(Charles Isherwood’s article appeared in The New York Times, 5/8.)
Small stirrings of the heart and mind evoke delicate musical responses in “A Minister’s Wife,” the lovingly composed chamber musical that opened on Sunday night at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center. Based on “Candida,” George Bernard Shaw’s comedy about the mysteries of marital love, the musical moves with a gentle step, keeping an intimate focus on its central characters as they circle one another in a cozy London study that becomes the site of a well-mannered moral and intellectual boxing match.