Lucky Guy

A sparkling new musical comedy, rich with camp, color and plenty of bedazzle by the name of LUCKY GUY, has opened at the Little Shubert. The production is not only directed by, but book, lyrics and music have been written by Willard Beckham. Along with A.C. Ciulla’s spirited choreography, Mr. Beckham has perfectly filled out the Off Broadway stage with a little musical that plays like big Broadway. There is drag performer Varla Jean Merman as a country western star and Leslie Jordan as a show biz used car salesman to gay up an otherwise heterosexual story, handsome Kyle Dean Massey to put over the leading man’s portion of the score, and the ample support of Jenn Colella, Jim Newman and Savanah Wise, but William Ivey Long’s costume design is the real star of the show. The show that boasts such a thing is a vapid show indeed, but fluffy as LUCKY GUY may be, it is thoroughly entertaining, filled with comic surprises and a peppy score.

For what it’s worth, the story centers around Billy Ray Jackson (Dean) who has won a song writing contest advertised on a matchbook, moved to scenic designer, Rob Bissinger’s beautifully ballooned Nashville, to make a hit record with a start up record company. Big Al Wright (Jordan), is promoting his used car lot with a televised show at the Grand Old Opry, featuring the country western star Jeannie Jeannine (Merman). Jeannine hasn’t had a hit record in years and could use a great new song, so the two conspire to steal Billy Ray’s “Lucky Guy” to do the trick. Along the way, Billy Ray falls for the record label’s secretary, Wanda Clark (Wise) even as he is being seduced by Jeannine. Needless to say, the wrongs are righted and everything is tied up in a hasty bow in the last few minutes. The story is flatly insignificant, but it is good enough to support the fun and plenty of William Ivey Long’s inventive costumes.

A great deal of the fun comes from a quartet called The Buckaroos––a group of talented singing and dancing chorus boys (Callan Bergmann, Xavier Cano, Wes Hart, Joshua Woodie) who show up as cowboys, Hawaiian dancers and tap dancing native Americans. As singing hopeful Chicky Lay, Jenn Colella is comic gold, delivering her material like a country western Lucille Ball. As her husband to be, Jim Newman is delightful as a warmhearted record producer on the rise. This second couple might have been used far more, for their talents are immense, but they are lost in the story after the first few scenes. Past incarnations of this show have had an actual female cast as Miss Jeannie Jeannine, but it is difficult to imagine the role being as wonderful without Varla Jean Merman (AKA Jeffrey Roberson) filling the very large pumps, wigs and gowns.

This type of entertainment is the kind of camp-fest that appeals only to certain tastes and will not win over the theater goer who demands a little substance in their musicals, but after a few drinks at dinner, with a group of fun friends out for a diverting evening of mindless musical madness, LUCKY ME is throwing a pretty good party.