BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

The Play: The Brothers Size; a powerful and affecting revival of this modern-day fable about the testy but ultimately loving relationship between two brothers named after—and evoking the essence of— Yoruba gods Written by: Tarell Alvin McCraney        Directed by: Bijan Sheibani and Tarell Alvin McCraney         One good thing: Well, just about everything works—the ring of salt poured at the beginning of the performance which establishes the entire set as well as the mystical undertone of the production, the subtle variations in the simple costumes that define the characters, the live drummer whose beats punctuate the action and the spectacular performances by André Holland and Alani iLongwe as the brothers—but maybe most impressive to me was the spot-on direction that made the whole thing just as great as its parts, even while playing in the round One not-so-great thing: The intentions—particularly the homoerotic subtext— of the play’s th...

The Play: House of McQueen; Luke Newton, the third son on the Netflix series “Bridgerton,” stars in this uneven bio-play about the troubled working class British kid who became a troubled world-class fashion designer W ritten by: Darrah Cloud        Directed by: Sam Felfrich One good thing:  Brad Peterson’s video design provides some visceral sense of the designer, his often shockingly provocative clothes and the boundary-pushing runway shows that displayed them; as does the small exhibit of McQueen outfits that can be viewed before and after the show One not-so-great thing:  The play’s patchwork narrative is all over the place and nowhere near as daring as the man himself, which left me wondering why the creative team even wanted to tell this story in the first place    

The Play: Twelfth Night, a celebratory production of the Bard’s comedy about shipwrecked twins, mistaken identities, cross-dressed love triangles and the comeuppance of a pompous steward Written by: William Shakespeare        Directed by: Saheem Ali One good thing: It's such a delight to spend a late summer evening in the newly-renovated Delacorte watching such stars as Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sandra Oh, and Lupita Nyong’o, who are all clearly having a ball One not-so-great thing:  The playful efforts to keep the audience entertained sometimes overshadow the play itself    

The Show: Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride; a one man-show about the people and events in the comedian’s life that helped him overcome adversity—including being orphaned in his teens and more recently diagnosed with cancer—and achieve his current fame as an insult comic so celebrated he's been nicknamed the Roastmaster General Written by: Jeff Ross        Directed by:   Stephen Kessler One good thing: The underlying sweetness to Ross' account of his journey is almost inspirational One not-so-great thing:  Fans coming for a steady stream of the put-downs for which he’s most famous may be let down     

The Play: Mamma Mia!; a Broadway stop for the national tour of the crowd-pleasing musical about a girl who invites three of her single mom’s former lovers to the Greek island where she grew up because she wants to find out which of them is actually her father so that he can give her away at her upcoming wedding Music and Lyrics by: Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus     Book by: Catherine Johnson      Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd One good thing: The head-bopping music by the ABBA duo is pretty much irresistible and the crackerjack cast, clearly delighted to be on Broadway, infuses each of the 22 numbers with unabashed joy One not-so-great thing: The book is silly and now anachronistic (a DNA test would easily solve the parentage question) but some uplifting silliness is welcomed in these too-often depressing times even by a jukebox-musical grinch like me    

The Play: Ava: The Secret Conversations; a too-lightly fictionalized recreation of the testy relationship between the midcentury movie star Ava Gardner and the journalist she hired to ghostwrite her memoir Written by: Elizabeth McGovern        Directed by: Moritz von Stuelpnagel One good thing: The video projections of scenes from Gardner’s movies and the photos of the actress with her many famous husbands (Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra) and other lovers convey a sense of the star’s mystique One not-so-great thing:  McGovern, who also stars as Gardner, and Aaron Costa Ganis—playing the journalist and all three of the husbands—work hard but are unable to make it clear why we should care about either of these people or their woes