It Shoulda Been You ***

This farcical musical with book and some lyrics by Brian Hargrove and music and concept by Barbara Anselmi has reached Broadway after a successful 2011 run at George St. Playhouse in New Jersey. It raises the question of whether loads of talent and style can overcome a lack of substance and answers it with a definite “maybe.” If for no other reason, we should be grateful that it provides employment for such troupers as Tyne Daly, Harriet Harris, Edward Hibbert and Chip Zien as well as talented younger performers including Lisa Howard, Sierra Boggess and Josh Grisetti. The hoary plot involves the wedding of a Jewish woman and a Catholic man. Both sets of parents are unhappy about the impending marriage and a former boyfriend is determined to stop it. Yes, this field has been plowed many times before, but this time there’s a mildly surprising twist that I won’t reveal here. No cliche escapes. The luxurious hotel set by Anita Louizos is very attractive, as are William Ivey Long’s costumes. David Hyde Pierce shows a real talent for directing. The music, in a variety of styles, is pleasant. The lyrics are wildly uneven. Some are fine, but others are clunkily unmusical. Five people get credits for additional lyrics. In case you are wondering how anything this slight could have reached Broadway, the fact that Hargrove is Pierce's husband certainly didn't hurt. The show could serve as the textbook definition of a guilty pleasure. You might hate yourself for laughing at some of the one-liners, but laugh you will. With its shameless pandering to two pillars of the Broadway audience, Jews and gays, it should have a long run. Running time: one hour 40 minutes, no intermission.

Mothers and Sons **

A new Terrence McNally play starring Tyne Daly -- what could possibly go wrong? Plenty, as it turns out. When the usually admirable Frederick Weller first opens his mouth, the mannered, almost falsetto voice that comes out resembles nothing found in nature. What was director Sheryl Kaller thinking to steer him in this strange direction? After a few seconds of this unnatural sound, it was clear that it was going to be a long 90 minutes. Remember the Emmy-winning 1990 television drama "Andre's Mother" starring Sada Thompson and Richard Thomas, about the confrontation between a woman who has lost her son to AIDS and the lover he left behind? McNally picks up these characters 20 years later when Katharine (Daly) unexpectedly visits the former lover Cal (Weller) to return Andre's diary, which neither of them has read. The years have not mellowed Katharine; if anything, she has only grown more bitter and filled with hate. Cal, on the other hand, has moved on; he now has a Central Park West apartment, a husband, Will (Bobby Steggert), 15 years his junior, and a 6-year-old son Bud (the too-cute-by-half Grayson Taylor). The play drifts from clumsy exposition to clever zingers to didactic speeches in no particular order. Daly does not get to display much range. Steggert is the only one who resembles an actual human being. Even set designer John Lee Beatty is off his stride -- the unattractive apartment does not look like one any gay couple would inhabit. The play's only interest is to document the dramatic changes that have taken place for gay Americans in the last 20 years. After three weeks of previews, the play still seems far from polished. A major disappointment.

Master Class **

I have always been a fan of Tyne Daly -- her Mamma Rose was the finest I have ever seen -- so I was quite eager to see her play Maria Callas in the Manhattan Theatre Club's revival of Terrence McNally's 1995 hit Master Class. I'm sorry to report that I was disappointed with her performance. She does not get the Greek accent right -- sometimes it sounds more like an Irish brogue -- and she does not clearly differentiate between her voice and Onassis's during the two memory scenes. The actors playing the vocal students (Alexandra Silber, Garrett Sorenson and Sierra Boggess) are all excellent. Sorenson and Boggess have beautiful voices. Jeremy Cohen brings a lot of warmth to the role of the pianist and Clinton Brandhagen is amusing as the stagehand. Except for the accent problem, the class scenes still work well. Callas's stinging remarks are as funny as ever. The transitions to and from the memory scenes are awkward and the imagined conversations with Onassis misfired. Perhaps director Stephen Wadsworth is at fault. The set for the auditorium stage where the class is held has a beautiful parquet back wall. This set dissolves into a suggestion of La Scala with a large pillar decorated with roses. Although the play won the Tony in 1996 (as did Zoe Caldwell and Audra McDonald), it seemed a bit long and repetitious this time. Clearly, I am in the minority here because the audience was wildly enthusiastic.