Let me go on record as saying, for serious theatre lovers, the past two months have been heaven. New Broadway productions (mostly plays) have opened to reviews (mostly raves) that warrant, as Arthur Miller wrote in Death of a Salesman, “Attention must be paid.”  

Like most theatre addicts, I have my favorites when it comes to plays and performances. Geoffrey Rush in Ionesco’s Exit the King, for example, takes my breath away even in retrospect, while the Brit import Mary Stuart with Janet McTeer in the title role and Harriet Walter as Elizabeth I is another spring sensation that left me weak in the knees. And the revival of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit is even more delicious when you toss in the giddy joy of watching Angela Lansbury beguile her way through the role of the quirky medium, Madam Arcati. 

In fact, throughout the spring season, I found myself repeatedly impressed by what has been nothing if not a tidal wave of stellar ensemble work: Waiting for Godot: Broadway’s finest, Tony winners Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin, alongside John Goodman and John Glover, awesomely grotesque as his rope-bound slave; God of Carnage: James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis, all in primo form as they sprint the gamut from civility to irrationality; London’s original (and flawless) cast of The Norman Conquests, Alan Ayckbourn’s ferociously funny trio of farces; and the inspired company of actors that populates the excellent revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

And then comes a show like reasons to be pretty, a contemporary four-person play set in the here and now which has been flying under the radar. The names may not be high up on your recognition-o-meter -- Thomas Sadoski, Marin Ireland, Steven Pasquale and Piper Perabo -- but trust me, you don’t want to miss this appealing quartet in one of the season’s most highly acclaimed productions. I’ve yet to hear a negative comment from anyone who’s seen it!