are adequate, although they're considerably shorter than the players' listed heights of 6-feet, 9-inches. To give the illusion of tallness, they stand on platforms built atop the stage, and are surrounded, for the most part, by short supporting actors.

There are many good things in the new production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Andrew Rice musical, but the passion, excitement and persuasiveness in the vocal performances by LuPone and Patinkin are seldom to be found.

The stage is filled with stars, but the one who makes the evening go is John Larroquette, playing candidate William Russell, a former secretary of state who knows he should keep his quirky, intellectual style under wraps, but can't help himself from doing things such as quoting Martin Luther. ... 'The Best Man' provides a look back at what presidential campaigns used to be like before candidates became the straightforward, honorable individuals they are today.

Harris is a luminous and appealing Helen, and Dale gives a wisely subdued, nuanced portrayal of Marius. Gugino is a bit overstated at times as Elsa, but she also gives the play a welcome jolt of energy. Ultimately, though, this is a play in which the acting can't surmount a story that's awkwardly told, and, under Gordon Edelstein's tame direction, doesn't build any theatrical urgency.

In working out their approach to the celebrated folk opera, during rehearsals and an out-of-town tryout, director Diane Paulus and adaptors Suzan-Lori Parks and Diedre L. Murray pretty much circled back to the original 1935 show created by George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose and Dorothy Heyward. Aside from turning some sung sections into spoken dialogue, adding small details about the characters and incorporating a few new staging ideas, this is a traditional rendering of the lives of the poor black inhabitants of Catfish Row in Charleston, S.C.

Beane is the author of such amusing, sophisticated comedies as 'The Little Dog Laughed' and 'As Bees in Honey Drown,' as well as the very funny book for the musical 'Sister Act.' With 'Lysistrata Jones,' which is in the vein of the book he provided for the wit-challenged 'Xanadu,' he seems to be slumming, writing condescendingly about characters for whom he has no affection or regard. In the second act, Beane tries to plant a message in the feeble goings-on: Strive for what you want. It's a lesson that few audience members, I think, would have picked up from the show on their own.

The show works, but it's unlikely to bowl you over. Unless you're a sucker for star-is-born stories.

The show's young stars sing powerfully, and give spirited performances, even if they're not provided depths to plumb. Osnes firmly conveys Bonnie's independent streak, while Jordan makes Clyde a persuasive hell-raiser. Director Jeff Calhoun presents a lively sense of the couple's wild spree, which ended with their violent deaths in 1934. Not enough meaningful attention is paid, though, to their celebrity status, which they helped promote and were delighted by... Of the show's various flaws, the most consequential is its failure, despite strenuous effort, to make the relationship of Bonnie and Clyde significant. If you can't get to the ticket-buyers' emotions with a tale of lovers dying young, nothing else really matters.

The show's best moments, for me, were when Jackman simply sang an entire number. With his ability to honor a song as written, yet also interpret it in his own style, he did a haunting version of 'Tenterfield Saddler,' a quiet number Allen wrote about his heritage, and a compelling 'Soliloquy,' from 'Carousel.'

'Venus in Fur' works hard to keep your interest, but it lacks the dramatic development to fully succeed.

The show's songs, including 'Day By Day' (warmly sung by Anna Maria Perez de Tagle), 'Learn Your Lessons Well,' 'By My Side' and 'All for the Best,' are well-served by Michael Holland's dynamic orchestrations...It's clever, but the message intended by the parable gets lost. That's the evening's biggest problem: Instead of the show's style enhancing the delivery of its substance, it often obscures it.

The one thing that comes across with great power in both productions of this play for grown-ups is the sense of a dilemma that few of us can escape: How do we balance what we need with what we owe those who are closest to us?

The whole thing is made tolerable only by the wonderful Richard Libertini, who is hilarious as a very confused rabbi. I won't give away the ending, but this being a Woody Allen story, you can probably guess whether it's the old guy or the young one who ultimately gets the girl.