Fifty years after William Gibson first premiered his landmark drama about Helen Keller, "The Miracle Worker" is set to inspire audiences on Broadway. NY1's Roma Torre filed the following review.

"The Miracle Worker" is likely emblazoned in your mind with the images of Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke slugging it out. And while it’s doubtful that Alison Pill and Abigail Breslin will erase the memory of those two Oscar-winning performances, they certainly put their own one-two punch on the roles in what I have to say is a touchingly faithful revival of the great William Gibson drama.

The Helen Keller story is really about two miracle workers -- Annie Sullivan who brought a little deaf and blind girl out of the darkness and Helen Keller herself whose transformation from wild child to famed author made her one of the world’s most inspirational figures. The play concerns the relatively brief but momentous period leading up to Helen’s stunning breakthrough.

Gibson’s play, based on the first of Helen’s 12 books, depicts a well-intentioned but desperate southern family circa 1880s, at their wits end trying to cope with a child utterly lost to them. Helen seems bright but completely unmanageable and prone to violent tantrums when Annie Sullivan arrives. And her nearly impossible task is met with resistance from every member of the extended family.

Director Kate Whoriskey's vision for the play is effective if frenetic with suspended set pieces dropping down as needed. The story moves briskly along to a captivatingly moving finish.

Unfortunately, The Circle in the Square’s oval stage presents a logistical problem as sightlines in certain sections are obscured. My vantage point was just fine but I did hear a number of complaints.

The cast gets quite a workout. Both Matthew Modine and Jennifer Morrison are fine as Helen’s frustrated parents. Abigail Breslin is just right as Helen exhibiting a hint of the brilliance that is to come. And the diminutive Alison Pill once again reveals a giant talent. She captures all the dimensions of Annie’s unhappy early life, her pluck, her stubborn resolve and finally her loving devotion to young Helen.

Wonderful as the play is, it sorely needs a denouement, ending much too abruptly. Still, it's a terrific family drama that continues to enlighten as much as it entertains.