Best Plays in Manhattan

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

SERIOUS

MAX REIXHARDT'S SEASON--Germany pours her dearest treasures of the theatre for the U. S. taste (TIME, Nov. 28, Dec. 19, Jan. 2; this issue).

COQUETTE--The snap of heart strings in a flirt's tragic battle against village prejudice. Helen Hayes. (TIME, Nov. 21).

PORGY--Laughter and sobs in a close-up of Negro life in the poor quarter of Charleston (TIME, Oct. 24).

Other well regarded serious productions: THE IRISH PLAYERS; CIVIC REPERTORY THEATRE'S series; ESCAPE; BLESS YOU, SISTER; BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM.

MELODRAMA

INTERFERENCE--The death rattle with an English accent; patent leather playing that doesn't crack (TIME, Oct. 31).

THE TRIAL OF MARY DUGAN--Taking the audience into the jury box as a chorus girl is tried for her life (TIME, Oct. 3).

BROADWAY--Rendezvous with death in a Manhattan nightclub (TIME, Sept. 27, 1926).

Other able melodramas: THE RACKET, DRACULA, NIGHTSTICK, CELEBRITY.

FUNNY

BURLESQUE--The stormy sorrow and delight of trouping with a burlesque show (TIME, Sept. 12).

THE COMMAND TO LOVE--Snappy stories about European diplomats (TIME, Oct. 3).

THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA--Immaculate revival of Shaw's disrespectful comedy of physicians and surgeons (TIME, Dec. 5).

THE ROYAL FAMILY--If you wonder what an actor or actress thinks about, this will do excellently (TIME, Jan. 9).

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW--Slapstick Shakespeare irreverently and amusingly revived in short skirts (TIME, Nov. 7).

Other laughing matters: THE BABY CYCLONE; THE SHANNONS OF BROADWAY; PARIS BOUND.

MUSICAL

For silk, lullabies, wit, jokes: HIT THE DECK, A CONNECTICUT YANKEE, MANHATTAN MARY, GOOD NEWS, SHOW BOAT, FUNNY FACE.