Lisa Schwarzbaum

“Midler manages a fabulous feat: She marshals all her own famously divine Bette-ness to bring to life a kindred spirit.”

“That's a lot of juicy back story none of which saves Lucky Guy from its fate as a dull, stalled play about a not-particularly-noteworthy mug with a flair for self-promotion.”

“Or, never mind that, to see Richard Kind steal the picture.”

“David Mamet's new play The Anarchist is not so much a drama about specific people in a narrative arc as a short, brittle, stripped-down debate-club exercise on a stopwatch.”

“You'll know smart hilarity when you're guffawing at it.”

“And then, toward the end, when we feel like we know everything, the playwright digs deeper and The Mountaintop somehow becomes more majestic, inviting each of us in the audience to join the ascent as we see fit.”

“Gusts of national (or is it existential?) pride, fury, despair, and compassion blow through Jez Butterworth's galvanizing drama Jerusalem, imported to Broadway from London's Theatre with star Mark Rylance in brilliant blaze.”

“This gorgeously crafted revival is simultaneously sly and sweet: The show's jokes at the expense of a celebrity-mad culture ought to jump out at a contemporary, reality-TV-glutted audience.”

“This is what 21st-century Broadway can be.”

“The actor is nimble, funny, likable, and much more asexually wholesome than one might expect given that his character has agreed to allow his philandering bosses to use his midtown apartment for trysts in hopes of securing a promotion.”

“The shock is that the author elicits little more than a shrug once all the thrusts and parries, revelations and reversals are toted up.”

“Passing Strange is a soul-stirring musical memoir about a young black artist's journey of self-discovery that pulses with the authentic voice of someone who has lived to tell his tale.”

“Kaufman makes a convincing case for the genius of emotional variation in each of us, whether we're Beethoven or not.”

“Washington's characteristic aura of forceful energy...throws off the emotional balance of this smooth new production.”

“Leonard would have something barbed to say about him — and then approve.”

“The credentials may be promising, but the resulting picture isn't pretty.”