Directed by Nicholas Hytner, with a perfectly oiled ensemble led by the superb Richard Griffiths and Stephen Campbell Moore as schoolmasters with opposing views of history and education (2:40). Alan Bennett's play about a battle for the hearts and minds of a group of university-bound students, imported with the original British cast from the National Theater, moves with a breezy narrative swagger that transcends cultural barriers. * 'THE HISTORY BOYS' (Tony Awards, best play and best direction of a play, 2006) Madly enjoyable. Bob Martin and Sutton Foster are the standouts in the eager, energetic cast (1:40). But in a dry season for musicals, "The Drowsy Chaperone" has theatergoers responding as if they were withering house plants, finally being watered after long neglect. 'THE DROWSY CHAPERONE' (Tony Awards, best book of a musical and best original score, 2006) This small and ingratiating spoof of 1920's stage frolics, as imagined by an obsessive show queen, may not be a masterpiece. LaChanze leads the vibrant, hard-working cast (2:40). This beat-the-clock musical adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about Southern black women finding their inner warriors never slows down long enough for you to embrace it. 'THE COLOR PURPLE' So much plot, so many years, so many characters to cram into less than three hours. Full reviews of current shows, additional listings, show times and tickets: /theater. Theaters are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. * denotes a highly recommended film, concert, show or exhibition.Īpproximate running times are in parentheses. Selective listings by critics of The New York Times of new and noteworthy cultural events in the Northeast this week.