Pedro Almadóvar’s breakthrough 1998 film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown has become an indie classic. Though the musical adaptation, featuring a book by Jeffrey Lane and music and lyrics by David Yazbek, sticks pretty closely to the movie’s farcical plot, it has not enjoyed the same success.

Premiering on Broadway in 2010, it was met with decidedly mixed reviews. Reworked for its West End opening in 2015, the musical was better received, but still attracted criticism and struggled to attract audiences.

Amy Hack and Mel Russo in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Photo © Daniel Boud

So who better to direct it here than Alexander Berlage? An ingenious director (and lighting designer) with a keen eye for bold, inventive staging solutions, he reinvigorated Cry-Baby the Musical with fresh, vibrant life in 2018, followed by his sensationally slick production of American Psycho in 2019, both at the Hayes Theatre Co. (The latter also toured.)

His production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is brilliantly staged, wackily camp and extremely funny, capturing the heightened stylishness and...