Samuel L. Leiter

“It certainly adds to the enjoyment if you know the plots of the great musicals from the Golden Age and can hum ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’ and ‘I Cain’t Say No.’”

“The Lost Boys is, to this observer, a lost cause.”

“Kail’s revival demonstrates both the durability and the limits of Auburn’s drama.”

“How it washed up on the shores of W. 44th Street is anybody’s guess.”

“Titanique is still the most amusingly delightful, brilliantly performed, show biz vessel on the seven seas.”

“The familiar music, touching premise, and Radcliffe’s winning personality combine to create an hour of theatre that, in spite of its subject of depression and suicide, manages in its life-affirming optimism to be both humorous and moving, while steering clear of undue schmaltziness.”

“Bug’s bite seems shallower than I recall.”

“In the end, this Chess may belt to the rafters and flatter the senses, but its stumbling book and cut-out characters keep it from delivering a real checkmate—leaving you admiring the music more than caring who captures the king.”

“As the icing on the cake, not only have they fallen in love with each other but we’ve fallen in love with them as well.”

“However, for all its occasionally touching vibes, smart repartee, and Laurie Metcalf’s expertise, the stakes in Hunter’s otherwise respectable dramedy aren’t high enough nor its conception novel enough to make it an especially memorable contribution to the Broadway catalogue.”

“This is a magnificent, emotionally charged production that not only honors its source material but thrillingly reaffirms the musical’s place as a defining and urgent American epic.”

“Punch may have no physical organs but—if you’re willing to stretch the metaphor—you can say it thinks, protects, renews, breathes, and, assuredly, has a beating heart.”

“It’s held together by creative basting stitches, and frequently threatens to come apart at the seams.”

“The result is more of a splat than a smash.”

“Good Night, and Good Luck is, to my eyes, a sturdy contribution to the sparsely populated landscape of recent political drama.”

“The acting could use a tweak here and there, it’s true, but, in general, this cast is doing what it was hired to do, from the top down, and few visitors will be disappointed.”

“It fails, however, to exert the emotional or psychological conviction of Wilde’s novel, sacrificing its literary strengths for performance goals that lessen its impact.”

“I can say only that I haven’t seen a show this season whose music made me feel so euphoric.”

“Lively, ingeniously inventive, and sometimes raucously hysterical, the show's many characters are played by five gloriously versatile actors.”

“Even in a season with more competition, it would dominate.”

“Her speech before taking the sleeping potion, for instance, sounds more like rhetorical fancies than a child’s frightened thoughts about what could go wrong.”

“This Sunset Blvd....favors innovative staging over emotional involvement.”

“As staged with beautiful actors in beautiful settings, even its most serious scenes partake of a rom-com glow that inoculates you against feeling the curse of reality even in a true story.”

“Wilder’s brilliant playwriting shines through, reaffirming my widely held conviction that this is America’s greatest play.”

“The scene when she struggles to maintain her composure in response to the agent’s critique is itself worth a Tony nod.”

“Yellow Face doesn’t fire on all cylinders but one can’t deny its relevance to contemporary concerns.”

“Job doesn’t quite do the job as a play, but enough drama remains in Friedman and Lemmon’s performances to satisfy most theatergoers.”

“Home proves thoroughly diverting in the hands of a memorably versatile three-member cast led by the outstanding Tory Kittles as Cephus.”

“The triteness of the book is largely overwhelmed by the conviction of the performances, the creative direction of Michael Greif, the expertness of Adam Blackstone and Tom Kitt's orchestrations, and the vibrancy of Camille A. Brown's frequently hip-hop oriented choreography.”

“The latest attempt is a visually arresting but dramatically and musically unexciting new musical, with book by Kait Kerrigan, music by Jason Howland, and lyrics by Nathan Tysen, now playing at the Broadway Theatre after premiering last year at New Jersey’s Papermill Playhouse.”

“Her Mary Jane has inscribed another notch on my heart.”

“Many of the reviews have been ecstatic, some calling it a ‘masterpiece,’ but for me, the play, for all its expertise, is too much of the same old same old.”

“It’s too bad the result ends up being more artsy-fartsy than dramatically or musically compelling.”

“BAM! all discomforts were forgiven and forgotten as this remarkable revival of The Who's Tommy blasted off into the rock musical stratosphere.”

“It’s now turning dazzling somersaults—both on stage and in playgoers’ hearts—at the Imperial Theatre in a captivating production with a delightful score by the seven-member collective called the PigPen Theatre Co.”

“I’m afraid I joined her only in being unimpressed.”

“Doubt: A Parable is without doubt one play you’ll want to see before its limited run closes.”

“As a musical, it makes you thirsty for something with more of a sting.”

“A tighter structure and a shorter run time would help greatly but, even as it is, audiences will find much here to appreciate and from which to learn.”

“Under Lila Neugebauer's brisk direction, the acting, even when loud, is consistently believable.”

“Despite a veritable army of producers, and a subject just begging to be loved, the disappointing result is more heartbreaking than heartwarming.”

“A cohort of sensational supporting performers and an ensemble highlighted by a bevy of beauteous Broadway babies helps make Spamalot a must-see entry in the season’s sweepstakes.”

“Harmony looked Broadway bound from the start; it had to overcome many obstacles and, while still saddled with imperfections, unquestionably deserves to be there.”

“If you’re a theatrical hoarder, anxious to collect as many Broadway memories as you can, you’ll need to add I Need That to your pile, if only for the chance to appreciate DeVito doing what he does best.”

“Purlie Victorious, running a swift and intermissionless 100 minutes, is theatre for everyone: truly funny, socially meaningful, historically educational, politically progressive, appealingly accessible, emotionally inspiring, and marvelously performed.”

“But what most made me critically seasick in The Shark Is Broken was the bombast of its acting, especially the excessively shouting Shaw and the frenetically paranoid Brightman.”

“If only it were as funny as either one of those.”

“Here Lies Love is nonetheless an 'event,' and given its easily digestible score, its historical pertinence, its abounding energy, and its unforgettable ambience, I think it's going to be loved for quite a while.”

“Go to have fun, not to ponder the meaning of existence.”

“A lot of money must have gone into this physically elaborate, but frequently disappointing, effort, a kind of sloppy wet kiss to the immediate postwar years of 1946-1947.”

“In the real world, theatregoers will be thankful for MacArthur Genius Larissa FastHorse’s having exploded and explored the Thanksgiving story through satire both broad and subtle.”

“Mr. Auburn may not have written the next great American play, but what he and his talented collaborators have provided is definitely worth the 90 minutes it takes to engage with it.”

“Ms. Comer leaps into the front ranks of leading British actresses.”

“And magic is exactly what this Camelot most obviously lacks.”

“As long as New York audiences—many themselves from rural places—don’t mind too much hick in their shtick, Shucked should keep Broadway laughing till the cows come home.”

“Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ may not be perfect, but if you want two hours of nearly nonstop, essentially nonverbal demonstrations of the beauty, power, and expressiveness of Broadway dancing as conceived by one of its foremost creative geniuses, this is the moment.”

“When a thrilling story finds a comparably thrilling scenic form, including all the marvels of lights, projections, and sound, theatre magic is created.”

“Bad Cinderella is a trite, inflated children’s show, with a wit and intelligence quotient that does little to enhance Broadway’s IQ.”

“Parade, the topically relevant 1998 musical now being smashingly revived on Broadway”

“Ms. Chastain, aided by Mr. Lloyd’s theatrical insights, has met the role’s challenges and left her indelible mark on it.”

“While A Beautiful Noise isn’t quite as weak as some have made it out to be, when compared to other recent shows with similar ambitions, like those about Carole King, the Temptations, Michael Jackson, and Tina Turner, this remains an undistinguished contribution.”

“But for all the actors’ enthusiastic histrionics, the script rarely seems more than a series of contrivances more artfully artificial than artistically authentic.”

“These actors hold you enthralled from the very first words spoken.”

“Whether you like it hot, cold, or even in the pot, nine days old, you’re probably going to like this show.”

“Ain’t No Mo’ is packed with vibrantly painted ideas and images torn from the headlines and particularly familiar to the Black community.”

“I can’t imagine any could possibly be better than the one at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre starring Jefferson Mays in an astonishing tour de force of histrionic versatility.”

“& Juliet is a visual and musical fest whose technical expertise deserves appreciation, even if you sometimes find it banal, monotonous, and unfunny.”

“If you’re in the dumps, perhaps because you, too, have been contemplating life’s evanescence, I can think of no better way to cheer you up than a visit to Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool, whose motto should be, ‘Come on in, the water’s fine.’”

“Only the actor’s gift for storytelling, with its surprising deftness at delineating the voices, brogues, and mannerisms of the multiple characters he portrays—a talent he too rarely gets to demonstrate in his stage and film roles—lift these familiar tropes to a level of compelling theatre.”

“Leopoldstadt helps start Broadway’s new season off with a first-class drama it will be hard for its successors to top.”

“Lear deBessonet’s stripped-down, elegantly simplified staging, which focuses on the score and performances rather than elaborate visuals, is thoroughly enjoyable.”

“Directed with verve by Tony-nominated Neil Pepe, this American Buffalo is a solid enough reenactment of Mamet’s imperfect play, worthy of a visit even by liberals dismayed by the playwright’s politics.”

“Mr. Craig and Ms. Negga both offer clearly articulated but superficial performances.”

“I can't imagine what someone who's never seen or read the play could possibly get here, except an excuse to catch up on their sleep.”

“The result? Over-the-top performances that are only flickeringly satisfactory on an emotional or even comedic level.”

“Take Me Out is more a double than a home run, but a double still has value.”

“Personally, I found less to chuckle at in this production than the audience at large.”

“So, scrubbed clean of anything that might offend the supersensitive, costing as much as a cross-country flight, and, in some views, lacking the chiaroscuro of darkness mingled with light, The Music Man still comes out a winner.”

“And the barrage of heavily rhythmic songs, accompanied by the onslaught of Jackson-style movement, tends to blend together and teeter on tiresomeness.”

“The two main reasons to see Trouble in Mind: its path-breaking revelation of still-burning issues rarely addressed so frankly onstage when it was written; its outstanding performance by LaChanze.”

“Longhurst’s staging, supplemented by Ann Yee’s minimal choreography, is exceptional.”

“There’s little new here, or particularly provocative, and much of it has an undeniable air of preachiness bordering on overstatement.”

“You can mash, fry, boil, and bake Chicken and Biscuits but it still doesn’t make a very good play.”

“Cavils aside, there's enough dramatic interest, socio-historical dynamite, and charismatic energy in this revival of 'A Soldier's Play' to keep you at attention throughout its hour and 50 minutes.”

“Perhaps that’s one of the many reasons that, as a play, it’s anything but great.”

“Try as she might, Tomei is unable to capture the character’s comedy and pathos, or the frustrating conflict between the demands of her Dionysian sexuality and religious sanctity.”

“Even if The Height of the Storm confuses you, or fails to satisfy your need for complex dramatic action, it will likely compel your interest, if only because of how ardently Atkins and Pryce capture the essence of mutual companionship.”

“In fact, the brilliance of the acting here in Jamie Lloyd’s unconventionally minimalist, finely tuned staging only serves to emphasize the play’s technical glitter over its emotional heartbeat.”

“Fans of Sturridge and Gyllenhaal will appreciate the chance to see these stars in the flesh, with eyes trained on only them. But I would have preferred to have had the distraction of, at the least, dramatic action and other actors for these fine actors to play off.”

“Thinking back over eight decades of Broadway theatergoing, I can't recall any show quite as visually over-the-top.”

“For all the…lunar allusions,…moonlight little becomes the…dullish Broadway revival, even with such starry names as…McDonald and…Shannon…Given today's flood of 90-minute plays, this two-hour-and-15-minute revival could have used a trip to the editorial barbershop…By the end of Act One, Frankie and Johnny have had their ups and downs and come to ...”

“Wolfe gives the actors free rein to pull out all the stops and go for yocks with every line delivery and reaction, but even these master farceurs struggle to keep the fun funny for 95 minutes.”

“Like a tootsie roll, it may be delicious but it also sometimes gets stuck in your teeth.”

“For all the show’s relentlessly hellsapoppin’ antics, you’ll need a youthful spirit to fully appreciate them.”

“Miller’s play resonates with contemporary relevance (think capitalistic excess, faulty airplane issues, and ‘exoneration’) but, at least in this version, seems more dated, wordy, and melodramatically contrived than ever.”

“Hadestown now seems far more dramatically fleshed out than I remember, and many will be emotionally moved by its tragic story.”

“Character-driven play with only a wisp of a plot,…'Burn This' is like a boiler that flares up with a whoosh whenever things begin cooling down, almost always when Driver's on stage…He makes a perfect Beast to Anna's Beauty, even though it's impossible to accept their eventual pairing…Wilson's script makes Anna so placid in the face of Pale's …r...”

“I'm raising my original Show Score from 55 to 70 because I came away even more appreciative of the talented company, each of whom displays exemplary comical, musical, and dancing skills.”

“Ink overextends itself, and could use some editorial trimming.”

“For this viewer, though, Daniel Fish's Oklahoma! isn't doing fine at all, and it's certainly not OK.”