BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

The Play: An Ark; ; a mixed-reality piece in which viewers strap on high-tech goggles to watch the holograms of four actors—including Ian McKellen and Golda Rosheuvel, the imperious Queen Charlotte in Netflix’s “Bridgerton” series—appear in a 47-minute performance in which they recount an everyman’s life from birth to afterlife   Written by: Simon Stephens        Directed by: Sarah Frankcom       Produced by: Todd Eckert One good thing: It’s cool to watch the holograms and almost impossible not to smile as they seem to make eye contact and reach right out to you One not-so-great thing: It’s scary to watch the holograms and think that this simulacrum of live performances is where theater might be heading    

The Play: Anna Christie, Michelle Williams stars in a soggy revival of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winner about the uneasy triangle that forms between a bibulous barge captain, his grown daughter who has spent hard years fending for herself after he abandoned her as a child and the seaman who falls for her before knowing her past.   Written by: Eugene O’Neill               Directed by: Thomas Kail One good thing: Even wearing a thick beard and wielding an even thicker Swedish accent, Brian D’Arcy James manages to convey the vulnerability that underlies the father’s remorse and desperation to shield his daughter from future pain One not-so-great thing:   In its efforts to differentiate this production from past stagings this one gets bogged down with stylized choreography that has unnecessary supernumeraries rearranging the set between scenes, costumes that sometimes seem more like discards from "The Matrix” rather than what early 20...

The Play: Tartuffe; the second version this fall—this one a post-modern adaptation—of the 17th century satirical farce about a hypocritical holy man who tries to dupe a wealthy family out of its fortune   Written by: Moliere    Adapted by: Lucas Hnath        Directed by: Sarah Benson One good thing: Tapping into the contact list of great comic actors she assembled during her nearly two decades heading up Soho Rep, Benson has put together a cast of downtown faves—Lisa Kron, Emily Davis, Francis Jue,  Ryan J. Haddad,  Amber Gray —who all look to be having great fun swishing around in Enver Chakartash’s over-the-top costumes and performing Raja Feather Kelly’s intentionally fey choreography. Even Matthew Broderick—simply dressed in Pilgrim drag and giving his usual deadpan performance—seems to be having a good time as the titular scoundrel One not-so-great thing:   The revised script: too many of its rhyming couplets are predictab...

The Play: Picnic at Hanging Rock, a musical based on the 1967 novel and 1975 film about the mysterious disappearance of a trio of female boarding school students and one of their teachers during a picnic near the site of a former volcano in the southeastern corner of Australia on Valentine’s Day in 1900 Book and Lyrics by: Hilary Bell        Directed by: Music and Arrangements by: Greta Gertler Gold One good thing: Money has clearly been spent on the atmospheric set, character-defining costumes and finding a committed and strong-voiced ensemble of young actors, several making their New York debuts One not-so-great thing: The storytelling is muddled and might have benefitted from breaking away from the beats of the source material—particularly its unsatisfying ending—and deciding what message this version wants to tell    

The Play: It’s a Wonderful Life!; a charming radio play version of Frank Capra’s classic 1946 film that reimagined “A Christmas Carol” as the story of a good man who despairs that his life hasn’t amounted to much but is shown by an angel how very much it has enriched the lives of so many others in his small town Adapted by: Anthony E. Palermo        Directed by: Charlotte Moore One good thing: The versatile five-member cast clearly delights in playing the show's many roles, performing a series of period-appropriate songs plucked from the American Songbook and making this a holiday treat for the whole family  One not-so-great thing:  You'll have to look elsewhere for any naysaying humbug     

The Play: Gotta Dance, a beautifully produced revue of some of the most iconic dance numbers created by some of the most celebrated choreographers in Broadway history Conceived by: Nikki Feirt Atkins        Directed by: Nikki Feirt Atkins and Randy Skinner         One good thing:   This is a delightful reminder of the essential role these pieces played in so many memorable shows, particularly those created by the great Jerome Robbins  One not-so-great thing: The show’s dancers are terrific but it’s nearly impossible for them to live up to the original performers who made these dances so legendary in the first place