6 Sensational Shows On Broadway

By Richard Zoglin

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

Poking fun at corny old musicals is such a corny old device by now that your defenses are up from the outset of this spoofy musical. Then its cheery, self-mocking inventiveness wins you over. A lonely-guy theater buff (played by co-writer Bob Martin) puts on his LP of a fictional 1928 musical, and, faster than you can say Flo Ziegfeld, it materializes in his apartment. There's a Broadway diva, a scheming producer, gooey love songs and stock comic sidekicks. Best of all, there's the sensational Sutton Foster, who, in one knockout number, spins plates, does cartwheels and pulls out every other stop just to prove, as she sings, "I don't wanna show off."

THE THREEPENNY OPERA

Give director Scott Elliot credit. The Brecht-Weill classic has lost some of its power to offend the bourgeoisie, but this audacious new production managed to outrage nearly every theater critic in New York City. Wallace Shawn's new translation goes a bit overboard in its ostentatious crudeness, but the show seems reinvigorated in every way, from the decadent-chic Isaac Mizrahi costumes to a terrific cast of singing actors--among them Jim Dale, Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer and Cyndi Lauper--who make the great, astringent score sizzle again.

SHINING CITY

Here's a play that needs no introduction. Or, rather, shouldn't have one, because to say too much could spoil the frisson of Conor McPherson's odd, unsettling drama with supernatural overtones. In contemporary Dublin, a man (Oliver Platt) who thinks he has seen the ghost of his dead wife seeks the help of a therapist (Brian F. O'Byrne) who has his own problems. In a series of simple, two-character scenes, we learn more about the sadly self-involved lives of each, before McPherson abruptly sends us out into the night, gasping.

THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE A feared IRA terrorist loses his cat. Mayhem ensues. In his latest take on the casual perversity of the rural Irish character, Martin McDonagh (The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lonesome West) comes closer to self-parody than is probably advisable, as the body count (well, body-part count) exceeds that of all his other plays put together. Still, it's a bravura black comedy that shows off one of the most original and seductive voices in theater today.

THE PAJAMA GAME

Shame on this revival. The 1954 Richard Adler and Jerry Ross musical isn't even a paid-up member of the Broadway pantheon. Yet the story (about labor problems and romantic entanglements at a pajama factory) is so effortlessly engaging; its songs so consistently fresh, tuneful and organic to the plot; and its two stars, Harry Connick Jr. and Kelli O'Hara, so utterly convincing as romantic leads that you come away believing that doing a musical is the easiest thing in the world. (Until you have to sit through Lestat.) The bad news is that the show closes in June. The good news: it will reopen in the fall, and even with a new cast, Kathleen Marshall's spirited production shouldn't lose a step.

TARZAN

Disney's new stage version of its 1999 animated film about the famous ape-man plays more like a theme-park ride than a Broadway musical. But director Bob Crowley's design--lush vine forests, undulating waters, shape-shifting plants--and the aerial choreography, from the creator of off-Broadway's De La Guarda troupe, make it the most visually enthralling show since The Lion King. It would be nice to take an elephant gun to the stodgy script--but why monkey with a sure hit?