The Best Plays

These are the plays which, in the light of metropolitan criticism, seem most important:

ROMEO AND JULIET--Jane Cowl and Rollo Peters in a splendid production that is setting a new long-run record for Shakespeare in America.

MERTON OF THE MOVIES--Super-films and their makers satirized from the inside, with Glenn Hunter doing the best work of his career as the naively pathetic hero who learned " screen-art" by correspondence.

You AND I --Brilliantly produced high-comedy of two generations of an American family by Philip J. Q. Barry. An ironic twist adds salt to an unusual performance.

SEVENTH HEAVEN--Helen Menken as a down-trodden Parisian slavey who lashes her bullying sister into submission with a blacksnake whip. Conventional but exciting.

RAIN--A heavy tropical rain revives primal impulses in a missionary visiting the South Seas, and Jeanne Eagels triumphs as the gorgeous local guttersnipe who proves too much for him.

THE ADDING MACHINE--Mordant analysis of a typical sample of our moron population, his life, death and resurrection, by Elmer Rice. Theatrical expressionism, effective though talky.

PEER GYNT--Many people considered Ibsen crazy when he wrote h is great fantastic allegory. Others considered the Theatre Guild crazy to produce it. Peer Gynt has succeeded financially as well as artistically. Joseph Schildkraut is the dreaming boaster of the title role.

KIKI--Shrewd French farce inspired with the personality of Lenore Ulric and dignified by the Belasco name. The record run will be temporarily interrupted May 5, when Miss Ulric goes to Hollywood to film Tiger Rose.

POLLY PREFERRED--A diverting splutter of salesmanship, southern accent, money and a movie director. Opens in the Automat and closes in Hollywood. Genevieve Tobin is " Polly."

ZANDER THE GREAT--Humor and shootin', sisterly love and the other kind on a bootleggers' ranch in Arizona. Alice Brady makes the most of her first adequate role in legitimate drama.

THE LAST WARNING. -- Seventh month of the super-thriller, in which the audience is locked in the theatre and " policemen" are stationed at all the exits. Old men with high blood pressures keep away.