The play, directed with panache by Daniel Sullivan, earned a special spotlight via the casting of the increasingly successful film star Anne Hathaway as Viola, who thinks her twin brother Sebastian has drowned in a shipwreck. Although she has reportedly had little stage work, let alone being versed in Shakespeare, Hathaway proves to be an utter charmer in the role. And when Stark Sands finally turns up as the very much alive Sebastian, the casting works neatly, as there is a decided resemblance, especially with Viola masquerading as a page. There is much joy in following the romantic confusion and the ultimate happy resolution.

Raúl Esparza is another major asset as Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, whom Viola loves, as is the charismatic Audra McDoanld in the role of the countess, Olivia. Julie White ratchets up the energy brightly as Olivia’s gentlewoman Maria, with Jay O. Sanders larger-than-life in the colorful role of Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby Belch. In this show full of talent, David Pittu also has savory moments, particularly when he sings, as the clown Feste.

One of the funniest sequences involves the cruel trick played on Malvolio, Olivia’s egotistical steward, who is conned into believing that Olivia is hot for him, allegedly expressed in a forged letter instructing him to don an outfit that makes him look ridiculous. Michael Cumsty is quite hilarious in the part, but there comes a point at which we should feel sorry for Malvolio. We do, but not as sorry as I have been made to feel on another occasion, probably because Malvolio was played with more vulnerability added to his foolishness.

Pop singer Ashanti shows why she is a successful recording star, belting out key numbers with style and vigor, and ss an actress she is pleasant enough. LaChanze lights a fire at the outset as Aunt Em, singing “The Feeling We Once Had,” and she turns it on again toward the end as Glinda (The Good Witch of the South). Tichina Arnold also excels as Evillene (The Wicked Witch of the West) with her “No Bad News” number that rocks the place.

Ashanti’s co-star Orlando Jones further enlivens the show charismatically in the title role. James Monroe Iglehart is a scene-stealer as Lion, with solid help from Joshua Henry as Tinman and Christian Dante White as Scarecrow.

To tell the truth, I enjoyed this production more than “Wicked,” which although superb production-wise, has the sort of overbearing singing that leaves you with trouble understanding the lyrics. The lyrics here mostly come through loud and clear, and the show really rocks with numbers like “Ease on Down the Road.”

There was one particularly magical moment in the first act when Walter Willison, who had been in “Two By Two,” the show by Martin Charnin and Richard Rodgers, reprised his number “I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You.” As he sang it so tenderly and beautifully, the years melted away, as if we were back in 1970. Poignancy was added as Willison acknowledged actress Joan Copeland, who played his mother in the musical and was now spotlighted in the front row.

Another notably magical moment occurred in the second act when Max von Essen brilliantly sang “Being Alive” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” Von Essen evoked every ounce of meaning from the number with his powerful voice and interpretation.

There were many other highlights during the well-conceived evening such as the sprightly song and dance routines, including “Rich Is…” from “Minnie’s Boys,” with Denman and Meredith Patterson teaming, and “Side by Side by Side” from “Company” with the incredibly talented Kendrick Jones joining the footwork of Patterson and Denman.

One misfire was the number performed by guest artist international chanteuse Ute Lemper, who sang the renowned “Ladies Who Lunch” number from “Company.” Lemper excelled milking the interpretation that she wanted, but that concept totally butchered the context of the song, a very New York number. She did it like a drunken Berlin cabaret singer.

On the other hand, guest star Tovah Feldshuh, zestfully singing “Welcome to the Theatre” from “Applause” hit exactly the right interpretation that revealed her solid understanding of the Broadway showbiz milieu.

As by now customary in the series, songs performed off-mike were included. Although Cheryl Freeman used a mike to open the show with a rousing “I Got Love” from “Purlie,” she later demonstrated that she did not need one with her strong natural-voice rendition of “He Can Do It” from the same show. Christiane Noll, also without a mike, sang “That Slavery Is Love” from “Cry for Us All” (by William Alfred, Phyllis Robinson and Mitch Leigh), but her voice, despite its charm, is less audible minus the amplification.

However, Noll is an exquisite singer, and she shone doing “Another Hundred People” from “Company” and collaborating along with Denman and the delightful Melissa Errico in the latter’s starring in the very clever number “Getting Married Today,” another from “Company.” Errico was terrific handling the frenzied barrage of lyrics indicating fears about going through with her impending wedding. Errico also triumphed with the powerful “One Hallowe’en” from “Applause,” in which the conniving upstart Eve exalts in her rise to stardom.

There was much, much more providing audience pleasure: Stephen DeRosa proving his versatility again by cavorting like Groucho Marx singing “Where Was I When They Passed Out Luck” from “Miinnie’s Boys,” and later sensitively singing “Empty” from that musical; Scott Coulter, his touching voice always a joy, performing “Mama, a Rainbow” from “Minnie’s Boys” and “The Tree” from “The Me Nobody Knows;” Darius de Haas” movingly doing justice to “How I Feel” from “The Me Nobody Knows,” and enlivening the production with “New Fangled Preacher Man” from “Purlie” as Kendrick Jones danced a description of the person de Haas was singing about; Sahr Ngaujah performing “The Harder They Fall” from “Purlie,” and the always-extraordinary Martin Vidnovic providing examples of what made “The Rothschilds” (by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock) such an entertaining and perceptive show, with “Sons” and “In My Own Lifetime.”

As his audiences have come to expect, Siegel supplied amusing reference material in his introductions. He recalled “The Rothschilds” having been referred to as “a rich man’s ‘Fiddler on the Roof.'” And, given the way Danny Kaye had turned “Two By Two” into his own vehicle, Scott noted that its composer Richard Rodgers had dubbed his show “One by One.”

The drama was a chilly encounter between a brother and sister. David, performed with insight, pathos and terror by John Shea, calls on his sister Sheila, played by Tasha Lawrence with wariness tempered by attempts to be sympathetic. David has serious mental problems and is given to outbursts of violence. He has a first-time date with a woman and fears he will botch it. He has come to his estranged sister looking for psychological bolstering, but he is a thorough mess and his very presence poses danger.

“Love Divided” is tightly written and as directed by Shea, builds carefully toward its climax. Apart from being a strong one-act drama, it proved to be a good showpiece for both Shea and Lawrence.

A “star” of the evening was the late Dorothy Parker, channeled in the opener, “This is On Me,” written by Tom Fontana based on work by Parker and directed by Antony Marsellis in a simple style that reflected confidence in the material at hand. Delphi Harrington was commanding as a Friend who surveys Parker’s life and poses questions to Parker as interpreted by the ever-wonderful Marian Seldes. They both read from scripts.

Seldes also displayed confidence in the material, presenting the array of humorous Parker witticisms in low key instead of punching them home with overkill. There was a twinkle in Seldes’ line readings. We have heard many of the gems before, and it is amusing to have them recalled. You could also have encountered some bons mots that you hadn’t heard or read.

After an intermission Seldes returned to read a hilarious Parker piece on having to dance with someone she can’t stand, ruminating all through the dancing about her feelings and misgivings. The clever writing has a metaphorical ring to it, as if life, not just dancing, were being described.

A disappointing portion of the program was the limp staging of Harold Pinter’s enigmatic “Ashes to Ashes,” teaming Lizbeth Mackay and Larry Pine and directed by Christoher Hart. I had seen the play some years ago with Lindsay Duncan and David Strathairn and brilliantly directed by Karel Reisz so that Pinter’s cryptic dialogue crackled and the work achieved disturbing dramatic tension as the woman of a couple confesses sadomasochistic sessions with a lover. She injects information about a real or imagined situation in which babies are torn from their mothers at a train station (think Holocaust), and reveals feelings perhaps attached to her own attitudes about children. The man, upset by what he is learning, interrupts with questions and finally tries to emulate the domination that the woman has attributed to her lover. Pinter’s renowned pauses are supposed to stimulate tension, not be soporific as in this staging that despite all good intensions by Mackay, Pine and Hart failed to be as spellbinding as the work demands.

Connie, a ditsy housewife enacted with proper confusion by Jessica Hecht, decides that she wants to revolt by playing dominant games with her husband Eddie, who is as boring as their relationship and portrayed with requisite earnestness by Anthony Arkin. Connie has gotten serious enough to enroll for lessons with a real dominatrix, Mistress Lorraine, convincingly played to the hilt by Candy Buckley, who is busy lording over a submissive, Phil (Richard Masur), who turns out to be a prominent figure.

Meanwhile, after the kids have gone off to school and Connie has her husband handcuffed to a chair, she leaves him there and heads for her lesson. The frustrated Arkin is discovered by older married neighbors Sissy (Ellen Parker) and Hank (JR Horne). They are titillated by the idea of dominance, and retreat to their place to do a little experimenting of their own in hope of enlivening their dormant sex life. The effort is comically pathetic.

There is humor in the dominant play between Connie and Eddie, the joke being their slipping in and out of their real relationship in trying to pretend, and the efforts of Connie to learn the trade from a pro are quite funny. More interesting is Mistress Lorrane’s need to extricate herself from her routine, and Phil, the submissive, also revolts in his manner. In other words, life for everyone is not want they really want it to be as the playwright examines the juxtapositions.

Robin Lane-Krauss, a Rountable Committee member, produced the event and graciously introduced it, as well as the panelists. She obviously took pride in the accomplishment, as well she should. Mailer’s short play merits a full production. It presents a canny portrait of Johnson, done justice by Sam Coppola, who had Johnson’s manner of speech and demeanor down pat. The portrait reveals the late president as a master at flattery and manipulation in getting as important a figure as Warren to bend to his will.

Ed Setrakian in the role of Warren effectively communicated how the justice believed it would be detrimental to the Supreme Court if he stepped out of his duties and chaired such a commission. He at first refuses, fights against the idea, but is no match for the wily Johnson. Their dialogue that Mailer concocted incisively and at times entertainingly captures the tension between the two. The direction by Alan Hruska was straightforward, allowing the dialogue to flow seamlessly. In the end there is a warning prediction that questions about the assassination will persist into the future.

How much of what Mailer depicts is true? He is functioning as a playwright, of course, not as a chronicler. However the question is firmly there. In addition to John Mailer and director Hruska taking part in the discussion, a coup was scored by getting Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, who was Deputy U.S. Attorney General at the time and later Attorney General, to participate. He vouched for the overall situation, but made clear that he was not privy to what went on in the meeting that Johnson did have with Warren. However, Katzenbach recognized that Mailer was functioning as a dramatist.

John Mailer posed some pointed questions, leading to a discussion of the conspiracy theories that abounded. Katzenbach was sometimes humorous in his responses, as when he said that he felt that none of the entities suspected of having engineered a conspiracy would have been so stupid as to enlist someone like Lee Harvey Oswald to carry out the deed. (Of course, that begs the lingering question—did Oswald really do it as the Warren commission concluded?)

Corwin used actual quotes, although they have been shifted around to construct the play, and the character of Adele Douglas, wife of Stephen Douglas, provides added personal perspective and is warmly portrayed by Mary Linda Rapelye. Also in the cast is Doug Stender as both a Republican Committeeman and a reporter.

It is no easy task to play Lincoln and nail the pubic persona etched in history, with all of the famous quotes attributed to him, and render him human on stage and not just an icon. Kauffman, with the help of some excellent makeup and his height, uses his considerable acting skill to make Lincoln credible and also make his speaking style and communication ability seem utterly real. Listing to him, one may think of President Obama. Certainly not of George W. Bush.

Douglas being less well fixed in the public eye, Cormican has less of an engrained image to confront. Cormican makes Douglas thoroughly believable in interpreting him as an over-confident and somewhat pompous politician and debater whom his wife tries to bring down to earth. The strength of the play lies in how both men articulate their positions, the issues discussed and in our knowledge of what happened afterward. The election that triggered the confrontations involved a race for U. S. Senator from Illinois between the two men. Lincoln lost, but the renown gained from the debates helped propel him toward the Presidency. Abe certainly has the edge here on stage.

The set by Beowulf Boritt is visible on entering the theater. It consists of piles of waste barrels, and there are burbling sounds that suggest waste dumping and water lapping against a shore. The plot calls for saving New Jersey from being a dumping ground for New York City’s toxic waste. The book and lyrics are by Joe DiPietro, with music and lyrics by David Bryan, and the show is based on Lloyd Kaufman’s “The Toxic Avenger.”

Nick Cordero has the starring role as Melvin Ferd the Third, an ineffectual type who is assaulted and tossed into a vat of icky waste. He emerges covered with green slime and new-found power to avenge pollution. Some funny sight gags involve his tearing off limbs and digging out entrails of bad guys.

Sara Chase is extremely funny as a blind librarian, who falls for Toxic without beng able to see him. Chase is a delight both in her acting and singing. Nancy Opel provides laughs galore playing a nun, Toxic’s mom and the mayor of Tromaville. Opel gives an extremely resourceful performance, evidenced especially in a scene in which Toxic’s mother and the mayor battle with a bit of stage trickery.

Baldwin, who was so winsome in this season’s City Center Encores! offering of “Finian’s Rainbow,” is gorgeous, has a dynamic singing voice and knows how to put over a song, whether it is the sexy and amusing “I Wanna Get Married” from “Follow the Girls”(Dan Shapiro, Milton Pascal and Phil Charig), the rousing “I Can Cook Too” from the classic “On the Town” by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, or the tender, romantic and sad ballad, “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye,” from Cole Porter’s “Seven Lively Arts,” a number that expresses the wartime longings of lovers separated by men going off to battle. If there were leading lady genes, Baldwin would have them.

Stephen DeRosa is a versatile performer who can be hilarious or serious. The hilarity side came through when he donned a sombrero, adopted a Latin accent and sang “The Good-Will Movement” from Mike Todd’s “Mexican Hayride,” satirizing the Roosevelt Administration’s “Good Will” policy toward Latin America. He could also have fun with a playful number like “Is It the Girl (Or Is It the Gown)?” from “Seven Lively Arts.” Off-mike, he did a beautiful job with “Wanderin’” from “Sing Out, Sweet Land.” De Rosa, who played Wilbur Turnblad in “Hairspray,” radiates versatility.

Siegel did his customary run down of what was going on in the chosen year. He pointed out that 1944 was the year of D-Day and the costly casualties that enabled the turning of the tide against Germany in Western Europe. On the lighter side, he noted that bananas became more popular, thanks to an ad agency that came up with the “Chiquita Banana” jingle, which Scott ventured to sing. The large number of audience members who burst into accompaniment signaled a revealing demographic.

With Jeffry Denman directing and doing some of the choreography and musical director/arranger/pianist Ross Patterson and his Little Big Band giving a lift to the show with their expertise, the production flashed its trademark pizzazz. Attractive Sarah Jane McMahon has a dazzling voice, as evidenced when she sang “Right as Rain” from “Bloomer Girl” (music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and EY Harburg) and later, without a mike, the operatic “I Love You” from “Song of Norway” (Edvard Grieg, Robert Wright and George Forrest). She also triumphantly teamed, again unplugged, with William Michals on “Strange Music,” another from “Song of Norway.” Melinda Sullivan and the nimble, creative dancer Kendrick Jones collaborated on the cute “You’re Perf” from “Follow the Girls,” with the couple providing original fancy stepping choreography. Jones, an asset to numerous shows in this series, scored a hit on his own with “There Must Be Something for Me” from “Mexican Hayride.”

One striking aspect regarding Baldwin, McMahon and Sullivan is how, in addition to shining with individual numbers, they could blend together and turn on the sex appeal as if they were cavorting in Vegas while singing the title song from “Follow the Girls.” Another huge plus was Shannon Lewis, who, with her long leg extension as she moves gracefully across a stage, presents a sexy picture. She excelled singing “It Was Nice Knowing You” from “Jackpot” (Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz), and working enjoyably with Denman in a rendition of “I Love You” from “Mexican Hayride.” Lewis, Baldwin, McMahon and Sullivan added spice with the charismatic singer/dancer Tony Yazbeck in “Girls” from “Mexican Hayride.”

Let’s not neglect the men. Michals, who understudies Paulo Szot in “South Pacific,” backs up his robust voice with charm, evidenced early on when he sang “Lucky to Be Me” from “On the Town” without a mike. From “Follow the Girls,” also abandoning a mike, he sang “Twelve O’Clock and All Is Well.” Yazbeck, definitely a highlighter, paired with Sullivan for “Only Another Boy and Girl” from “Seven Lively Arts” and also soloed thrillingly with his deeply felt interpretation of “Lonely Town” from “On the Town.” Two other numbers from “On the Town” opened and closed the show--“New York, New York” as the opener and “Some Other Time” as the finale, both sung by the company.

The acting is superior to the characters in Neil LaBute’s new play “reasons to be pretty,” the third in his trilogy including “The Shape of Things” and “Fat Pig.” LaBute in a program note refers to his play as dealing with “a very blue-collar side of the work population” and with “a boy who grows up and becomes a man.” If the new play is his idea of what blue-collar working class types are like, it comes across as rather condescending. While the four excellent cast members command our attention and while LaBute displays his vaunted gift for sharp dialogue, the characters are not all that interesting. The staging, under the effective direction of Terry Kinney, is an MCC Theater production by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

Greg, as interpreted by Thomas Sadoski, is the most intriguing of the four. There is a measure of complexity in the portrait of a guy who works for a huge we-sell-everything type emporium, reads assiduously and hopes to get a higher education. But he can’t make a permanent commitment to a lasting relationship. The play begins strikingly with a torrent of vulgar verbal abuse that he takes from Alison Pill as Steph [played by Marin Ireland in the Broadway transfer], his girlfriend of four years who is outraged at being told by her friend, Greg’s co-worker Carly (Piper Perabo), a security guard, of his remark that Steph’s face wasn’t as pretty as a hot new number who joined the work force,

There are obviously lingering issues at work in the relationship, but Steph berates Greg with uncontrolled venom. The F word is the most operative means of communication. As a matter of fact, the amount of pent up anger Steph spews, while theatrical as far as an audience is concerned, would be enough to make any guy with a sense of self-preservation run as far away from her as he can get. That is not a mouth one would want to live with.

Pablo Schreiber, visually impressive and also in top acting form, plays Kent [Steven Pasquale in the Broadway transfer], a pig of a guy who thinks nothing of cheating on Carly, even when she is pregnant. Greg has been covering for him, but has enough at one point, and finds a way of getting back at Kent as well as at Carly, who messed him up by telling Steph what she had heard. Greg does something to enlighten Carly, probably for her own good, but there’s also an underlying nasty edge to his action.

So what are we supposed to make of all this interplay? Is this an accurate portrait of the blue-collar world? Many might disagree. Steph, even while hoping that Greg will make a commitment, looks elsewhere. Carly is going to have to survive hurt. Kent is unlikely to change. Greg may or may not improve his personal and professional life.