Bullets over Broadway ***

Woody Allen's musicalization of his 1994 film, now in previews at the St. James Theatre, provides a consistently entertaining, if not inspired, evening. Susan Stroman's choreography and direction add significantly to the show's strengths, but her collaboration with Allen does not lead to the giddy heights of her work with Mel Brooks. The decision to use popular songs of the 20's instead of an original score works out surprisingly well, with many songs fitting into the plot in clever unexpected ways. Best of all is the strong cast, particularly Marin Mazzie as Helen Sinclair, Nick Cordero as Cheech, Helene Yorke as Olive Neal and Brooks Ashmanskas as Walter Purcell. Zach Braff was out, so I got his understudy Andy Jones as David Shayne. Jones was fine in a vanilla way, but unfortunately looked at least 10 years younger than Betsy Wolfe, his love interest Ellen. Karen Ziemba makes the most of her one number. Santo Loquasto's sets and William Ivey Long's costumes are the best that money can buy. The show moves along at a rapid clip and rarely sags. I was a bit disappointed in the finale, which somehow seemed less than the rousing conclusion the show needed, but I had a good time. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes including intermission.

Asuncion *

Jesse Eisenberg's comedy, now at the Cherry Lane in a Rattlestick production, is the third play by a young actor turned playwright that I have seen since June. The others were Zach Braff's "All New People" at Second Stage and Zoe Kazan's "We Live Here" at Manhattan Theatre Club. Of the three, Zach Braff was the most successful. His play was no masterpiece, but was at least a guilty pleasure. The Kazan play landed with a thud. Now along comes Eisenberg's play, which falls somewhere in between. Unlike the other two actor/playwrights, who did not appear in their plays, Eisenberg wrote the showiest role for himself. He plays Edgar, a wildly frenetic self-styled journalist, a hanger-on in an upstate college town, who never stops talking and whose capacity for self-delusion and misunderstanding is limitless. He shares the apartment of Vinny (Justin Bartha, who starred in Braff's play), his former teaching assistant in a Black Studies course, whom he worships and who treats him like his manservant. Edgar's older brother Stuart (Remy Auburgonois) makes a surprise visit from New York with his new Filipina bride Asuncion (Camille Mana) in tow and asks them to let her stay with them for the weekend without explaining why. The disequilibrium brought on by her presence drives the action. The character of Edgar is written so broadly that he is almost a cartoon character. For a few minutes, it was fun to see Eisenberg's Edgar, but it became tiresome very quickly. Bartha captures both the charm and the sinister edge to Vinny. Mana makes the best of an ill-defined role. There are some funny lines along the way, but not enough to hide the play's substantial flaws. John McDermott's set is appropriately seedy for a walk-up off-campus apartment and Jessica Pabst's costumes are fine. Kip Fagan's direction is blameless.

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes plus intermission

All New People ***

Zach Braff is back at Second Stage, this time as playwright rather than actor. His dark comedy, now in previews, is about a very depressed man (Justin Bartha) seeking solitude on his 35th birthday at a Jersey Shore beach house in midwinter. He is soon interrupted by an attractive British real estate agent with a secret (Krysten Ritter), the town fire chief/drug dealer (David Wilson Barnes) and an expensive call girl (Anna Camp), a birthday present from a wealthy friend. A lot of alcohol and drugs are consumed and some very funny lines are spoken. There's also some hilarious physical humor. The action is periodically interrupted by film clips (with Kevin Conway, Tony Goldwyn and S. Epatha Merkerson) that illuminate the characters' back stories. Braff is good at writing funny dialogue and setting up an interesting situation, but the play's energy gradually runs down until it sputters to a close. Perhaps that will be fixed by opening night. Alexander Dodge's set of an ultramodern beach house is perfect and Bobby Frederick Tilley II's costumes are excellent. Peter DuBois' direction is flawless. It's not a great play, but it's a guilty pleasure. Running time: 90 minutes.

Note: Sitting next to me was a girl of about 10 who was with a man I assume was her father. I doubt that he intentionally chose a play that would give her a crash course in drug use and kinky sex. Shouldn't there be some way to alert ticket buyers when a play is not suitable for children? What are your thoughts?