Calling the 1986 revival "infinitely better" than the original production of House of Blue Leaves, Oliver finds this new staging of Guare's play to be "deeper, sadder, more passionate."

The revival of John Guare's "The House of Blue Leaves," at the Newhouse, in Lincoln Center, is infinitely better than its original production, fifteen years ago—and I had not thought anything could be. The play now seems deeper, sadder, more passionate, and even funnier, if that is conceivable. The actors—and what actors!—make clear much that might have been unnoticed before. "The House of Blue Leaves, " in case anyone needs reminding, is a satiric farce about a middle-aged zookeeper, named Artie Shaughnessy, who has a knack for writing imitations of cheap popular songs, and who is the victim of a number of American dreams, which finally destroy him. The place is his living room in Sunnyside, Queens...