Tom Cruise praises wife's Broadway performance

Katie Holmes made her Broadway debut in 'All My Sons' last night, and husband Tom Cruise thought it was a knockout.

When asked for his verdict on Holmes’ performance at the US Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Cruise said: “Did you see it? ... It was extraordinary.”

Hundreds of people bought tickets to see Holmes act on Broadway for the first time in a preview performance for the revival of 'All My Sons', co-starring John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson.

The audience collectively gasped when Cruise entered the theatre moments before the curtain went up. While anti-Scientology protesters demonstrated outside, the film star – and Hollywood’s most famous Scientologist – mingled and shook hands with some other theatregoers who took photos and clapped. He then hugged Dustin Hoffman, who was sitting a few rows away, which drew another cheer inside the theatre.

Amid the hubbub, it took awhile for people to take their seats. Then the moment they had been waiting for arrived: Holmes and her fellow cast members stepped out on stage to start the play, which officially opens on October 16.

Holmes delivered her lines with confidence and danced around on stage with gusto. She wore a brown shoulder-length hairpiece to hide her trendy pixie cut.

And she received a standing ovation afterward.

'All My Sons' concerns businessman Joe Keller (Lithgow) whose factory supplied defective cylinder parts to the military, resulting in the deaths of 21 pilots during World War II. Yet it was his business partner who went to jail for the mistake.

Wiest plays Keller’s wife; Wilson his idealistic son; and Holmes the son’s fiance and daughter of Keller’s disgraced partner.

Holmes starred in the popular teen drama 'Dawson’s Creek', and has appeared in such films as 'Batman Begins' and 'Mad Money'.

The 29-year-old star – accompanied by Lithgow, not Cruise – stopped to pose for photographers outside and called her performance “fine”. She and Lithgow then jumped into a black SUV that sped them away from the surrounding media and fan frenzy. More than 200 bystanders had gathered across the street to watch Holmes leave the theatre as police officers on foot and horseback patrolled the scene.

Roughly 30 Scientology protesters from a group called 'Anonymous' demonstrated before the show behind a barricade, loudly chanting “Scientology kills!” Some wore masks and one poster read: “Free Katie.”