The Clean House, a play by Sarah Ruhl, Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse.
If there is another talent in the theater as quirky, original and yet so emotionally true and deep with understanding of the human condition as Sarah Ruhl, I'm not aware of it. Sarah Ruhl, so young, so brilliant, bids fair to take American theater to heights not reached since the days of Eugene O'Neill. Talk about a A Bridge and Tunnel Test, we first encountered Sara Ruhl's singular genius when we made the 3 1/2 hour trip from Princeton to New Haven to see her highly priased riff on the Orfeo legend: "Eurydice." We were not disappointed, it was a play worth any journey, no matter how arduous. "Eurydice" was altogether sublime and we unashamedly cried our hearts out in the Yale Repertory Theatre when Eurydice laid her head on her father's lap. Could lightening strike twice with "The Clean House"? Yes indeed.
"The Clean House" is given a starry production at Lincoln Center with two marvelous veterans leading the way: Blair Brown and Jill Clayburgh. "The Clean House" is if anything, quirkier and a little more difficult to enter into than "Eurydice." But by the end of this play in which the despoiling of a perfect white room is a metaphor for the messiness of human life, we were totally entranced. The cast was note perfect, along with the two stars above, Vanessa Aspillaga is ideal as the maid who hates to clean and Concetta Tomei radiant in two parts that make a whole. This lovely crazy play which should have won the 2005 Pulitzer passes the Bridge and Tunnel Test with an A+ I daresay it is one of the theatrical events of the year.

Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw at the American Airlines Theatre with Philip Bosco, Swoosie Kurtz, Byron Jennings, Lily Rabe and Laila Robins. Surely this starry revival of Shaw's last, and very troubled. play "Heartbreak House" is one of the most anticipated events of the season. My wife Connie and I caught yesterday's matinee, still in preview, but the 27th performance (quite a long preview run!). Since the play isn't being rewritten, I have to assume that what we saw yesterday is what audiences will get after the opening, and this I'm afraid is dreadful. Other than Philip Bosco's quiet mastery of his quixotic part and some passionate (if over the top) acting by beautiful Lily Rabe, this revival is a disaster. Byron Jennings, Swoosie Kurtz and Laila Robins are so busy trying to hold on to their broad British accents that they are incapable of anything more. I've never seen Kurtz, a longtime favorite of mine, so inept and seemingly mistcast in a role. These three were more like Gilbert and Sullivan spoofers than elegaic drawing room denizens. The audience was pretty quiet except when Bosco and Rabe took center stage in the second act. Their loud laughs and appreciation made the vacuousness of the rest seem all too obvious. This failed the Bridge and Tunnel Test. F

My Name is Rachel Corrie a play taken from the writings of Rachel Corrie, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, starring Megan Dodds, Minetta Lane Theatre. Probably if this modest play hadn't been "postponed" two seasons ago for political reasons, it would have made little stir. It's a sturdy, honest effort by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, who take the writings of Rachel Corrie, a peace worker who was tragically and senselessly killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Palestinian territories in 2003, and shape it into a narrative play explaining why Rachel Corrie came to Palestine and how she was killed. Corrie, a beautiful idealistic young girl, full of love for the downtrodden of the world, was passionate in her defense of the Palestinians and wrote many stirring and moving e-mails and letters which formed the basis of this play. Her initial naivete gave way to increasing knowledge and anger at both her own danger and the sufferings of the victims of the intifada on both sides. Nevertheless, "My Name is Rachel Corrie" is not particularly dramatic nor can it compare to "The Diary of Anne Frank" or "Primo Levi" similar political tracts taken from original source materials, in its impact. Nevertheless, with a superb Megan Dodds in the title role, it deserves to be seen and has a message that must be heard. The audience was rapt and was clearly, audibly, moved, rising to their feet in tribute to Dodd's brave performance. Passes the Bridge and Tunnel Test with flying colors. B