Bright Star (Cort Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

After a 2014 premiere at the Old Globe in San Diego, and a brief run at the Kennedy Center, “Bright Star” comes to Broadway in superb shape: a thoroughly absorbing and completely original musical from the surprisingly potent team of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.

The story concerns one Alice Murphy (Carmen Cusack), a free-spirited young woman in a small North Carolina town and her ill-fated romance with Jimmy Ray (excellent Paul Alexander Nolan), the son of the controlling mayor (Michael Mulheren), in the 1920s.

What gives the story added texture is the parallel story of this same woman decades later. Now a successful editor of a literary journal, she encourages the literary efforts of a returning World War II vet Billy (likable A.J. Shively) who has left his childhood sweetheart (the appealing Hannah Elless).

Cusack is quite superb in both ages -- whether uninhibited teenager or starchy matron -- a really textured performance and most beautifully sung, and the cast supporting her is also top level. There’s Stephen Bogardus as Billy’s widowed father; Jeff Blumenkrantz as Alice’s humorously dour assistant Daryl at the magazine; Emily Padgett as his wise-cracking associate Lucy; Stephen Lee Anderson as Alice’s painfully conflicted preacher father; and Dee Hoty as her loving mother. So, too, this is a cast athat acts as well as it sings.

With an uncommonly fine bluegrass score (music by Martin & Brickell, lyrics by Brickell), encompassing gospel and swing, and a superior book by Martin, the show is skillfully constructed, unfolding much like a juicy novel. (It is said to be inspired by a true event.) And though the story is sometimes melodramatic, like all good drama, it always seems grounded in plausible reality as you’re watching it. A porch reunion between Alice and her father is but one of many examples of Martin’s well-judged and intelligent dialogue, and the quality of the acting.

Walter Bobbie directs the narrative for maximum impact drawing sensitive performances from all, while Josh Rhodes’ choreography from barn dances to 1940s jitterbugging is seamlessly interwoven and never intrusive.

Under Rob Berman’s expert musical direction, August Eriksmoen’s orchestrations create a gorgeous palette of sound, and the songs themselves all bespeak quality. The musicians earn well deserved applause when who are given a chance to strut their stuff during the entr’acte.

Eugene Lee has designed a spare but flexible and most attractive rolling set which suits the rural Blue Ridge mountain ambience to a tee (and an eye-catching miniature train high above the stage), complemented by Jane Greenwood’s costumes, Japhy Weideman’s lighting, and Nevin Steinberg’s sound design.

I was captivated by this highly original and warmly romantic show, refreshingly devoid of of cynicism and not afraid of embracing good honest sentiment, and I sensed the packed audience around me felt the same way, hanging on every plot turn and admiring of the talented ensemble before them.

(Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street; Telecharge.com or 800-447-7400)

Photo by Nick Stokes: Carmen Cusack and Paul Alexander Nolan.

Pericles (Theatre for a New Audience)

By Harry Forbes

I had only encountered the Bard’s unwieldy 1608 epic twice before: director David Thacker’s 1990 production by the RSC at London’s Barbican, and the well-cast 1984 BBC production which later ran on PBS here.

But those were so long ago that, for all intents and purposes, the play was virtually new to me in TFANA’s handsome mounting. Beautifully designed by Robert Jones, costumed by Constance Hoffman, and and lighted by Stephen Strawbridge, with expert sound design by Daniel Kluger, the nearly three hour evening was generally enthralling, though admittedly, the second half more so than the first. In fact, scholars believe that Shakespeare delegated the writing of the first two acts to one George Wilkins (whom literary critic Harold Bloom dubs a “lowlife hack”). And there’s no question that the latter parts, improbably plotted as they are, bear more conclusively the master’s inspired stamp.

TFANA engaged no less a director than former RSC head Trevor Nunn to helm the production, and Nunn has applied many imaginative touches.

The plot -- narrated throughout by storyteller Gower (Raphael Nash Thompson) -- concerns the titular Prince of Tyre, played most commandingly by the excellent Christian Camargo, who sets out to woo the daughter (Sam Morales) of the King of Antioch (Earl Baker, Jr.) until he discovers that princess is having an incestuous affairs with her father.. For uncovering that sinful secret, Pericles incurs the wrath of the king and must temporarily abandon his own kingdom leaving it to his deputy Helicanus (an excellent Philip Casnoff) as the King’s assassins are out to get him.

After myriad travels and shipwrecks, Pericles falls in love with Thaisa (Gia Crovatin), the daughter of the King of Pentapolis (John Rothman), but she seemingly (only seemingly) dies at sea. Meanwhile, their young daughter Marina (Lilly Englert) is raised by Cleon (a solid Will Swenson), Governor of Tarsus, and his duplicitous wife Dionyza (Nina Hellman) who tries to kill Marina as the girl proves far more popular than her own daughter. But before that can happen, Marina is captured by pirates, and sold to a brothel, where she must fight to maintain her virtue.

As wild and wooly as the plot reads on paper, it actually builds to quite a wondrous climax that touches the heart. The recognition scenes between Pericles and his long-lost daughter, and later his wife, are quite magical, and Nunn has staged them for maximum impact. Pericles’ reverie as he succumbs to the “music of hte spheres” (dreaming of a vision of the Goddess Diana which ultimately leads him to Thaisa) is magically executed.

And those brothel scenes, as Pander (Oberon K.A. Adjepong), Bawd (Patrice Johnson Chevannes), and Boult (John Keating) try all manner of persuasion to get the steadfast Marina deflowered are strongly written and marvelously played here. During those scenes, about a dozen Moroccan-style chandeliers descend to composer Shaun Davey’s exotic music, providing just the right touch of decadent exoticism..

Incidental music and songs -- played live by Pigpen Theatre Company including four on-stage musicians -- greatly enhance the mood.

The character of Pericles is a bit of a cipher, but Camargo -- who has proven his Shakespearean chops on several occasions -- plays him beautifully, aging convincingly in the final scenes. Not all the performances are on his exalted level, but are certainly solid across the board. I did find Englert’s twee portrayal of the virtuous Marina rather odd, and the accent she affects here make some of her dialogue unintelligible.

Brian Brooks’ choreography enhances this tale with its unusual structure and its use, as Nunn explains in a program note, of “music, dance, [and] the mime of musically accompanied ‘dumb show.’

If you’ve never seen “Pericles,” you probably won’t see a finer production for some time to come.

(Theater for a New Audience, Polonsky Shakespeare Center; www.tfana.org or 866-811-4111; through April 10)

Photo: Gerry-Goodstein

Blackbird (Belasco Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

This is an undeniably powerful production of David Harrower’s disturbing 2005 play written for the Edinburgh Festival after which it enjoyed a West End production, and a mounting by Manhattan Theatre Club directed, like the present production, by Joe Mantello and also starring Jeff Daniels.

Scott Pask returns as scenic designer, and the stark set is as remembered, but the other production credits are different on this occasion but no less fine, with Ann Roth now designing the costumes, Brian MacDevitt the lighting, and Fitz Patton the sound.

And it is now Michelle Williams rather than Allison Pill playing opposite Daniels in this taut two hander.

Whether it is her presence or perhaps a richer interpretation on the part of Daniels and a more experienced guiding hand from Mantello, but I found the play, in its present incarnation, even more gut wrenching than before.

The setting is a break room in the office where worker Ray (Daniels) is employed. Una (Williams), a young woman from his past, has surprised Ray by tracking him down and showing up after coming across a photo of him in a magazine. Ray seems hugely discomfited by her sudden appearance, and has pulled her into this room out of sight of his co-workers. He seems anxious to move their reunion someplace outside the office, but Una is adamant about holding her ground there. Before long, revelations about a sexual relationship come to light, but to reveal more would spoil the neat and teasing construction of Harrower’s Olivier Award-winning work, one that never settles for easy judgments about either character.

Suffice to say that both performers are at the top of their considerable games. Impressive as Williams was in “Cabaret” -- her Broadway debut -- she is even more compelling here, delivering a spellbinding and quite epic monologue, the sort of tour-de-force for which Tonys are awarded. And Daniels is equally splendid, the finely detailed nuances of his performance only fully evident by the evening’s end.

Mantello directs the drama for maximum tension. There are lengthy stretches when you can hear a proverbial pin drop so gripping is the action and raw the performances.

(Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44th Street; (212) 239-6200, or Telecharge.com; through June 11)

Photo credit: Brigitte Lacombe

She Loves Me (Roundabout Theatre Company)

By Harry Forbes

I can’t recall a production of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s classic musical that didn’t send me scrambling for synonyms of “charming” and “delightful,” and this one -- the second from the Roundabout and from director Scott Ellis -- is no exception..

With exceptionally fine leads, a scrumptious jewel box set (by David Rockwell), an irresistible book and that beloved score, this one, like the last, has everything going for it..

Based on Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlos’ 1937 play “Illatszertár” ( “Parfumerie”), famously filmed by Ernst Lubitsch as “The Shop Around the Corner”in Hollywood three years later, turning up again as the Judy Garland-Van Johnson musical “In the Good Old Summertime” in 1949 (not to mention the 1998 updated Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan “You’ve Got Mail”), the plot concerns the sparring relationship of clerks Georg (Zachary Levi) and Amalia (Laura Benanti) in a Budapest perfume shop, neither of them realizing that the other is the pen pal with whom they’ve been corresponding through a lonelyhearts club.

The proprietor of the shop, Mr. Maraczek (a rather miscast Byron Jennings, fine actor though he is) begins to mistreat his trusted employee Georg for mysterious reasons that don’t come to light till the second act. The other major characters are nebbishy clerk Ladislav (Michael McGrath), lovelorn Ilona (Jane Krakowski), the smarmy ladies man Steven Kodaly (Gavin Creel) with whom Ilona is having an illicit affair, and the likably ambitious messenger boy Arpad (Nicholas Barasch).

For all the delicacy and European charm which Bock and Harnick and Masteroff have imbued their creation, the property has always had a distinctly Americanized feel. It’s significant that the 1994 London revival dispensed with the textual revisions of the first West End production, and played it American, accents and all. Inevitably, some of the gravitas and texture of the original has been lost, but “She Loves Me” still has a rare grace and elegance for a Broadway musical.

The cast is terrific.Levi, so excellent in the underrated “First Date,” makes a winning Georg, culminating in his rapturous account of the title song. And Benanti is a marvel, alternately funny and poignant, and singing those songs so indelibly linked to creator Barbara Cook like “Will He Like Me?” and “Ice Cream” with comparably beautiful tone and impressive high notes.Their scenes together have all the requisite spark, too..

Krakowski continues to amaze as a superb comedienne and all around performer. Her reading of “A Trip to the Library” is cannily delivered, and she finds altogether fresh nuances in those familiar, surefire lyrics. Her dancing, including a split that, in its way, is almost as impressive as her high flying, upside-down rendition of “A Phone Call from the Vatican” in Roundabout’s “Nine” revival, is a marvel.

Creel, too, is very fine indeed, smoothly vocalizing on “Ilona” and his final kiss-off number, “Grand Knowing You.”. McGrath continues to impress as one of Broadway’s most rock solid reliable musical performers and funnymen.

Warren Carlyle choreographs the proceedings with style, particularly the business around “A Romantic Atmosphere” performed in the cafe where Amalia waits forlornly for her “Dear Friend” correspondent. Peter Bartlett is the maitre d’ in this rather protracted sequence, a gem of a comic performance.

Musical director Paul Gemignani leads his forces in Larry Hochman’s orchestrations with customary authority, the orchestra positioned, as per usual at the Studio 54 venue, on boxes on either side.

Highly recommended.

(Roundabout’s Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street; 212-719-1300, or www.roundabouttheatre.org; through June 12)

The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout Theatre Company)

By Harry Forbes

I don’t remember too much of the original 1975 production (and I did see the Patti LuPone/Kevin Kline incarnation at the now razed Harkness Theatre, rather than the later Barry Bostwick Broadway transfer). I do recall generally liking it, but the property was never one that I particularly longed to see again. And perhaps others felt the same way, as Roundabout’s enjoyable and quite imaginative revival is, in fact, the first major one in New York since the original finished its run.

Based on a Eudora Welty short story (which, in turn, had its roots in Grimm), with a bluegrass-flavored score by Robert Waldman and book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry (“Driving Miss Daisy”), it tells the story of an 18th century Mississippi bandit Jamie Lockhart (with a decent side when he’s not in bandit mode) who falls for Rosamund (Ahna O’Reilly), daughter of a wealthy planter (Lance Roberts) deep in the woods with Lockhart in disguise.

After he saves the planter’s life, the latter brings him home as a potential bridegroom for Rosamund, she disguises herself so she can keep herself for the man she’s met in the woods, not realizing he’s one and the same. Complications ensue, especially when Rosumund’s lusty step-mother Salome (Leslie Kritzer) begins to hanker for the handsome stranger herself.

As the show wends its way through its 90 intermission-less minutes, farcical events lead to further confusion, complicated by Salome’s machinations and the interference of an ornery pair of thieves named Little Harp (Andrew Durand) and his brother Big Harp (Evan Harrington), the latter a disembodied head kept in a box. (Yes, it’s that kind of story.)

The story has its share of dark moments -- as fairy tales often do -- but the overall tone is light and humorous.

Kritzer really outdoes herself with an over-the-top comic performance, channeling Carol Burnett at her most uninhibited, and O’Reilly is quite lovely as the love-struck Rosamund but not without plenty of gumption. And, as expected, Stephen Pasquale here adds another solid portrayal to his roster of musical leading men, singing with gleaming tone, and performing with requisite dash and swagger.

Alex Timbers directs with the resourceful style he brought to “Peter and the Starcatcher” and “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” abetted by lively musical direction by Justin Levine and foot stomping choreography by Connor Gallagher.

Much of Timber’s staging is very funny indeed, so much so that Pasquale broke up a couple of times at the antics around him, particularly a protracted bit of bawdy business involving Kritzer.

Other roles are well taken by Greg Hildreth as Goat, Nadia Quinn as a Raven and Goat’s Mother, and Devere Rogers as Airie.

Donyale Werle’s woodsy sets and Emily Rebholz’s period costumes have the same rough-hewn quality as their work for Timbers on “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.” Jeff Croiter & Jake DeGroot’s lighting, and Darron L West & Charles Coes’s sound appropriately enhance the rustic ambiance.

(Harold & Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre/Laura Pels Theatre, 111 W. 46th St.; 212-719-1300 or roundabouttheatre.org)

Disaster! (Nederlander Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

This artfully tacky musical spoof of that beloved genre known as the disaster movie has made the improbable move from Off-Broadway to the Great White Way with an all-star cast.

Utilizing songs from the 1970s, the era during which these films reached the zenith of their popularity, creators Seth Rudestsky and Jack Plotnick (who also directed) have crammed every imaginable cliche into this story of a corrupt casino owner (Roger Bart) who builds a floating casino and disco called The Barracuda off a New York pier and scrimps on the safety code requirements, leading to predictable chaos.

On board is a glamorous, second-rate lounge singer (the decidedly first-rate Rachel York) and her twins, Ben and Lisa, played most amusingly by Baylee Littrell, the “disaster expert” (co-creator Rudetsky) warning of impending doom, a cheesy suburban couple (Kevin Chamberlain and Faith Prince, the latter in her most amusing role since Miss Adelaide in the “Guys and Dolls” that made her a star), a waiter (Adam Pascal, back at the same venue as his "Rent" breakthrough, and still sounding great) with a crush on the girl he broke up with years before who’s now an investigative reporter (Kerry Butler who excels as she did in that other movie spoof “Xanadu”), another waiter (Max Crumm) who’s helpless with the ladies, a washed-up soul singer (lovable Lacretta Nicole), and most hilariously, a nun with a gambling addiction (peerless Jennifer Simard).

Before long, the casino is beset with earthquakes, floods, fire, before, inevitably, flipping upside down.

The 70’s hits (e.g. “Hot Stuff,” “I Will Survive,” “Without You,” “When Will I Be Loved” -- come fast and furious -- sometimes sung in full, other times, in snatches. And it must be said they are most skillfully integrated into the script, not true of most other musicals that shoehorn existing hits into a new script. The sound is abrasively loud but, as jukebox musicals, go, this one’s way more fun than most.

The cast is chock full of Broadway savvy pros all cavorting with just the right satiric spirit. Even in such classy company, Simard’s Sister Mary Downy is a rib-tickling standout. Deliciously dour in her dialogue delivery as she tries to warn patrons of the sins awaiting them within, she surprises with a powerful voice as she fails to suppress her passion for a gleaming new slot machine (“Never Can Say Goodbye”).

Rachel York is also outstanding as a sort of Marilyn-esque chanteuse, demonstrating powerful pipes when she cuts loose. Prince, channeling Shelley Winters in “The Poseiden Adventure,” is sweetly endearing and riotous as her terminal illness, with it’s Tourette-like symptoms, comes to full flower.

I didn’t see the Off-Off and Off-Broadway productions of "Disaster!" in 2012 or 2013, but it’s clear from clips on YouTube that Tobin Ost’s sets are far more elaborate, though still intentionally rinky-dink. Some of the visual gags, like a piranha-filled fish tank, are quite witty. William Ivey Long’s costumes -- perfect spoofs of their models -- add to the fun.

The show won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and is certainly slight; the friend who accompanied me, for one, was grumpily not amused. But, generally, I had the sense that everyone around me was having as enjoyably silly a time as I was.

(Nederlander Theatre, 208 West 41st Street; 877-250-2929 or Ticketmaster.com)

Eclipsed (Golden Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o may be the name above the title, but Danai Gurira’s gripping drama about the subjugated plight of women during the Liberian Civil War of a decade ago displays a brilliant ensemble of not just one but five powerhouse performances.

The play is set in a shack inhabited by two kept women, the “wives” of a rebel commanding officer. So-called wife #1 (Saycon Sengbloh) is the elder of the two (and she’s all of 25), and runs the spartan house with no-nonsense authority. Girlish Wife #3 (Pascale Armand) is the comic relief character, pregnant with a child she’s sure she doesn’t want, and generally obsessed about the current state of her perpetually unruly hair.

The two are protecting a young woman identified only as The Girl (Nyong’o), whom they are attempting to shelter beneath a rubber tub. Before long, though, The Girl’s presence is discovered, and she is duly raped and made part of the rotation of wives pleasing the c.o.

They are eventually visited by Wife #2 (Zainab Jah) who used to share the hut but now sports military gear and a rifle slung around her shoulder. She’s rebelled against the subservient role and become a militant, but far from fighting on behalf of protecting these women, she supports the existing atrocities. In the second act, she recruits The Girl to take up arms.

The fifth character, Rita (Akosua Busia), a peace-keeping delegate of sorts who is able to mingle freely with the women but, as we learn, has her own poignant story.

Though the overall plot is grim, the narrative is ever absorbing, and there is a remarkable amount of levity despite all, such as The Girl entertaining the other wives by reading aloud to them in faltering English from a book about Bill Clinton to which the other ladies listen raptly as if following a soap opera.

Lupita is far from the glamorous lady she appears on the back of the Playbill program, and completely believable as the simple young girl.

Accents make some of the dialogue a little hard to comprehend, but the ear soon adjusts.

Clint Ramos’ squalid shanty setting and African costumes are authentically vivid. Jen Schriever’s lighting and Broken Chord’s music and sound design contribute to a thoroughly immersive experience.

Gurira’s play is about 2 ½ hours including intermission and admittedly, the first act feels a tad long, though probably essential to emphasize the set routine these women endure day in and day out, while the second act certainly provides plenty of action after the claustrophobic confines of the first. The production originated at The Public in October 2015.

Director Liesl Tommy builds the requisite tension, and handles the difficult subject matter with utmost sensitivity.

(Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th Street; Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200)

(L-R). Akosua Busia, Lupita Nyong'o, Saycon Sengbloh, and Pascale Armand in a scene from Danai Gurira's "Eclipsed" directed by Liesl Tommy. (Photo by Joan Marcus)