DRAMA
The play: Other Desert Cities

In a Broadway season of several worthy new plays, Jon Robin Baitz (TV's Brothers & Sisters) has written the best of the lot, a family drama -- yes, dysfunctional -- with humor, secrets and explosive confrontations. The production, directed with a sure hand by Joe Mantello, boasts a stellar cast led by Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach as an affluent, right-wing couple retired from show business to Palm Springs, who have taken in her sister (Judith Light), an acerbic, if unstable, just-out-of-rehab black sheep of the brood -- a liberal.

The time is Christmas 2004, and the couple's grown children (Elizabeth Marvel and Matthew Risch, since replaced by returning Thomas Sadowski) are visiting for the holidays. The central conflict, but only one of several, concerns the daughter's present, an imminent memoir which would expose a long-kept family secret about a sibling, implicated in a radical political bombing. Baitz has written meaty roles all around, which his A-list cast devours, particularly Light, who scores with each delicious one-liner. This is the kind of well-made, expertly executed play for which seatbelts should be issued.

GRADE: A

THE INFO: Booth Theater, 222 W. 45th St., $56.50-$126.50.

The play: One Man, Two Guvnors

At the other end of the substance scale, but also first-rate, is this British farce based -- very loosely -- on Carlo Goldoni's 18th-century commedia dell'arte knockabout classic, The Servant of Two Masters. Playwright Richard Bean pulls this tale of a long-suffering underling trying to juggle two employers into 1963's Brighton. There a tubby James Corden (The History Boys) is ringmaster of a comic circus, shamelessly resorting to low, though inspired, comedy, notably some uproarious audience participation bits, both real and rigged.
Quick-witted Corden improvises his way through a convoluted plot about murder, impersonation, mistaken identity and reunited lovers, all played like Benny Hill hijinks, directed with casual precision by Nicholas Hytner. Although it remains Corden's show throughout, Tom Edden earns his Tony nomination as an elderly waiter to whom calamity is always imminent.

GRADE: A-

THE INFO: Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St., $66.50-$126.50.

The play: Peter and the Starcatcher

The prequel, a familiar follow-up ploy in the movies, arrives on Broadway with this whimsy-fueled look at the origins of the fairy tale Peter Pan. It questions just about everything we thought we knew about the boy who never grew up, offering completely different details to the back story of this familiar J.M. Barrie saga. Rick Elice (co-author of Jersey Boys) adapts the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, adding his own playful way with words.

The text is imaginatively staged by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers in a Story Theater style, adding a layer of low-tech originality. Even at a $161 top ticket, this would make a great introduction to the theater for youngsters, yet is sophisticated enough for grown-ups.

GRADE: B+

THE INFO: Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th St. $59-$161.

The play: Venus in Fur

Playwright David Ives was previously known for nimble sketch comedy (All in the Timing), but with this steamy two-character tug-of-war he deepens his writing and creates a couple of meaty roles that Broadway's latest "it" girl, Nina Arianda, and to a lesser extent Hugh Dancy, devour.

In a humble rehearsal space, a playwright-turned-director (Dancy) is packing up after a disappointing day of auditions when a force of nature named Vanda storms in, apologizing for being late for an appointment she doesn't have. But she talks her way into reading for the role of a dominatrix, which she comes dressed to play. From there, it is a 100-minute seduction, as she uses her native sensuality on the director, gaining the upper hand in their power struggle, which parallels the play she is trying out for.

Arianda, who made her Broadway debut last season in the short-lived revival of Born Yesterday, is even more impressive here, ricocheting between a comic, seemingly airheaded actress wannabe and the throaty vamp of the play within a play. Walter Bobbie stages this pas de deux for maximum intimacy, drawing in the audience and fogging up our glasses.

GRADE: B+

THE INFO: Lyceum Theatre, 149 W. 45th St., $33-$141.50.

THE MUSICALS

The show: The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

Aided by adapter Suzan-Lori Parks, director Diane Paulus has reclaimed George and Ira Gershwin's and DuBose Heyward's towering musical theater piece for Broadway, a project that has been steeped in controversy from its inception. Changes have been made to the narrative, the score and orchestrations have been reduced, but the show remains an overwhelming experience, a fact that only staunch purists can deny.

It is particularly powerful as played by Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis, two superb actor-singers in the title roles. There is joy here for two-and-a-half hours, particularly for those who have never seen Porgy and Bess before.

GRADE: A
THE INFO: Rodgers Theatre, 226 W. 46th St., $74.50-$146.75.

The show: Nice Work If You Can Get It

Perhaps because George and Ira Gershwin wrote musicals in an era in which the songs were intended to be pulled out of their shows for independent consumption, the composer-lyricist siblings' work has spawned several successful jukebox musicals. To My One and Only and Crazy for You, you can now add this lightweight, but endearing tale of a ne'er-do-well playboy (Matthew Broderick) who falls in love with a tomboy bootlegger (Kelli O'Hara). The story is little more than an excuse to justify the 21 songs and numerous reprises, from pop standards (Fascinatin' Rhythm, 'S Wonderful) to a few lesser known gems (By Strauss, Demon Rum), all knitted together by some groan-worthy one-liners by Joe DiPietro.

Kathleen Marshall directs and choreographs it all with period style, most notably on an Astaire-Rodgers-like dance that would be more of a showstopper if Broderick weren't so obviously counting each step and looking at his feet. Among the cast's winning second bananas is Judy Kaye as a temperance advocate who eventually succumbs to booze, Michael McGrath and West Palm Beach native Terry Beaver.

GRADE: B+

THE INFO: Imperial Theatre, 249 W. 45th St. $46.50-$146.50.