The Best Plays

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

Drama

COBRA--The fireworks of sex touched off somewhat luridly but effectively.

SAINT JOAN--Bernard Shaw trenchantly becomes the patron saint of Joan of Arc.

THE WONDERFUL VISIT--H. G .Wells almost made sentimental in this appealing story of an angel who falls from heaven and nearly falls from grace.

THE MIRACLE--Last week of Max Reinhardt's de luxe edition of religion.

Comedy

EXPRESSING WILLIE--The balloon of egotism deftly punctured with shafts of satire.

THE SHOW-OFF--One of the best comedies of this or any other season, making braggadocio more endurable with laughter.

BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK--A delightful compound of reality and fantasy, in which Freud is actually turned to dramatic use without becoming a clinical bore.

FATA MORGANA--An engaging, if somewhat leering, study of puppy love trying to hide behind the skirts of a mature matron.

THE POTTERS--Revealing with homely humor that the American family has about all the human nature there is.

MEET THE WIFE--Bigamy, thy name is woman!

THE GOOSE HANGS HIGH--A naturalistic and sometimes naive study of the young folks in the throes of finding out they can't live up to their boasted disregard of conventional morality.

CYRANO DE BERGERAC--Walter Hampden making this luscious romance an evening of indescribable glamor, even when the spotlight is on his nose.

Musical

Jazz addicts who fail to get sufficient syncopation over the radio should personally tune in on Kid Boots, Chariot's Revue, Poppy, I'll Say She Is, Keep Kool