Theresa Rebeck writes some of the most vividly realized characters in contemporary theater, but too often, she has them make unbelievably bad or improbable choices or subjects them to plot twists that are only clever to anyone who hasn't actually been to the theater. Unfortunately, both of these flaws are evident in Mauritius, which opens Manhattan Theatre Club's 2007 Broadway season at the Biltmore Theater.

But here's the good news: These problems seem a lot less glaring in this entertaining and often smart play than in such recent Rebeck works as The Scene or The Water's Edge (in which that on-stage bathtub signaled the ending from the very start). And thanks to the extraordinary performa[...]