Stage/Now Playing

Broadway

ART Yasmina Reza's acclaimed fast-paced yak-fest gets its fourth New York cast with Buck Henry, Wayne Knight, and George Segal playing gossipy, kvetchy friends who come to blows over the purchase of an expensive, abstract, all-white painting. The only slight weak link is Knight, best known as Seinfeld's Newman, who seems less comfortable than his colleagues. Still, Segal and Henry give seamless performances and the play continues to amuse audiences. (TC) A- -- Rebecca Ascher-Walsh

IT AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT THE BLUES Now best known as the musical that didn't get to strut its stuff at this year's Tony Awards, Blues is a rollicking revue, thanks to wide-ranging song selections (from spirituals to country to ''Fever'') and a dynamite cast. The inspired singing -- particularly Gretha Boston's plaintive ''St. Louis Woman'' and Eloise Laws' dramatic ''I Put a Spell on You'' -- more than makes up for the weak book and often static staging. Even though the performers don't leave their chairs often enough, the audience usually does during the curtain call. (TC) B+ -- William Stevenson

SIDE MAN Fueled by two Tony wins and the addition of TV cutie-hunk Scott Wolf, the latest incarnation of Warren Leight's poignant family drama has theater connoisseurs and teenyboppers alike crowding the Golden Theatre. The wry, gracefully written tale of a jazz trumpeter and his long-suffering family boasts quietly dazzling performances from a confident cast, particularly Tony-anointed Frank Wood as a vacant musical has-been and Edie Falco (The Sopranos) as his foul-mouthed, housecoated spouse. Wolf, though slightly strained, parlays his earnest, Party of Five-honed persona into an effective portrayal of martyr son Clifford. (TC) A- -- Clarissa Cruz

Off Broadway

EAST IS EAST Ayub Khan-Din's picaresque, seriocomic autobiographical drama about growing up in 1970s working-class England with a strict Pakistani father, a lenient English mother, and a colorful assortment of assimilated sibs receives the kind of keenly staged here-at-the-kitchen-sink production for which director Scott Elliott (the New Group's Ecstasy and Goose-Pimples) is renowned. Jenny Sterlin is a standout as Mum, but she's got competition from a detail-perfect set (by Derek McLane) that's more vibrant, at times, than the action it contains. (212-581-1212) B+ -- Lisa Schwarzbaum

HURRAH AT LAST Even when the talented playwright Richard Greenberg fails, he succeeds. This constantly amusing dissection of a neurotic, envy-ridden novelist (marvelously played by Peter Frechette) never really goes anywhere; at play's end, the only thing that's changed is that everyone (audience included) is two hours older. But if you must get caught on a dramatic treadmill, nobody provides better en route entertainment than Greenberg. And Dodi Brenner, as Frechette's Jewish Mother From Hell, stops the show every time she opens her self-regarding, sarcastic, hilarious mouth. (TM) B -- Daniel Okrent

LA TERRASSE A vaguely existential farce by veteran screenwriter (Belle de Jour) and playwright Jean-Claude Carriere, La Terrasse takes a long time to get moving, and even then it's only mildly, intermittently amusing. The three-year-old play, about a handsome Parisian couple breaking up while a broker shows their apartment to prospective tenants, frequently drags -- something farce should never do. Although the actors (especially Tom Aldredge in a too-brief role) try to liven things up, this is one trip to France you'll wish had been cut short. (212-581-1212) C -- WS

THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T SAY PAST MIDNIGHT Singles meets Three's Company in this boisterously naughty romp about three couples searching for love (and lust) in New York City. One pair's quarrel -- sparked by bizarre, politically incorrect pillow talk -- sets off a farcical chain of events that includes an offbeat May-December coupling, a speakerphone-aided group-therapy session, and lots of cheerful bonking. Featuring lively performances from Ellen's Clea Lewis and Jeffrey Donovan (as a college-educated nympho and sensitive Mafia hitman, respectively) and sprinklings of nudity, Things is merry sitcom fare without the network censors. (TC) B+ -- CC

THWAK A felicitous mix of mime, sound effects, and general wackiness, the Umbilical Brothers' Thwak is hard to describe but easy to love. The Australian duo consists of David Collins (who does most of the miming) and Shane Dundas (who provides remarkably convincing vocal sound effects). Their rapid-fire, 80-minute show's high points include the abuse of latecomers and a puppet show involving a bunny and a mallet. Even if you think you hate mimes, you won't hate Thwak. (TM) A- -- WS

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Director Mel Shapiro apparently went to the summer-stock storage closet and pulled out every prop and costume he could lay his hands on, from every era, in an attempt to pump up his Shakespeare into something freewheeling and suitable to outdoor viewing (in Central Park). And still his production sits there, a not-too-funny, rather-too-long comedy of the sexes, with unsupervised overacting from every player except the strapping and athletic Allison Janney and Jay O. Sanders, who play an opaque Kate and Petruchio with businesslike skill. (Information about free tickets: 212-539-8750) C+ -- LS

London

BOYBAND This guilty pleasure revolves around Freedom, an all- boy group on a pop-chart rise. The show itself is nothing more than an album's worth of catchy Backstreet Boys-style songs by a dozen or so different writers interspersed with scenes of predictable drama (''Is Matt gay?'' ''Is Adam using drugs?''). But the concert scenes are performed with such pizzazz that one wonders why the five hunky Boyband stars don't just strike up a record deal themselves. (011-44-171-494-5065) B- -- Paul Wontorek

MAMMA MIA! The story -- about a young woman who tries to find her birth father -- is Lifetime material, and the score is made up of ABBA hits. Still, Mamma Mia! is a winner. Fortunately, the creators acknowledge the kitsch factor -- they'll even yank out Super Trouper costumes for a laugh -- and the songs turn out to have theatrical bite. Spunky leading lady Siobhan McCarthy couldn't ask for a better 11 o'clock number than ''Winner Takes It All.'' (011-44-171-447-5400) A -- PW

PLENTY Hot off Elizabeth, Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett headlines this revival of David Hare's tiresome study of post-WWII England. In the past, Meryl Streep (on film) and Kate Nelligan (on stage) have played the lead with better luck. Hitting a low point during an overblown dinner party scene, Blanchett's performance is a major disappointment. One highlight: She does look stunning in Maria Bjornson's period costumes. (011-44-171-369-1740) C -- PW

ROSE ''I remember everything,'' threatens Rose, the 80-year-old Russian Jew whose life is the storyboard for Martin Sherman's play starring Olympia Dukakis. The overlong show proves that Rose does have quite a memory, but the collective force of the stories and the final heartbreaking moments make even the most familiar material feel vital. Especially in the hands of Dukakis, whose career is having an overseas upswing. (011-44-171-452-3000) A- -- PW

WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical (written with Bat Out of Hell's Jim Steinman) tanked during a 1996 Washington, D.C., tryout, but -- after some major tinkering -- has been given a second chance in the West End. By teaming up with Steinman, Lloyd Webber has returned to the rock roots that fueled his early hits, but the collaboration remains frustrating; while the hard-rock soliloquies are thrilling, other misfires, like the bad-girl anthem ''Tire Tracks and Broken Hearts,'' border on camp. And the plot, in which a teenage girl named Swallow feels the sexual itch for a man she believes is Jesus, is still beyond belief. (011-44-171-416-6000) C- -- PW

Chicago

WINTER In Claudia Allen's new drama, about two elderly friends who find peace together in a drab nursing home, the venerable Julie Harris fairly glows with energy even as her character, Dotha, becomes increasingly feeble and ravaged with ringworm. She's ably matched with Chicago theater veteran Mike Nussbaum as her old friend Mark, but the fine acting doesn't completely transcend the thin story line, and Mark's quick transition from a figure of abject despair to geezer cheerleader is jarring. (773-871-3000) B -- Amy Spungen

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How to Get TICKETS

Unless otherwise noted, tickets can be ordered (with surcharges) from Tele-Charge (TC), 800-432-7250 (or 212-239-6200 in the New York area); or from Ticketmaster (TM), 800-755-4000 (or 212-307-4100).