Linda Lavin, as an overbearing, loudmouthed Jewish mother in The Lyons, has done this role so many times before, can’t we just dust off her old Tony Award (for Broadway Bound in 1987) and recycle it? Nicky Silver’s play is a shameless laugh machine, in which Lavin delivers sitcom zingers to her dying husband and two dysfunctional kids, all of whom appear to hate each other for no good reason. Come back, Neil Simon, all is forgiven.
TIME’s Not-the-Tony Awards 2012
The Tony nominations are out—and we've already got our awards ready to go