10x25 - Series C ***

Atlantic Theater Company's Festival of 10-Minute Plays came to a lively close with this evening of nine short works. Six plays involved some aspect of parenthood: Bekah Brunstetter's Run, about a father trying to bond with his overweight teenage daughter; David Auburn's Two Dads, about two men confiding their problems with their children; Peter Parnell's Dada Woof Papa Hot, about two men navigating the uncharted waters of gay fatherhood; Tom Donaghy's I Need a Quote, a hilarious telephone conversation between a single mother and a home insurance salesman; Kate Robin's Inside Play, about a father trying to pick up a woman at a playground; and Kevin Heelan's As Himself, about a father/actor who confuses acting and real life. Moira Buffini's Sold is about a fundraiser in which souls are auctioned to the highest bidder, The low point of the evening was Sam Shepard's Evanescence/Shakespeare in the Alley, which involved a long, rambling monologue, exploding watermelons and a little person dressed as Shakespeare dragging a body bag across the stage. The evening ended with In Which I Tender My Resignation, a tongue-in-cheek piece by Jeff Whitty in which he attempts to explain to two Atlantic Theater subscribers the great debt that straight people owe to gays. The cast included Anthony Arkin, Kate Blumberg, Eddie Cahill, Michael Countryman, Marcia DeBonis, Kathryn Erbe, Kate Gersten, Zach Grenier, Brad Heberlee, Rick Holmes, T.R. Knight, Ilana Levine, Sydney Matthews, Chris Myers, Kari Nicolle, Nic Novicki, Ray Anthony Thomas and Jeff Whitty.

The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman ***

31 songs in 85 minutes -- that's what this lively revue at 59E59 has to offer. A strong cast of six -- David Burnham (who is new to me), Sally Mayes, Howard McGillin, Billy Stritch (who also serves as pianist and music director), Lillias White and Rachel York, backed by eight musicians, provide a whirlwind tour of Coleman's music, including such well-known songs as "I've Got Your Number," "Big Spender" and "Witchcraft." Since David Zippel directed, it's no surprise that 8 of the songs chosen are songs for which he wrote the lyrics, which makes the selection somewhat unrepresentative. Douglas Schmidt's sleek recreation of a supper club bandstand looks great, but doesn't give the singers much room to move around. Lorin Lattaro's choreography makes the best of this limitation. The band was wonderful, but occasionally drowned out the vocalists. The highlight of the evening was Lillias White's rendition of her big number from The Life, "The Oldest Profession." Each of the singers gets a chance to shine, but no one else comes even close to her. Instead of being disappointed that it wasn't better, I'm grateful that it got produced.