BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

The Play: Art, the first Broadway revival of the 1998 Tony-winner about three longtime male friends who fall out when one pays a lot of money for a trendy all-white painting Written by: Yasmina Reza      Translated from the French by: Christopher Hampton     Directed by: Scott Ellis One good thing: The show’s three stars—Neil Patrick Harris, as the guy who buys the painting; Bobby Cannavale, as the one who’s most critical of the purchase; and especially James Corden as the would-be peacemaker between them—are all thoroughly entertaining and should satisfy those willing to pay up to $500 for a ticket to see them One not-so-great thing: But the decision to go for the big laughs sacrifices the complexities Reza built into the play about the men’s true bonds of friendship and their fear of losing them     

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