The Best Plays

These are the plays which, in the light of metropolitan criticism, seem most important:

Drama

THE WONDERFUL VISIT--The stimulating, idealistic play by H. G. Wells and St. John Ervine has resumed.

THE OUTSIDER--Lionel Atwill and Katherine Cornell make big medicine out of dramatic quackery. RAIN--Effective preachment for missionaries here and abroad.

SAINT JOAN--Bernard Shaw joins the Theatre Guild in paying his humblest-well, almost his humblest--respects to the Maid of Orleans.

COBRA--The snake of sex sloughs oft its skin and stands quite vividly bare.

Comedy

EXPRESSING WILLIE -- Delightfully satiric jabs at the man who acquires a fortune, then spreads himself on acquiring a soul.

BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK--Lays low the tired business man with deft, sharp strokes.

MEET THE WIFE--The fairly amusing process of shaking together the two husbands of one wife and watching them ferment.

CYRANO DE BERGERAC--Walter Hampden's virtuosity astonishes even his most fervent admirers in Rostand's modern classic.

THE GOOSE HANGS HIGH--Pleasant snapshot of the younger generation throwing away its pose in time of need and overwhelming the older generation with offers of help.

THE NERVOUS WRECK--Fills the great open spaces with smashed crockery; rather funnier than you'd expect.

THE SWAN--Glamorous, inviting romance, wherein royal ermine emits sparks when stroked the wrong way.

THE POTTERS--A clever etching of the American family trying to work out of the moron class.

THE SHOW-OFF--Sterling comedy centres around a magnificent egotist who makes everything centre around him.

FATA MORGANA--Gives a spicy twist to the love of May for September, resulting in a Spring freshet of tears.

Musical

High notes in the present musical score are sustained most successfully by Stepping Stones, Poppy, Music Box Revue, Andre Chariot's Revue, Kid Boots, Vogues, Peg o' My Dreams.