★★☆☆☆ A revival’s choices elicit more head-scratching than cheering
Broadway
Lempicka: Admired Artist Tamara de Lempicka Musicalized, With Limited Artistry
★★★☆☆ Eden Espinosa stars in Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould’s tuner, directed by Rachel Chavkin
Lempicka: A Paint-by-Numbers Old-School Musical
★★☆☆☆ Daubed with broad strokes, this sweeping bio-musical proves at once arty and inept.
The Outsiders: The Popular Novel and Film is Now a Killer Musical
★★★★☆ The S. E. Hinton classic gets the Broadway treatment courtesy of a gang of talented young guns led by director Danya Taymor.
The Outsiders: Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!
★★★☆☆ The classic YA novel, previously made into a hit 1983 film, has been unconvincingly adapted as a Broadway musical.
Two Shades of Ibsen: Old Henrik Inspires New Works by Herzog and Busch
The Norwegian Father of Realism spawns a pair of contrasting plays on and off Broadway
The Who’s Tommy: A Rock Classic Is Triumphantly Reborn
★★★★★ Des McAnuff revisits his staging of a rock’n’roll milestone, and finds new meaning and depth
The Who’s Tommy: The Ground-Breaking Rock Opera Seen, Heard, Felt in Sizzling Revival
★★★★☆ Director Des McAnuff selects top-notch cast and creative team for Pete Townsend classic, with Lorin Latarro choreographing
Water for Elephants: A Thrilling Throwback to the Heyday of the Big Top
★★★★☆ This “circus musical” occupies an impressively big tent, probing the power dynamics that affect the human animal.
Water for Elephants: Heavy Lifting for a Musical
★★★☆☆ Acrobatics and puppetry abound in this musical adaptation of the best-selling novel about a love triangle that takes place in a Depression-era traveling circus.