★★★☆☆ Talent, taste, and Avett Brothers sea-chanties serve a grim morality tale that doesn’t quite stay afloat
About Bob Verini
Elf: Ho-Ho-Hokum Done With Flair
★★★★☆ Splashy stage version of the holiday movie perennial offers visual delight for the moppets, and wit for the grownups
From Maine: My Best Friend’s Wedding Deserves a Grateful RSVP
★★★☆☆ Musicalizing a hit ’90s rom-com gains luster from the hit ’60s playlist of Bacharach and David
Once Upon a Mattress: Medieval Hellzapoppin With Laughs for Days
★★★★☆ Sutton Foster unleashes her inner clown in a torrent of hilarity, bringing new luster to a familiar property
From Maine: A Little Night Music, Big Smiles of a Summer Night
★★★★☆ Julia Murney, Kathleen Turner and an excellent ensemble collaborate on an atypically sensual take on a Wheeler/Sondheim masterpiece
Oh, Mary!: Lincoln, Drinkin’ and Todd
★★★★☆ Cole Escola writes and stars in a Bizarro World version of Honest Abe’s spouse as cabaret diva
Hell’s Kitchen: Alicia Keys’ Life Inspires a Swell Musical
★★★☆☆ A tender coming-of-age extravaganza, with characters to root for and music to die for
Stereophonic: Birthing a Rock Album With Playfulness and Passion
★★★★★ David Adjmi takes us behind the music to reveal how the magic gets made
The Wiz: Not an Oz-Picious Revival
★★☆☆☆ A revival’s choices elicit more head-scratching than cheering
Sally & Tom: Follies of a Founding Father
★★★★☆ Suzan-Lori Parks melds the Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings mystery with the struggle for freedom in our own day