Has a 71-year-old play ever felt more alive? Clifford Odets' exultant drama, Awake and Sing!, a Bronx-set story of a Jewish family embroiled in ''a struggle for life amidst petty conditions,'' returns to the jewel-box-like Belasco where it premiered in 1935 in a revelatory revival. The fierce, fiery ensemble includes Mark Ruffalo (as a heartsick, wooden-legged hoodlum), Lauren Ambrose (a love-starved shotgun bride), and Zoë Wanamaker (a shrewd, steely matriarch), but the real stars are Odets and his sublimely structured play, an unabashedly idealistic, chest-thumping rabble-rouser. Finally, a show worth singing about. (212-239-6200)


Add your comment
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.