Journey's End, a play by R. C. Sherriff at the Belasco Theatre. Starring Hugh Dancy, Boyd Gaines, Jefferson Mayes, and Stark Sands. "Journey's End," a seminal play first performed in 1928 puts war in front of an audience more powerfully than 10,000 movies like "Letters from Iwo Jima" combined. We saw this masterpiece of 20th Century theater on Saturday night, in a theater that was only three quarters filled, largely by tourists who probably settled for these tickets at the half-price booth. At the beginning of the play, they were bored and restless, and rather noisy, but by the middle of the second act, you could have heard a pin drop from the stricken audience each member of which surely felt they had been to war along with the brave and valiant cast. Oh what a cast it is! These actors led by the poignant Lieutenant Osborne of Boyd Gaines and the noble Captain Stanhope of Hugh Dancy act their hearts out. They are as well honed and magnificent an ensemble imaginable. I had seen this production in the West End, and not even that superlative cast equaled this one for the sheer force of personality they brought to bear in this tale of just a few days at the front in World War I.
The set and production are simply stunning. The direction by David Grindley is deserving of the highest praise. No one who sees this play will forget the final curtain, coming down slowly and inexorably.
Despite uniformly superlative reviews and a cast filled with top flight talent, "Journey's End" is struggling at the box office. This is a terrible shame. At a time when our country is at war in what seems a hopeless cause, "Journey's End," which starkly presents the terrible toll on our best and brightest youth, has never been more relevant. Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test grade: A

Frost Nixon, a play by Peter Morgan at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Starring Frank Langella and Michael Sheen. We caught "Frost Nixon" on a Friday night, early in previews. Word hasn't gotten out yet, so we bought excellent tickets at the TKTS half-price booth on 46th St (at the Marriott Marquis Hotel). I'm predicting that when the reviews come in, "Frost Nixon" will be a very hard ticket to get - the "History Boys" -like smash hit of this season.
"Frost Nixon" is the riveting dramatization of the famous David Frost televised interviews with Richard Nixon which stunned the nation in 1977.
The play builds slowly, we see how Frost risked everything to bring the interviews about and we meet Richard Nixon who appears a lovable rascal with a heart of...well if not gold, at least not stone. The interviews were not inevitable and almost didn't take place. We meet behind the scenes players like the young James Reston played well by Stephen Kunken, who also serves as the play's narrator along with Nixon's aide, Jack Brennan who is starchy perfection as portrayed by Corey Johnson. Along the way, we meet such names from the past as Evonne Goolagong (remember her?), and Swifty Lazar. Tension and drama builds and builds.
Ultimately, this is a two hander, and what two hands these great actors are!
Frank Langella's portrayal of Richard Nixon is a crowning triumph in a glorious career that saw him define Dracula for an age (my age). His Nixon is a performance that has stayed with me and continues to haunt me even as I write these lines. Without caricature or mere imitation, Langella has channeled Nixon's familiar but ultimately mystifying character. He makes him a three dimensional utterly fascinating person. We see his clownish side, his manipulative side, and we see a human being who was so flawed, but who also reached heights of greatness. We begin to understand him and, against our will and all our knowledge, we begin to like him. Michael Sheen (known to most people as the cunning Tony Blair in the award winning film "The Queen") is a vivid stage actor. I was fortunate to see his Olivier winning turn as Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse (where "Frost Nixon" originated). Sheen nails the part of David Frost and proves the perfect foil for Nixon/Langella. Only an actor of Sheen's consummate skill and talent could have held the stage against the performance of Langella, a performance that will go down with the ages.
As mentioned, "Frost Nixon" is now in previews. There are all sorts of reduced price offers available now. After it opens, people will be lined up around the block. So liberals and conservatives alike, hasten and buy your tickets! "Frost Nixon" gets our highest grade in the Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test. A+

Dying City. A play by Christopher Shinn, Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse. This play has nearly everything. It's a heated discussion about life after 9/11, the ongoing Iraq War, and at the center of the play, a two hander played brilliantly by Rebecca Brooksher (a breakthrough performance of searing intensity), and the rising star Pablo Schreiber (who plays twin brothers), are characters who suffer from child abuse, homosexual identity confusion and self-loathing, sexual addiction and self-hatred. In short this play has everything thrown into it including, literally, a kitchen sink, but it unfortunately lacks an essential ingredient - a plot. In the end despite all of these weighty plot themes, "Dying City" stands for nothing, means nothing. We were even more confused leaving this play than those in the bigger theater who were struggling to understand "The Coast of Utopia". Obtuseness and obscurity reigns at Lincoln Center Theater this season. We give this a C- (only for the acting) but this is not a passing grade in the Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test.

Face The Music. A musical by Irving Berlin at the NY City Center Encores! This revival of the 1932 Irving Berlin musical "Face the Music" is a triumph - a reaffirmation of everything Encores! stands for - bringing to life a now obscure gem of the American Musical Theater. "Face The Music" is such a gem. It has many marvelous songs and ensembles, the best of which we felt was the opening number "Lunching at the Automat". The nominal stars are Judy Kaye who is sensational and Walter Bobbie, a top flight director and former Artistic Director of the Encores!who has successfully returned to his roots as an actor. I very much liked the utterly charming ingenues the beautiful Meredith Patterson and the delightful Felicia Finley who brings down the house in "Torch Song." Most popular of all were the eccentric song and dance couple Eddie Korbich and Mylinda Hull. The conducting by Rob Fisher was perfection, the staging by John Rando and choreography by Randy Skinner was inspired. "Face The Music" could be an ephemeral triumph, but if a few stars were plunked into the major roles - say a Sutton Foster or Kelli O'Hara in the role of Kit Baker, a Patti LuPone as Myrtle Meshbesher, this could be a smash hit on the lines of "Drowsey Chaperone" (a work that spoofs works like "Face the Music" which was in itself a spoof of the Ziegfeld Follies or more accurately George White's Scandals.). This is top flight Irving Berlin and it deserves a run. Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test score: A