Best Bets on Broadway

The New York Drama Critics Circle met last week and managed, with little dissent, to pick its favorites of the season. The best U.S. play: Death of a Salesman, a deeply human story of a typical American who so craves success that he is fatally crushed by failure (TIME, Feb. 21). The best foreign play: The Madwoman of Chaillot, an enchanting fantasy about a wacky countess who, Pied Piper-like, rids Paris of its human rats (TIME, Jan. 10). The best musical: South Pacific, a sort of child of Madame Butterfly by Mister Roberts, brilliantly produced with Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza (TIME, April 18).

Other current best bets on Broadway:

The Traitor. Lively spy melodrama combining good old-fashioned hokum with this morning's headlines (TIME, April 11).

Detective Story. Varied and vivid documentary melodrama of life in a Manhattan police station (TIME, April 4).

Kiss Me, Kate. Highly enjoyable musical with a semi-Shakespearean plot and a sustained Cole Porter score (TIME, Jan. 10).

Lend an Ear. Generally likable, once or twice wonderful intimate revue (TIME, Dec. 27).

As the Girls Go. Bobby Clark injecting his best brand of madness into a routine Broadway musical (TIME, Nov. 22).

Life With Mother. A little phonier than Life With Father, but the same amount of fun (TIME, Nov. 1).

Edward, My Son. Rich, creamy hokum about a wicked Englishman's dazzling career (TIME, Oct. 11).

Mister Roberts. Rowdy, romantic, often hilarious yarn of life on a cargo ship during--but far from--the war (TiME, March 1, 1948).

A Streetcar Named Desire. Tennessee Williams' vivid chronicle of a nymphomaniac's downhill flight from reality (TIME, Dec. 15, 1947).

Born Yesterday. Amusing yarn about a bigshot racketeer who decides to have his dumb blonde educated, and picks too good a teacher (TIME, Feb. 18, 1946).

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