Simon reviews the Broadway debut of Hare's adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's Reigen, finding that the new work, while offering dazzling performances, does not live up to its source material.

Perhaps the one world-theater figure left undervalued many years after his death is Arthur Schnitzler. Esteemed by the cognoscenti, his work performed intermittently (though often in bastardized versions), and dimly known to many theatergoers, he has yet to achieve the honors due a genius in both drama and fiction. Unfortunately, the updating of his comedy Reigen by David Hare (rhymes with Guare) as The Blue Room will not add many laurels to the great Austrian's reputation.

Reigen ( "Round Dance"), known mostly from Max Ophuls's movie version, La Ronde—a flamboyant but facile Ophulsification—is a play that astutely views the sexual act as also a sexual leveler and psychological placebo, but only fleetingly satisfying in any capacity. It...