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Published Sunday, May 12, 1996, in the Miami Herald.

Critic's pick: 9 hot choices if you're Broadway bound

By CHRISTINE DOLEN
Herald Theater Critic

NEW YORK -- With apologies to Stephen Sondheim, a slight rewrite of Comedy Tonight, the opening number from this season's boisterous Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Something appealing/nothing appalling/something for everyone/a comedy (or musical or play or revival) tonight!

And it's true: Who can remember a better Broadway spring, an end-of-season so varied and so loaded with shows genuinely worth seeing?

Here, nine of your best choices if the island of Manhattan is in your travel plans.

  • Rent, Nederlander Theater, 208 W. 41st St.; $30-$67.50; (212) 921-8000: Both the tragedy and triumph of the season, Rent lost its dazzlingly talented creator Jonathan Larson, who died the night before its first preview Off-Broadway, only to be hailed as the greatest merging of rock and theater since Hair. Which it is.

    Making a triumphant move from downtown to midtown's funk-enhanced Nederlander Theatre, Rent is a roiling '90s take on La Boheme, with head-miked junkies, musicians, arty types and the AIDS-afflicted standing in -- with swagger, style and heart-rending pathos -- for Puccini's bohemians. Larson's melodically haunting, life-affirming songs; his soap opera's worth of interwoven stories; the ambitious richness of Rent; the sorrow of an exciting new voice too soon stilled: It all makes Rent the stuff of legend.

  • Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, Ambassador Theatre, 219 W. 49th St.; $20-$67.50; (800) 432-7250: It's a miracle, really: From a first rehearsal in which nothing but ideas and concept existed, Noise/Funk evolved into an explosive, stylish meditation on the rhythms -- in song, words, percussion and movement -- that have sustained African Americans from slave days to the edge of the millennium.

    This transferred Public Theater production, inventively sculpted by director George C. Wolfe, is driven by the ferocious talent of tap star (and choreographer) Savion Glover; by dancers who are, to a man, individualistically intriguing; by former Times Square bucket drummers who get thunder from pots, pans and each other; by the sensuous singing of composer Ann Duquesnay; and, in the smartest change for Broadway, by the ferociously poetic performance of Tony Award-winner Jeffrey Wright. Noise/Funk audiences don't give standing ovations: They scream them.

  • Seven Guitars, Walter Kerr Theater, 219 W. 48th St.; $15-$60; (800) 432-7250: The sixth in August Wilson's cycle of plays about African Americans in each decade of the 20th Century, Seven Guitars is laced with otherworldly spirits, betrayal, lust and loss. Each of the seven characters in this end-of-the-'40s piece has a distinctive, memorable voice conveyed through the author's extraordinary, street-smart poetry. Wilson creates a world and envelops you in it. Surrender is total and deliciously entertaining.

  • Buried Child, Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 W. 47th St.; $42.50-$45; (800) 432-7250: Sam Shepard's families have dark, sick secrets -- perhaps none more ominous and obvious than the one nourishing a backyard bumper crop in Buried Child. This revised, revitalized 1979 Pulitzer winner has all the thrilling hallmarks of a Steppenwolf production: Crystalline, insightful direction by Gary Sinise; vibrant, infinitely detailed performances by Lois Smith (wait 'til you see her transformation!), by the whiskey-throated James Gammon, by a haunted Terry Kinney and a frightening Leo Burmester; and the omnipresent edge that keeps pulling you, hypnotically, toward the stage.

  • A Delicate Balance, Plymouth Theater, 236 W. 45th St.; $35-$45; (800) 432-7250: Another odd family, more poetic language, women with wicked tongues -- what could it be but an Edward Albee play? This 1966 Pulitzer Prize winner mixes mystery (upper-class neighbors driven to seek refuge from an unnamed terror), manipulation (Rosemary Harris as a commandingly elegant matron who orchestrates the lives of one and all), denial (Elaine Stritch, brilliant as a constant drinker who eschews the tag ``alcoholic'') and ludicrousness (Mary Beth Hurt as a four-times-wed daughter returning to the nest, tantrums included, yet again) in an irresistible, impeccable excursion into the lives of those we would not be.

  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, St. James Theater, 246 W. 44th St.; $25-$70; (800) 432-7250: Yet another grand outing by director Jerry Zaks' unofficial comedy rep troupe -- Nathan Lane (he of the worried countenance and hilarious delivery), Lewis Stadlen, Ernie Sabella and Mark Linn-Baker -- this Forum revival is more cartoonish than stylish, more obvious than hilarious. Though it's hurt by some bad casting, watching Lane as the scheming Pseudolus is a treat everyone ought to have.

  • The King and I, Neil Simon Theater, 250 W. 52nd St.; $25-$75; (800) 755-4000: Lou Diamond Phillips following in Yul Brynner's bare footsteps? It may strike you as a puzzlement, but believe it: His virile, commanding performance as the king of Siam in this sumptuous Rodgers and Hammerstein revival was strong enough to earn Phillips a Tony nod as best actor in a musical. A visual feast in tones of shimmering gold and fiery orange, this unexpectedly glorious King and I also boasts a powerful yet carefully calibrated performance from Tony nominee Donna Murphy as Anna; spine-tinglingly beautiful singing from Joohee Choi as Tuptim and Taewon Kim as Lady Thiang; Lar Lubovitch's wonderful recreation of Jerome Robbins' Small House of Uncle Thomas ballet; and every scripted delight this wonderful, moving musical can provide when done in top form. As it is here.

  • Big, Shubert Theater, 225 W. 44th St.; $42.50-$70; (800) 432-7250: Some would disagree, but I think Big -- dissed heartily during its out-of-town tryout -- is the season's comeback kid. No, its Richard Maltby Jr.-David Shire score isn't the greatest. But Susan Stroman's fabulously imaginative choreography (danced frighteningly well by a chorus of kids), Daniel Jenkins' captivating performance as the instantly grown-up Josh Baskin (as engaging as Tom Hanks was in the movie version) and Patrick Levis' alluring young Josh, all help to make Big a far better, fresher family show than any Broadway has seen since Annie.

  • Master Class, Golden Theater, 252 W. 45th St.; $32.50-$45; (800) 432-7250: Master Class, Terrence McNally's adoring ode to opera diva Maria Callas, is a deliberately distorted and highly entertaining meditation on the sometimes terrible price of fame.

    A proud, insightful, callous Callas rules the class that provides the play's structure. Three students are put to comic, moving and intensely dramatic use. Tony nominee Zoe Caldwell is combustible throughout. In her lusty, sorrowful performance, the soprano known as ``La Divina'' lives again.



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