Thomas Floyd — Theater Critic

Lo and behold, “The Lost Boys” meets the moment. From its pitch-perfect prologue to its enigmatic epilogue, this maximalist blockbuster mesmerizes at every turn. A packed-to-the-gills plot, courtesy of librettists David Hornsby and Chris Hoch, makes for a full meal without feeling overstuffed (if just barely). The toe-tapping, head-banging score from the Rescues layers 1980s pastiche into an appealing indie rock aesthetic.

If “The Lost Boys” pushes the musical form forward with its rockin’ score and high-wire ambition, then “Schmigadoon!” is the best kind of throwback. Featuring a book, music and lyrics by Cinco Paul, who adapted the first season of the Apple TV series he co-created, this loving send-up (and gentle skewering) of Golden Age musicals keeps the belly laughs and earworms rolling. It’s easy to see why these two shows each landed a season-best 12 Tony nominations Tuesday.

Only three years have passed since these characters were last on Broadway, in an acclaimed Wendell Pierce-led revival. Yet Mantello’s staging has no trouble justifying its existence. Eerily atmospheric and impeccably cast, this “Death of a Salesman” finds vitality in the macabre.

As synth-powered entertainment, it’s exhilarating. As a display of loose-limbed fabulosity, it’s a marvel. As a beacon of gay liberation, it’s affirming. After relishing this production’s 2024 off-Broadway run, staged at the more immersive Perelman Performing Arts Center, I worried that something would be broken in its Midtown relocation. But the entire vision — Omari Wiles and Arturo Lyons’s vibrant choreography, Rachel Hauck’s sleek set, Qween Jean’s breathtaking costumes — feels refreshingly at home on Broadway.

When “Dog Day Afternoon” does grasp at sincerity, it instead snags more laughter from an audience that has been conditioned for a different kind of play. Pressing Sonny for insight, Ortiz’s hostage negotiator puts it best: “What’s with the sudden shift of tone?”

Together, they execute a taxonomy of Dahl’s bigotry. For all the imagined discourse and diatribes, Rosenblatt shrewdly leaves space for Dahl to hang himself with his own rope and caps “Giant” with the most of chilling of real-life quotes. Want to separate art from the artist? Not on Rosenblatt’s watch.

Madeline Brewer as the title character doesn’t appear until late in the first act of “Becky Shaw,” but it’s clear enough why her name adorns the play: She’s the grenade thrown into a riveting game of psychological warfare.

If only every canonical classic were this well suited to reinvention: By upending the creaky sexual politics of past productions, Elliott has turned “Company” into a contemporary tale of a woman struggling to square the societal pressure to settle down with the have-it-all impulses of modern femininity. In doing so, Elliott heightens Sondheim’s staggering score and lends renewed heft to some of the greatest show tunes ever written. (Elliott adjusted Furth’s book and collaborated with Sondheim on this revival before his 2021 death.)