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“And with this supernatural wonder, they succeed.”

“Everything comes together to make this a feel-good evening.”

“‘The Price’ has more than a whiff of contrivance, but its resourceful actors manage to humanize it to a remarkable degree.”

“It’s a celebration of the best human instincts, and, particularly coming at this time, doesn’t seem at all hokey.”

“Ultimately, in this production, the woes of the Wingfield family take second place to the experience of watching the bravery and determination of a young actress, and perhaps to ponder the wider difficulty people with disabilities have in being cast — even to play people with disabilities.”

“I liked him, and the play, a lot better.”

“He doesn’t yet, though, have the stage charisma that might enable him to carry a show on his shoulders.”

“Bears the imprint of a young playwright who hadn’t fully found his voice. There are moments of melodrama and sentimentality that seem borrowed from a common dramatic shelf.”

“And while the cast is sprightly and talented, the issues their characters face are way too familiar to be interesting.”

“When ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is involving, as it certainly is at times, the great share of the credit goes to Platt and his prize-worthy performance.”

“It just doesn’t seem a necessary one.”

“But, over 95 minutes, there is also a fair share of clunkers, bottom-drawer lines such as a reference to ‘Tennessee Williams and his sister Serena.’”

“You leave ‘Shuffle Along’ with the feeling that if everyone tap-danced, the world would be a much happier place.”

“She gives one of the most transcendent stage performances seen in years.”

“But, lacking the shock power of the book, it's hard to see the reason for the musical.”

“‘Eclipsed’ is a very powerful, resonant play, bringing home what it means to be completely helpless in our world.”

“The revival of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ is wonderful — not because it offers a wildly different take on the popular musical, but by revealing the heart and soul of the story in such a fresh way.”

“It's in its musical moments that 'The Color Purple' is most alive.”

“It's a cat-and-mouse game in which only the cat is committed to playing.”

“There's lots of passion hurled around during the evening as Thérèse and Laurent tumble toward their inevitable fates, but they remain curiously distant, with neither Knightley nor Ryan cracking open their roles.”

“The show is spectacularly unique, an endlessly clever history lesson that links us to the country’s Founding Fathers in an ingenious and compelling theatrical way.”

“It's hard to discern such nuances, however, when Moss' deliberate portrayal is blown off the stage by her co-stars' more vibrant work.”

“Kristin Chenoweth, who established her career on Broadway but hasn't had a real impact there since ‘Wicked’ in 2002, returns in what's probably her most entertaining performance yet.”

“So the play is a kind of transfer without transformation.”

“Its biggest asset is Lithgow, who gives one of those masterful performances that's entertaining even as it's dramatically potent.”

“The actor gives a strong, yet beguilingly subtle, portrayal of a man whose life has become an endless loop.”

“All in all, though, ‘Incident’ is a singular, rather remarkable production.”

“Later, his personality undergoes an abrupt shift, which is one of several unpersuasive aspects of the production.”

“The effect of the repackaging is to affirm Shakur's artistry without demonstrating that it works particularly well in musical theater.”

“But its illumination of a neglected corner of human activity is diverting, and often thought-provoking.”

“There are the times when Eno's wordplay in his 95-minute work becomes excessive — a writer's weakness for rambling through the potentials of language – but the production succeeds in creating its own distinctive atmosphere, of laughter amid great sadness.”

“Except for an exuberant performance by James Monroe Iglehart, who plays the genie, and a production number that brings the evening some old-time Broadway pizzazz, the show is a flavorless rehash of what's been done much better before.”

“It's a triumph that, theatrically speaking, is pretty hollow.”

“The failure to stage the climactic courtroom scene is actually one of Rattigan's finest touches.”

“As the sequences of Edward's fantasies play out, however, the father-son story is frequently lost in the whimsicality rather than enhanced by it. It's only near the very end, when Will learns what Edward has accomplished and comes to appreciate the value of a man telling stories, that all the elements properly converge.”

“Under the astute direction of Joe Mantello, Mengers' story develops as its own kind of Hollywood yarn, with struggle, success, hubris and downfall.”

“Shaw delivers a rich, often affecting portrayal of a woman who has lost her child amid a cosmic shift in the world she neither wants nor understands.”

“Beyond that, things get a little murky.”

“With its pizazz, humor, style, intelligence and all-around entertainment quotient, ‘Matilda’ is, far and away, the best new musical I’ve seen this season.”

“What ‘Kinky Boots’ sorely lacks is a dramatic commitment to what it's doing.”

“Effortlessly transferring his low-key charisma to the theater, Hanks is quick, funny and surprisingly tough as columnist Mike McAlary and, at the end, makes the character much more touching than you'd think possible.”

“'The Anarchist' only runs 65 minutes, but I doubt there'll be any complaints that it's too short.”

“I had a similar emotion at 'The Performers,' which opened Wednesday night at the Longacre Theatre.”

“It’s perhaps less surprising that the revival of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ is devilishly engrossing — Edward Albee’s 1962 masterwork is a superb play — than how it works its sorcery.”

“But that half, taking the notion of family dysfunction to the outer limits of humor, is darkly entertaining theater.”

“But the revival, the first on Broadway since the show debuted in 1979, is a sadly missed opportunity.”

“The audience might have some of the same delighted feeling at this enormously entertaining revival, which opened Sunday at the Theatre.”

“Under the direction of Mike Nichols, the production overall has an uneven, uninflected quality, without the dramatic solidity or shadings of personality that make a work spring to vivid life.”

“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.”

“This is a sturdy, at times impressive, version of ‘Porgy and Bess.’”

“Whatever its failings, though, ‘Follies’ is an exhilarating experience for any lover of musicals.”

“What we see offers some laughs, but, mostly, shows its age of 65 years.”

“And now there's ‘Sister Act,’ a lively and extremely funny musical comedy with an infectious score of new disco numbers”

“For all of its offbeat perspective, ‘Bengal Tiger’ has a message of agony and frustration that's all too familiar.”

“‘The Book of Mormon’ is a gleefully funny spoof, a blend of the clever and the crass that seldom goes more than 10 seconds without a big laugh. And it's not just about the jokes. They're embedded in a satisfying story, supported by witty, character-relevant songs...one of the most purely enjoyable musicals in years.”

“Regarded as individual human beings, they don't make much sense.”

“The play, which furiously flaps its wings under the hectic direction of George C. Wolfe, never gets off the ground.”

“But for most of the evening, the adventurous show doesn't fit its parts together very well.”

“The play is still dead in the water.”

“The plot wasn't appetizing when the show – based on Billy Wilder's cynical film ‘The Apartment’ – opened in 1968, and now it's downright distasteful.”

“Hodge and Grammer, who sings, dances and is both charming and humorous, have an admirable rapport, and persuasively suggest the long-term affection between Georges and Albin.”

“Its reach, its attempt to be meaty and relevant and theatrical, is not only admirable, it's stimulating.”

“To his great credit, he doesn't coast on his credentials. In '700 Sundays,' he delivers the full measure of his talent.”

“It's fresh, and it's tremendously entertaining.”

“Davies' fervent singing italicizes Joplin's role as a rock pioneer, a strong-willed, free-spirited performer who was as tough and distinctive as the most notable male singers.”

“This time, however—superb actor that he is—the favor he’s doing comes with his doing an unfortunate disservice to Hansberry and her autobiographical play.”

“On that basis, the revival of the 1947 ‘Streetcar’ – set, for some reason, in 1952 – is a disappointment, undone by several one-note characterizations.”

“But this production has all the snap of a plate of overcooked linguine.”

“This is theater at its most direct and enthralling, with the usual supporting elements stripped away so that the characters, on a nearly bare stage, are vividly revealed as creatures of pure, irresistible human impulse.”

“But, taken on its own terms, it's thoroughly entertaining.”

“‘Allegiance,’ which opened Sunday at the Longacre Theatre, has good things in it, but it's ultimately a failed opportunity to shine a strong dramatic light on one of the darkest episodes in 20th-century American history.”

“The songs and book of 'Amazing Grace' are no more than serviceable, but the show does offer theatrical pleasures.”

“She uses her big, belting voice excitingly in 'Blow, Gabriel, Blow,' as well as in the title song, which brings down the house.”

“If you go to ‘Beautiful’ for the songs, you'll probably have a great time.”

“The show's young stars sing powerfully, and give spirited performances, even if they're not provided depths to plumb.”

“Wake me when they get to horseshoes.”

“'Bullets Over Broadway' is Stroman's second bite of the apple this season. In October, she directed and choreographed 'Big Fish,' a musical about the evolving relationship of a father and son. It wasn't the right show for her fizzy style. With 'Bullets Over Broadway,' she's gotten a perfect match. And the result couldn't be more joyful.”

“Burn the Floor is an experience that alternates between exhilarating and contrived.”

“Taken on every level, and whether you saw the previous production or not, this 'Cabaret' is as pleasing and rewarding as musical theater gets.”

“If the first act belongs to Maggie, the second is the province of Big Daddy (Ciaran Hinds), Brick's vulgar, outsized father, who makes great noises in rejecting pretense and dishonesty.”

“That's the feeling you get watching ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ a shiny and well-acted, but ineffectual, musical that, for most of the evening, goes every which way but forward.”

“‘Chaplin’ is a mixture of the imaginative and the timeworn.”

“The production is a bumpy, swerving ride.”

“If 'Constellations' begins as something of an amusing theatrical stunt, it evolves into something much more powerful.”

“Without that, the experience becomes a series of individual numbers rather than a satisfyingly cohesive whole.”

“And in ‘Dead Accounts,’ a thin and annoyingly glib comedy that opened Thursday night at the Theatre, he gamely draws on every facet of his impishly outrageous stage persona – he's compulsive, wheedling, devious – in portraying a crooked banker named Jack.”

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

“Levi and Rodriguez both sing well, and establish a very winning rapport.”

“In the revival, in a much larger theater that perhaps diminishes the flow of the characters’ feelings, the visceral energy – and sexual tension — is much lower, allowing us to notice how modest the play really is.”

“Ferguson uses his performing skill and endearing personality to create a very engaging evening.”

“Even if you've never seen a Leguizamo performance before and know nothing about him, this one is likely to drag.”

“It's a show for the ADD generation.”

“Add in unimpressive performances, and the result is a long evening that, for all its slam-bang moments, is tedious and uninvolving.”

“‘Guys and Dolls’ is one of the great shows in American musical-theater history. Its colorful characters, based on the creations of Damon Runyon; rapturously wonderful songs by Frank Loesser and distinctive comic sensibility fit together with rare perfection.”

“If its message of human folly doesn’t register as profoundly as playwright Askins seems to have intended, it’s still a very clever, extremely entertaining show.”

“As fans of the movie know, ‘Heathers’ goes into much darker territory, and this is where the musical loses its way, failing to find a tone that can encompass spoofiness, social satire and depravity.”

“As Hedwig, a (mostly) transgendered East German rock singer, he gives one of the Broadway season's fiercest, most compelling – and funniest — portrayals.”

“Parker makes her an ultimately fetching kook, a free spirit who marches to the beat of a different drummer — who happens to be improvising.”

“Besides the great songs, with music by Byrne and Fatboy Slim and lyrics by Byrne - the alluring title number might become permanently lodged in your brain - there's inventive choreography by Annie-B Parson, eye-catching, quick-change costumes designed by Clint Ramos, Justin Townsend's atmospheric lighting scheme and David Korins' remarkably engi...”