Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Revisited

After disastrous early reviews and constant postponements, the Julie Taymor musical Spiderman closed down to revamp the material without Julie Taymor. Reports that her schedule didn’t allow for her to continue daily attention to the show was supposedly the reason she was replaced. Although Taymor maintains a credit as “Original Director,” Philip Wm. McKinley, a circus as well as a theatre man, was brought in to take over the direction. His contribution has improved the production tremendously. Young Chase Brock, leader of the small Brooklyn based dance company, “The Chase Brock Experience” and expert in the history and traditions of musical theatre, took over the choreography duties, though Daniel Ezralo retains his credit as dance and arial choreographer. Also, comic book writer and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa was brought in to revamp the book, originally written by Taymor and Glen Berger. This is the area where the most work was done, for the majority of the book is brand new and all for the better. Now the building of the relationship between Mary Jane (Jennifer Damiano) and Peter Parker (Reeve Carney) is realized, now Aunt May (Isabel Keating) is a full through-line character rather than a cameo, now the Green Goblin (Patrick Page) is fleshed out and spans the whole of the story. In the old version, Act II. had a villainess, Arachne (T.V. Carpio), take over the plot in a confusing and senseless episode that didn’t relate much to the first act. Now the character is a kind of guardian angel for Peter Parker. Keeping the character allowed some of the production’s most stunning images to remain, even though the character has been changed and diminished. No problem there, for what we really want to see is how a lonely teenage boy suddenly finds himself with extraordinary powers and how he will use those powers for the greater good. The over all scope of the story now matches, more or less, what we know from the film, though it is told through high concept and immense spectacle. The book has structure, intelligence, character development and holds a bland, rock soundscape of a score together.

Bono and the Edge have significantly reworked their score to accommodate the story changes––especially in Act II. Songs have been moved around to new places, new lyrics added, new titles applied and it all makes sense now. However, the score is an ocean of rock ballads, is entirely uninventive, lacks variety and is over amplified to the point of drowning the singers half of the time. It is impossible to judge the lyrics, but thanks to the crystal clear book, it is easy to follow the story without understanding the lyrics. Even Peter Parker’s big power ballad, “The Boy Falls From the Sky,” which is given the power ballad treatment with the orchestrations, lighting and the actor’s final gesture of fist in air, is bland and without a thrill. Yet, a good portion of the audience reacted to it the way those Frank Wildhorn fans react to his power ballads in Jekyll and Hyde and other shows. But, there was no high belted note, no American Idol vocal pyrotechnics––just a middle of the road easily held long note in a comfortable placement. Reeve Carney’s singing voice is not shown to the greatest potential. Nor is Jennifer Damiano showcased well, for Mary Jane is a character that demands a great song and is given what amounts to leftovers. The authors have not utilized the talents of the leading couple to the best effect. The score fails the show more than any other element at this point.

The sets and costumes from the first version are retained with slight modifications and a lot more video projections to help in the transitions formerly handled by an irritating group of teenagers who used to narrate the show. Those narrators are thankfully gone, but this change didn’t help give the show a better pace. The show still plods along at times, especially during the first half hour as we lead up to the moment Peter discovers his powers in one of the more inventive numbers, “Bouncing Off the Walls,” where he literally springs and dances from ceiling to wall to wall. Chase Brock has added plenty of interesting moves to compliment the spirit and style of the street dancing and acrobatics that have always dominated the show’s musical staging, but he has added some quieter moments––giving the staging a poetry that elevates the experience above the level of an elaborate amusement park show.

All said and done, the production does play like an amusement park show, but at least now it all makes sense. Those who saw the first version will notice the good in the changes, but ultimately this does not make Spiderman a good musical. For the teenagers and kids in the audience it was obviously an amazing experience and visually it is wonderful. A 14 year old boy seeing Spiderman as his first Broadway experience is bound to think that Broadway is pretty cool. For a seasoned theatre goer, this show may be a curiosity, but more so it is bound to be a disappointment.

The Addams Family

It took me a year to get to THE ADDAMS FAMILY and I can’t say the wait was worth it. What is astonishing is that this was a musical that was flat out panned and yet, it is still running a year later. I am convinced that it’s the title. America has had a love affair with these characters ever since Charles Addams first brought them to life in the New Yorker. The cult classic TV series insured their place in pop culture––in reruns it was one of my favorite shows next to THE MUNSTERS. In the 1990s we got the big screen version and a brilliant sequel, ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES with a screenplay by Paul Rudnick. Perhaps Paul Rudnick should have been brought on board to do the book instead of Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, for he proved that a story could be told that harnessed all the one frame jokes that are typical of the original cartoons. What we get on Broadway is a second rate LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, but instead of the unconventional family being gay, they are the Addams family. Instead of the other family being conservative politicians, they are simply “normal.” The boy and the girl wanting to get married in this scenario are Wednesday Addams (Rachel Potter making her Broadway debut) and the normal boy she met in the park, Lucas (Jesse Swenson from SPRING AWAKENING). Wednesday tries to make the family create a “normal” dinner party for her boyfriend’s family. Of course it all goes wrong, but everyone learns (all too quickly) to accept each other’s differences.

There are many half funny lines, a few really good ones, but mostly the book is trite. Puppet master, Basil Twist, creates most of the magic with Cousin It, an octopus and effects surrounding Uncle Fester flying to the moon. The overall design is a delight thanks to Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, but it is a wonder that this creative team also directed the production. Not that the staging is poor, but it is generally the case that the directors and choreographer (Sergio Trujillo) are as instrumental in the creation of the final material of a musical as the book writers and Andrew Lippa the composer would be. The authors are not the only ones too blame for this bland and pointless entertainment.

Now as Gomez, Roger Rees makes a fine head of the haunted household and he seems to be having a grand time. Bebe Neuwirth continues on as Morticia and she looks magnificent, dances well, though she hasn’t been challenged, and she has begun to sing with a vibrato that sounds like a Model T Ford starting up. Rachel Potter sings Mr. Lippa’s songs with pleasing power, while Adam Riegler as Pugsley sings with such unpleasant swallowed tones that it is a wonder he was cast. There are many boys on Broadway right now that could have made Mr. Lippa’s music sound much better. Brad Oscar is perfect as Uncle Fester, giving it a strong dose of Jackie Coogan, which is just as well. Heidi Blickenstaff shines as Alice Beineke with the best voice in the show, while Adam Grupper is merely sufficient as Mal Beineke, though this has as much to do with the shallowness of the role. It is difficult for any actor, no matter how good they usually are, to make Broadway magic out of mediocre material and that is the best you can say for THE ADDAMS FAMILY––mediocre.

On the other hand, in secondary licensing, the show will sell well. The high school market will eat this up. They’ll take a look at it based on the title alone and it just may be the show to entice reticent boys to join the drama clubs of America. The large group of teenagers sitting behind me seemed to love the production, while the “adults” sitting around me barely cracked a chuckle. Obviously there is an audience for this show as is, but it is just too bad that such a good idea turned out to be so disappointing.

Book of Mormon

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, famous as the creators of “South Park” for TV, along with Robert Lopez of AVENUE Q fame, have created a hilarious new musical that is so wrong that it’s right. Full of crude humor that gets laughs simply by being shocking and covering topics not usually discussed on the Broadway musical theatre stage, this show is as smart as it is base. The howls of laughter that greeted THE PRODUCERS were in response to the audacity of Mel Brooks to “go there” with jokes that lacked all sense of the politically correct. The jokes in THE BOOK OF MORMON spring from a similar place, which illicit screams of “I can’t believe they said that” laughter throughout the evening.

The story concerns a pair of Mormon missionaries, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham (Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad) who are assigned to Uganda, Africa. They join a group of boys already established there, but who have had little success in converting the local population. Elder Cunningham, the least likely to succeed of the leading pair, finds a way to get the locals to listen to his message by basically making up his own version of the religion, interpolating elements of STAR WARS, LORD OF THE RINGS and other mythologies into the Joseph Smith story. The locals take his wacky new version of the Mormon religion to heart and view Elder Cunningham as their new prophet. To explain any more of the story is to give away the abundance of surprises collected in this show, but the premise is a mere springboard for more hilarity than you can imagine.

Andrew Rannells displays a well-scrubbed golden-boy Mormon convinced of his dynamic ability to follow his mission with great success. As with all of the characters, Rannells’ cheery cartoon of a person is likeable and he sings with clean tones and a direct delivery. Josh Gad is rather reminiscent of his character, “Barfee,” from SPELLING BEE, but his particular shtick is just as perfect for this show. There is something of “Abbot and Costello” about this pair and they make a solid comedy team. The rest of the ensemble, lead by the familiar Lewis Cleale as older adult characters, play multiple roles in whimsical costumes by the legendary Ann Roth who does more work than even the cast in defining characters. Nikki M. James is the main character, Nabulungi, of the African population, displaying a comical innocence within the lunacy of the story and a terrific singing voice. The African ensemble is equally funny in individual ways as well as a group when they put on their own version of Cunningham’s revised religion in the style of “Small House of Uncle Thomas” from THE KING AND I­­—one of the most inspired scenes of comedy ever to be conceived for the Broadway stage.

Casey Nicholaw has choreographed and shared the directing duties with Trey Parker. Together they have sharpened this entertainment into a fast paced frolic. If there is any serious criticism of the Mormon religion, it is handled by simply pointing out the facts, which are difficult to dispute. However, in the same breath there is a criticism of all religions, for they all have their illogical and fantastic stories that must be taken in faith without any proof. This musical doesn’t instruct the audience to believe or not to believe, but by having the locals take so easily to Elder Cunningham’s imaginative twist on the “Book of Mormon,” the creators of this musical are pointing out how equally fanciful the stories of the established religions can be.

Underneath the delight of Ann Roth’s costumes sits the clever and detailed sets by Scott Pask. He has added numerous sight gags, from his view of Salt Lake City showing the cathedral surrounded by fast food chains, a drop depicting the amusement parks of Orlando, the fire pits of Hell, to a rather elaborately detailed village in Uganda. All departments have done their part to add comedy at every turn and the result is the most outlandish and hysterical show on Broadway.

Catch Me if You Can

If you took HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS and WILL ROGERS FOLLIES and smashed them together you might get CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Although, the show biz framing isn’t the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, but the TV variety show of the 1960s, which is the setting of the story about teenager Frank Abagnale, Jr., who ran away from home, brilliantly passed bad checks, successfully posed as an airline pilot and doctor before getting caught when he made the mistake of falling in love and telling the truth for once. The crazy thing is that it’s all based on a true story, but now it is musical comedy done in the most traditional way with an economically solid book by Terrence McNally and songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Jack O’Brien has directed the fun and Jerry Mitchell has choreographed it to suit the concept. The combination of these smart people have brought us THE FULL MONTY, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS and HAIRSPRAY in the recent past and now they have delivered a bright and entertaining show that should prove to be one of great durability.

It is not so very often that the musical theatre gives us a breakout star turn role in a new musical, but here is one now and Aaron Tveit is the star. He leaves the stage only long enough to change costumes, which is when his costars, Norbert Leo Butz or Kerry Butler get to take stage alone to sing. There is some very nice intermingling with Tom Wopat and Rachel De Benedet as his parents, but this is Aaron Tveit’s show all the way. Mr. Tveit is well known to Broadway as Gabe from NEXT TO NORMAL and he was a dandy Link Larkin for a while in HAIRSPRAY. Here he dances up a storm and the score shows off is gigantic vocal range. He is of course rather handsome and athletic, which makes this scoundrel of a character all the more appealing. Like J. Pierrpont Finch, we should really not be rooting for this devious devil to succeed, but he is so appealing that we want to see him win and take delight in his every illegal achievement. Mr. Tveit’s talents are so unusually broad, that because the role was written to show off his talents, it may be very difficult to satisfactorily replace him when the time comes.

Norbert Leo Butz has turned into one of our prime Broadway personalities and as Agent Carl Hanratty he has stamped his signature on a role in permanent ink and he too will be difficult to replace. His first big number, “Don’t Break the Rules,” with the chorus dancing behind him, shows a style of movement that may have started with steps by Jerry Mitchell, but it will never be danced again as it was danced by Mr. Butz. His rubber band limbs stretch and slide around in a comical abandon that hasn’t been seen since the days of Ray Bolger.

The female characters of the show have very little to do. The female chorus has quite a lot to do. As showgirls, they are in constant use as airline attendants, nurses and back up dancers to frame Mr. Tveit. As the girlfriend Brenda, Kerry Butler was just right, but it is only too bad that she has been given the lesser of songs, “Fly, Fly Away.” Even in this show biz conceptual world, the ability of her character to sing a song of support a second after finding out that her husband to be has lied to her about absolutely every aspect of his life is hardly plausible. This is the one moment when I lost faith in the show and then the song was mundane and didn’t really show off Ms. Butler’s vocal gifts. This will be a disappointment to any Broadway fan who knows just how magnificent Ms. Butler’s powerhouse voice really is. The mother is winningly played by Rachel de Benedet, who has somehow only made small contributions to the Broadway stage over the past twenty years and it’s a shame because she is a wonderful talent. Her beauty and grace, her small dances and her duet with Tom Wopat, “Don’t Be a Stranger,” were all just right. However, knowing this actress from my years at the California Musical Theatre in much more demanding roles, it is too bad that she wasn’t given something to better show her off. The other female principal is practically a cameo as Brenda’s mother, but Linda Hart, who has been popping in and out of Broadway shows for the past twenty years turns in a delightful character again.

It is always nice to see Tom Wopat on Broadway and we have had the pleasure of his company the past decade in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, 42ND STREET, CHICAGO, A CATERED AFFAIR, SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM and now a very good turn in this. He has a few nice things to sing and handles the most serious moments of the show as a down on his luck drunk with a kind of sober reality not seen in any other part of the show. One might say that the character of Frank’s father leaves the style of the production to a degree, but the seriousness of this character’s downfall helped to ground the story with a bit of the harshness of life.

The great William Ivey Long, who has been called upon to costume so many sparkling showgirl costumes in the past, has done it again, but he is strangely understated here. He could have gone much bigger and got away with it, but he has accurately evoked the types of costumes seen in the great variety shows that once dominated the airwaves. David Rockwell has designed the simplest set––also accurate to the concept (I think I saw it on the “Judy Garland Show” once). The orchestra is seated within the set up stage and the musicians are all handsomely dressed in white dinner jackets. Stairs cascade down from an upper level and the necessary furniture lifts from below stage when needed. Added elements of design appropriate for each scene fly in and out to complete a look for a sequence. This elaborate unit set is all the show really needed and so, in an unlikely Broadway choice, the show has been restrained from what could easily have gone into design overload. Light Designer Kenneth Posner has given the show just the right pizzaz for the concept and nicely defines areas to create more intimate moments. His flashiest trick is a moving cloud effect across the act curtain, but after that he has simply served the demands of the show.

This is a happy new musical, rather clean in a PG kind of way, completely delightful at every turn and most importantly it propels Aaron Tveit into a new level of Broadway stardom. This musical breaks no new ground, it does not reinvent anything and it might have been written in 1960. There is nothing wrong with any of that, for it unabashedly serves its purpose to purely entertain. The show should be good for at least three to five years on Broadway and a popular national tour, after which the high schools of America will happily take it on and keep it alive for years to come.

Where's Charley?

The way Cy Feuer and Ernie Martin, a pair of green Broadway producers, launched their illustrious career was this concept: A musical of CHARLEY’S AUNT staring Ray Bolger. That did it. That got everyone necessary on board––especially after Ray Bolger heard the idea. And on this idea without a single note of music written the enterprise was launched, an opening date chosen, and everyone went to work on what would become Frank Loesser’s introduction to Broadway, WHERE’S CHARLEY. The show ran two years, which equaled a hit in those days, despite mixed reviews and got a rather faithful movie treatment. Two things have kept WHERE’S CHARLEY from entering the cannon of the thirty or so most often revived titles from musical theatre history. The first is because there was a strike in the recording industry and so WHERE’S CHARLEY wasn’t given a cast album. Why it wasn’t made when the strike was over we’ll never know, but there it is. The second reason is that the movie never went to video and hasn’t been released on DVD. It doesn’t even show up on TV anymore, though it used to and so it is possible to hunt down a copy of it from some musical comedy lover or other who happened to record it on their VCR once upon a time. The film features most of the Broadway cast, including Ray Bolger, so we have a fair idea of what those performances were like. Seeing it now at City Center Encores, it seems antique, even for a 1940s show. It seems like a valentine to the Jerome Kern Princess Theater musicals era the way THE BOY FRIEND is a valentine to 1920s musicals. The score, though appropriate to the material, does not yet sound like the Frank Loesser that would follow, so to my ear now it sounds undistinguished. My friend Jim pointed out to me that this may have everything to do with the fact that we don’t have a recording and we didn’t grow up with the movie like we have with so many others of the classic shows. Had we lived with WHERE’S CHARLEY as we have THE SOUND OF MUSIC or so many others, maybe there would be more revivals in the world and maybe I would think more of a mostly unfamiliar score. On the other hand, I have discovered plenty of old shows––even rare ones––and have been enchanted by those scores on a first listen. Recording or no recording, video or no video, maybe WHERE’S CHARLEY isn’t the greatest score in the world. The book by GEORGE ABBOTT isn’t so hot either––one joke over two acts of Charley dressing up as his aunt to play a proper chaperone to he and his roommate’s girlfriends. Complications ensue. Think of it as a Victorian SOME LIKE IT HOT or TOOTSIE, but without any contemporary social commentary to give it substance. When it comes down to it the main attributes of WHERE’S CHARLEY were Ray Bolger and a little number called “Once in Love With Amy.” It’s still the stand out of the show.

John Doyle directs and Alex Sanchez choreographs with Rob Berman heading the usual great Encores full orchestra. Charley is played by a delightful person new to just about anyone, Rob McClure. He made a splash in the press last fall in a new musical about Charlie Chaplin called LIMELIGHT at the La Jolla Playhouse. So, he is brand new to the New York audience and he is a delight. He makes the old boy-in-dress routine work wonders. His girl Amy is the perky Lauren Worsham with a wonderfully expressive soprano voice that made “The Woman in His Room” a show-stopper. Roommate Jack is handled nicely by Sebastian Arcelus and makes the sappy, “My Darling, My Darling,” very lovely with the help of Jill Paice as Kitty. The older couple is elevated by the talents of Broadway stalwarts Rebecca Luker and Howard McGillin with a charming delivery of “Lovelier Than Ever.” Jeff Brooks, Dan Callaway and Dakin Matthews are well cast in supporting character roles. Ann Hould-Ward has given the production nearly the full period treatment with the costumes, which was necessary to properly put us in the period mood. John Lee Beatty’s single garden patio set served its basic purpose. This is a concert staging, so nothing more should be expected and actually, the costumes were rather elaborate for a concert production. There is a strange, but enjoyable, ballet at the end of act one called “Pernambuco,” where Charlie as his Aunt describes her home town in Brazil (where the nuts come from). It’s got a south of the boarder theme to it, which pegs the show as a 1940s entertainment because thanks to FDR’s “good neighbor” policy, south of the boarder subjects were everywhere in show business and a trend was created. The ballet has no business being in the show, but the shenanigans are so implausible that one can shrug and say, “why not?” It is alarming how little happens during the course of this musical and by the end of the two acts how quickly everything is wrapped up. WHERE’S CHARLEY doesn’t really hold up, but it has its charms and it was nice to have the chance to see it at the City Center with the full orchestra and a first class cast.

Anything Goes

Four times has New York seen Cole Porter’s ANYTHING GOES: the original production in 1934, Off Broadway in 1962, at Lincoln Center in 1987 and now at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. In a way, ANYTHING GOES has been a work in progress, getting tweaked every time it gets a major production. P.G. Wodehouse is often given the most credit for the book, although the truth is that he wrote a scenario that Guy Bolton was to flesh out, that is to say, generally add the jokes. Porter would insert the songs into this mix. However, the show was about a shipwreck and in the middle of writing it the headlines were full of a real shipwreck off the coast of New Jersey and it was rightly felt that this event would render the book inappropriate for a musical comedy. So, P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton being in London and unavailable for immediate assistance made necessary the inclusion of two new book collaborators, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, who turned the show into ANYTHING GOES as we basically know it. Then, over the years, Cole Porters songs were added and subtracted until we have what emerged by 1987 at Lincoln Center––a tightened up version of what basically happened in 1934, but with modern know how (this revision was penned by Timothy Crouse––the son of Russel––and John Weidman). In other words, the clunkiness of 1930s book musicals was refined without taking the period spirit out of it. Tinkering has occurred again under the direction of director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall with new dance arrangements to accommodate her own original vision for the dances and a general de-Mermanizing of the Reno Sweeney numbers. Sutton Foster is a dancing Reno Sweeney this time, with less emphasis on the Merman belt. In fact, all of those big long held Merman notes that composers inserted into her numbers ever since she exploded onto Broadway with “I Got Rhythm” in GIRL CRAZY were excised, saving big belted notes only for the ends of “Anything Goes” and “Blow Gabriel Blow.” There is a little disappointment in this, for one of the things that makes ANYTHING GOES what it is, is that Merman influence. Patti LuPone didn’t disappoint us in 1987, for her Reno Sweeney was the modern age equivalent of Ethel Merman, as was also displayed in her turn as Rose in GYPSY. Still, Foster is a delight and it is smart to underline her talents as a dancer while allowing her to make the signature Merman numbers her own. Foster actually comes off a little too sweet, when the character is really a brassy broad. Her blonde wig doesn’t help her image either, but she is gorgeous in her Martin Pakledinaz gowns and sort of blends in as an ensemble member in a show actually dominated by the romantic leading man (the new talent, Colin Donnell as Billy), the ingenue girl (Laura Osnes as Hope), the British caricature (Adam Goodley as Evelyn) and the gangster in the form of a Broadway Legend (Joel Grey as Moonface).

Derek McLane has designed the ship setting lengthwise, rather than Lincoln Center’s frontal view. The pieces of this tri-level set open and close to aid in the illusion of changing locals. Wagons track in to supply the staterooms, jail cell and opening scene’s Manhattan bar. The set is more of a surprise than in 1987, for it has a greater variety of changes and yet it has an economical usefulness to it. It all looks properly art deco and functions just as required without being overly designed. The show is a pretty package.

“Your the Top” includes an extra verse of perviously unheard lyrics as a surprise and retains the old school use of the encore to everyone’s delight. Musicals in the 1930s were about clever lyrics rather than character or plot––that’s the point of the enjoyment of this kind of show. ANYTHING GOES could only be turned into an integrated “Rodgers and Hammerstien” style show to a point. In 1962, the changes were all made to try and transform the show into a more integrated and balanced one. That version, until 1987, was the only version that could be licensed. Two key song interpolations from that production have therefore become a part of the fabric of ANYTHING GOES: “Friendship” and “It’s De-lovely.” We would miss them if we simply went back to 1934, so they were kept in the Lincoln Center edition and they are in now as well.

Colin Donnell should be a delightful surprise to all. Several Broadway stalwarts might have played Billy, but we get the unknown Mr. Donnel in this key role. He is like Gene Kelly, dancing quite a lot more than the usual Billy would, but singing better than Gene Kelly ever could. He was seen in JERSEY BOYS, but otherwise has been out of town on various tours. ANYTHING GOES is bound to make a true Broadway star out of him. His “Easy to Love” and “It’s De-Lovely” with Ms. Osnes, both turn into charming “Fred and Ginger” numbers very effectively. Ms. Osnes sings her “Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye” beautifully (a song added for the character in 1987) and makes an underwritten character quite easy to love (as the lyric goes).

Adam Godley comes to Broadway from London and is ideal as Lord Evelyn. He has the voice of a character singer and has some trouble with higher held notes, but his perfection in the role triumphs. Joel Grey is adorable as Moonface Martin and is given a little extra time in “Blue Bird” to dance a soft shoe with a blue spot of light. This is a nice gesture to a legendary theatre man who deserves to have a special moment to shine. The other featured roles are all handled expertly by the likes of John McMartin, Jessica Walter, Jessica Stone, Walter Charles and Robert Creighton. The chorus is made up of pretty girls and the most uniform collection of sturdy straight seeming men to be seen in a single Broadway chorus. That is not a plus or a negative, but the uniformity of the type of male dancer cast was interesting and at the moment, unique.

For all the excellence of the cast, design, and choreography, the show comes off as only durable. There is a lack of precision in the book scenes with regards to the execution of all the walk across jokes and gags, but the show is in previews now and this could all tighten up and elevate the production to the level of pop and fizz it should rightly obtain. I may not be able to get over the loss of the Merman-esque arrangements, but that’s my problem. Ms. Foster should not have to be compared to Merman or LuPone, but she will be all the same. Still, after dancing up a storm with the entire cast for the title song, she somehow squares off with the audience and Mermanates her final note to the back of the theater! Where’s the air coming from? There is plenty of delight in this ANYTHING GOES, but it isn’t the exciting blast of old time musical comedy delight I was wishing for. I was hoping to be thrilled to pieces the way I was with recent revivals of 42ND STREET, SOUTH PACIFIC and FINIAN’S RAINBOW. ANYTHING GOES is still worth it, for there is no better place to hear some of the greatest Cole Porter songs sung beautifully with a live orchestra.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Harry Potter turns it in! Daniel Radcliffe may forever be known as J.K. Rowling’s boy wizard, but he’s been branching out on Broadway––first in the drama EQUUS in 2008 and now in the Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert classic musical. Nothing up until now has prepared us for a singing and dancing Daniel Radcliffe, but sing he does with a suitable voice and dance he does with surprising skill and athleticism. The original J. Pierrpont Finch was the elfin embodiment of Robert Morse, filled with odd quirky business that had no explanation except for hilarity. On the other hand, for all of Morse’s clowning, he found the right moments to be real in an otherwise cartoon world. Matthew Broderick found his own unique brand of comic business along with surprising the world with his singing and dancing talents in the same way that makes Radcliffe a delight, but only thanks to the wit of the Pulitzer Prize winning book of this musical is Mr. Radcliffe funny. He is cute, he is ernest, he is a good sport to be tossed around by the much taller dancers of the company, but he has not found in Finch that strange and quirky character that Morse and Broderick unleashed and that makes the illogical nerve of the character seem plausible. Here we are to believe Finch is capable of propelling to the top of the ladder simply from the voice of Anderson Cooper giving him advise as the guide book of the show’s title. I have before always felt that Finch was somehow insane, causing that lack of judgment that would stop any sane man from actually trying the steps outlined in Shepherd Mead’s satire on big business circa 1960. Although Mr. Radcliffe may not be particularly distinctive as Finch, he comes with a kind of distinction by being the star of the most popular film franchise of the decade––we like him immediately and we want him to succeed. In the end he succeeds most admirably.

Rob Ashford is both director and choreographer, but is most confident when staging the numbers. However, inbetween the numbers the book scenes are muddy and the actors seem to meander. Jokes that high school students have pulled off don’t land and the general delivery of the book does not have that one-two-punch of the “New Yorker” style cartoons that is part of the territory of this show. We are early in previews now, so it is completely possible that the book scenes will clean up a bit. What won’t be improved is the general lack of character in this production’s cast. Luckily we know something of the original production because most of the Broadway talent also did the film (a decent film even if half the score was cut) and what we know is that the characters were CHARACTERS. They were big, they had bits, they had double takes, they could give a slow burn, and in that blown up world they were still credible. This was also the case with the last revival. With few exceptions the current cast does not compare. Is this Rob Ashford being afraid to truly take on the style of the show? I don’t think so because he manages it expertly during the numbers. It can only be the actors’ lack of know how in a kind of performance that may have been lost in the past twenty years or so. The folks that shine include Tammy Blanchard as Hedy La Rue who gives an original take on the dizzy dame sexpot. Rob Bartlett as both Mr. Twimble and Wally Womper pops as that old time character man that the show requires, making the other principal men seem quite dull. There is nothing in Nick Mayo’s Mr. Gatch or Michael Park’s Mr. Bratt to match the delight of Rob Bartlett’s performance––in fact their comic potential has been ignored.

John Larroquette makes his Broadway debut as J. B. Biggley and is appropriate, though he adds nothing special to the role, letting only the book do the very good job of supplying him with all the humor he really needs to succeed. When you consider the Bud Frumps of the past, Christopher J. Hanke isn’t the first person in the Broadway circle that comes to mind and although he is not offensive in the role, he has done nothing for it but accept the Sally Jesse Rafael glasses that costume designer Catherine Zuber has given him to wear. The red glasses are his character definition and he gets only half the comedy out of a character who is usually comic gold. Hanke’s Frump is a spoiled Ivy League golden boy and far too normal and bland to properly inhabit the world of the play. We are better off with the ladies. Rose Hemmingway makes a lovely Rosemary––she is just right and sings brightly. Mary Faber is an ideal Smitty, offering a nice contrast of character to Rosemary. Ellen Harvey has the right stature to succeed as Mrs. Jones and takes us back to the original production’s opera style break out solo during “Brotherhood of Man.”

For the most part, Rob Ashford’s musical numbers are what really hold the show together. Staged around a cubical wall of levels reminiscent of Gower Champion’s BYE BYE BIRDIE, Mr. Ashford manages some inventive surprises. There are times when he has over choreographed, such as the opening sequence of mid-century modern jazz dance set to the title song with Radcliffe in the middle of it all looking bewildered. Then there is the shock of tap dancing added to “Cinderella Darling,” which is glaringly out of place. On the other hand he develops “Grand Old Ivy” into a fantasy football game with the male chorus, who tosses Radcliffe tumbling in slow motion over their heads to great effect. There is the staging of “Been A Long Day” inside the elevator that becomes more crowded with every floor. “The Company Way” is choreographed to the routines of a mailroom and rises to the level of genius. Best of all there is the perfect staging of “Brotherhood of Man” with Radcliffe causing various groups to fall in line to an infectious dance that is precise and intricate and asks the young star to perform as well as the seasoned chorus behind him, which he does with perfection. The number is as rousing as Mr. Radcliffe is astonishing in it.

This revival is welcome and so is its star. It may not be perfectly directed, but it is great fun all the same. The youngsters might not get it and they certainly won’t hold any nostalgia for it––which is inevitably a part of its potential success. The young man sitting next to me said, “I think I saw this show recently and it was called PROMISES, PROMISES.” Yes the two shows cover some of the same ground (certainly similar wardrobes), but this one came first and it is a bona fied musical comedy classic of the first order. The material itself along with the capable star makes up for any other shortcomings the production may have.

CHICAGO 15 Years In

Bianca Marroquin

I lucked into a free ticket to CHICAGO, but then so many others did too. This performance was full of fans who won free tickets on Facebook. I did not win my ticket on Facebook, but rather someone else did and it was handed off to me, but there I was. I had seen the show twice on the road in Sacramento about twelve years ago and outside of the movie, haven’t thought about the show since. In fact, I would sometimes walk by the Ambassador Theatre and be re-surprised that CHICAGO was still running. This is quite an amazing success story when you consider this is a revival of a show that ran only two years the first time out. This production started as a City Center Encores! concert and is more or less exactly the same as that concert production with the lines memorized. The show is produced in the simplest way and yet it is as chic as a late 1990’s Vogue photo spread––a look that still holds up as sexy. The whole show holds up, even without a star stuck in to boost ticket sales. The low maintanence of the production accounts for some of its longevity.

Right now there is “nobody” in it. There is, however, a cast of talented people, most of whom have been in and out of the show for years––on the tour, Broadway and playing it in London. Bianca Marroquin as Roxy comes from the Mexico production originally and Leigh Zimmerman as Velma was in the opening night cast as “Kitty.” Zimmerman is long and fierce, is a beautiful dancer of the Fosse style and can really belt out her numbers. It took me a bit to warm up to Marroquin, but eventually found her to be quite clever and delighted in the way she found new original ways to deliver the old lines. Although she is short of stature, Marroquin kept up with Zimmerman all the way with high kicks and tremendous energy. Colman Domingo, lately from SCOTTSBORO BOYS, has taken over Billy Flynn. He may not be inspired, but he keeps the entertainment going. LaVon Fisher-Wilson tears it up as “Mama” Mortan and R. Lowe’s drag soprano is truly amazing for Mary Sunshine. The show is in top form, though it doesn’t seem nearly as fresh and exciting as it did a decade ago. A few of the long term chorus boys have put on a few pounds and are doughier than their revealing costumes allow. As a group, the chorus is not nearly as ferocious as they once were.

In the audience of this special performance were past cast members Chita Rivera, Uta Lemper and director Walter Bobbie. Seth Rudeski hosted a pre-show giveaway of prizes and everyone walked away with a t-shirt. This was the kind of performance where the songs received applause at the beginning of the numbers as well as the end. A theater full of devoted fans is not a bad crowd with which to pay another visit to CHICAGO!

Uta Lemper signing autographs outside of CHICAGO

Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark

When I was small I had seen Walt Disney’s Peter Pan and wished out loud that “they” would make a live action version. My mother informed me that “they” had; that an actress named Mary Martin had starred in it on the Broadway stage. I then began dreaming about a time when I could see this live action stage version. When I was in my late teens I came across an LP in a record shop of It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman the Musical and began to salivate. That was a fascination for me––live on stage the characters beforehand only having been in the movies and animated. I finally did see a very good production of “Superman the Musical” at PCPA in Santa Maria and of course have seen Peter Pan on stage many times. When I was twelve I would have loved to be taken to Julie Taymor’s Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, and would have forgiven its flaws as a musical play and reveled in its spectacle of the mere sight of Spiderman spinning webs and flying over the audience. As an adult, I have no choice but to step back and really see this gargantuan, multimillion dollar experience for what it is––not so good. I will go on to say that I was fascinated by the show and delighted by many individual components. However, string those components together and you have a lot of noise, but not much of a play. Is it supposed to be a musical play or simply a concept––an experience? Expectations will have a lot to do with each individual’s reaction, which so far has ranged from “the worst show I ever saw,” to “I loved it.”

Let it be known that I saw the thirtieth preview performance. By this point the show should have been frozen and ready to open next week, but it has been postponed another month due to the well reported accidents as this wild theatrical experiment irons out the kinks. What I have always loved about Julie Taymor is her visual expression on stage. With puppets, masks, theatrical conventions both embraced and broken, she gives us unusual perspectives, pictures, images and characters. Her imagination is not restricted by the stage but opened up. She is both a serious professional who believes she is imparting a profound message and a kid who has the best box of Crayola crayons ever and her most extravagant dreams are still not her limit. What Taymor was able to do with The Lion King so perfectly has not happened for “Spiderman.” For one thing, she does not have a good enough story to tell––at least the way she and Glen Berger have written it along with songs by Bono and The Edge.

The show plays like a staged concept album in the vein of The Who’s Tommy or American Idiot, only the concept album did not come first this time. Bono and The Edge have written songs with appropriate hooks: “Bouncing Off the Walls”, “Rise Above”, “The Boy Falls From the Sky,” which all sound good for a “Spiderman” musical, but the end result is a ballad heavy song cycle with interspersed dialogue to keep a sense of story together. The sound is horrid and so it is impossible to appreciate the lyrics if they are to be appreciated at all. The book, for the first act anyway, follows generally what we know of the story from the film. For some reason a quartet of teens act as narrators, sometimes to clarify the muddle we have just witnessed and sometimes to cover a set change in the old fashioned “in one” convention. There are newer ways to cover a scene change and it could have been possible to tell the story through the characters rather than the children’s theater way of relating transition information. In the next month of previews it would be easy to cut those four teens and find better band-aids to cover the set changes (but sadly four actors would suddenly be out of work).

Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano

The character of Spiderman himself is played by every able bodied male in the cast at one point or another and sometimes all at once. This is not a straight forward telling of a story in any way––both a blessing and a problem. Peter Parker is played by the accessible Reeve Carney who is every bit the skinny nerdy teen, but with a cool pop rock voice. I found him to be very likable and enjoyed following his scenes when they came around between the spectacle. Jennifer Damiano is Mary Jane and she has a grounded center that is comforting within the cartoon craziness of the rest of the production. Both Damiano and Carney are real and believable, which was absolutely necessary to make the story work, for the rest of the characters are played to full comic book broadness. Reporters at the Daily Bugle, along with J.J. Jameson (Michael Mulheren) are plucked form The Front Page or some ‘40s film noir. Secretaries are plucked from Mad Men. Teenagers are painted in black and yellow and manipulated like dancers in a stylish music video. The many villains produced are in such fabulous costumes and masks that they are given a fashion show runway on which to show off since they have nothing else to do but look fabulous.

For all the bold images, street dancing, rock sounds and really spectacular flying effects, Act One works fairly well at introducing us to the characters. Peter acquires his powers and learns to use them, gets his job with the news paper, shyly attempts to start up a relationship with Mary Jane, etc. The Green Goblin (Patrick Page) emerges and there is a great flying fight between Spiderman and the Goblin to end the act over the heads of the audience. Act Two, by contrast, loses the story entirely. A new villain is brought forth named Arachne (T.V. Carpio of questionable talents), who is a spider goddess controlling Peter’s destiny, but all the interesting Spiderman flying is mostly over and we are informed of his daring exploits rather than fully seeing them realized. There are long stretches where we don’t see anything of Peter and Mary Jane––the only two characters we actually care about. When we do see them they are suddenly a couple then suddenly engaged. The “I love you” scene was building up through act one, but the declaration is the only pay off we get from these characters and it comes too soon in the second act so that we have nothing left for an ending but to have another actor as Spiderman save Mary Jane from her final peril. The other plot build up is Peter’s coming out as Spiderman, but the scene never happens and yet Mary Jane comes to know this truth by the end of the show. We are robbed of real dramatic scenes between the only two believable flesh and blood characters in the show. Am I wrong to want this? Perhaps the polite cocktail applause that greeted the numbers and the absent standing ovation at the end says something about the lack of humanity in the show. When it is all puppets, masks and noise it might be a sensory overload, but it isn’t moving. Ultimately, that is the expectation of a Broadway show, whether it is Annie Get Your Gun or Sweeney Todd.

The very spectacular set done in comic book style is credited to George Tspin and the costumes of insanity are credited to Eiko Ishioka, but Julie Taymor’s hand has been into every aspect, for the visual production has always been her concern. This is Julie Taymor’s show all the way––not to discredit the army of artists who helped to bring this production to life.

This production is so unusual that it has to be seen to be believed. I was not bored, but I left with a feeling of emptiness towards it. Yet I was constantly surprised and interested as the thing unfolded (literally at some moments). Everyone who can must see it just to see what can be done with sixty million. After all, that is one reason one lives in New York: to see a crazy theatrical experience that can’t be found anywhere else. My guess is that the title, not unlike The Adams Family, will survive the critics’ wrath and run the four years needed to pay off the investment, but if you don’t see it in New York you aren’t going to see it, save for an imagined Los Vegas engagement. The physicality of the show can’t tour and the literature of the piece isn’t good enough to come off well in a scaled down production. “Spiderman” is just one of those crazy things that happen in New York sometimes.

Billy Elliot Two Years In

Now two years in to the run, BILLY ELLIOT holds up. The performance I attended on Sunday evening gave us the surprise of director Stephen Daldry taking the stage at the top of the show to inform us that the “Billy” of the evening, Dayton Travares, would be giving his final performance. Travares is from Australia and had played Billy all through the Australian run. His entire family moved to New York so he could continue on with the Billy family for a little while longer on Broadway. Daldry gave a lovely heartfelt speech, thanking Travares and his parents for letting the Billy family share in his childhood. Now his voice was changing (many alternate notes were taken in the songs) and he is off to embark on his final spring into adulthood. But for this last night Travares gave an exemplary performance. It doesn’t seem to matter which boy you see as Billy, he simply controls the hearts of the audience and key numbers such as “Solidarity”, “Dream Ballet” and “Electricity” get the usual incredible reception that literalizes the concept of stopping the show. By comparison to other Billy’s past and present, Travares wasn’t the best singing Billy or even the best dancing Billy, but he was genuine, as all the boys who play the character must naturally be, and his talents were considerable enough to amaze us. It is a wonder what path all these fantastic boys who have had the glory of heading a Broadway mega-hit will take as the years go on.

Gregory Jbara continues on as Dad, but he is milking all of his bits further than he can go. He is acting like an old school Broadway clown in a show that has nothing to do with a star comedian turn. He has become comedically drunk in the Christmas scene, robbing us of the beauty of his folk song, “Deep Into the Ground.” The “esquire” bit with Billy’s letter and the business with the smoking ballet dancer are all prolonged as if Bert Lahr had taken over his body. Stephen Daldry was watching from the back, so maybe there will be a notes session before the next performance, or maybe it is time for Jbara to move on––despite the Tony.

Carole Shelley is still in as Grandma and she has become delightfully batty. If it were possible to dance even less of her choreography than she started with, she has mastered it. However, it is astonishing how she keeps finding little new things in her character.

Laura Marie Duncan is the new “Dead Mum” and she is just right. Some how Stephen Hanna keeps dancing “Older Billy,” now with an extra spring to it. Tommie Retter seems to be all the more enjoyable as Mr. Braithwaite and works his hideously greasy hair for all it’s worth. Neil McCaffrey, who was so great as Randolph in the BYE, BYE BIRDIE revival last season, is ideal as Billy’s cross-dressing friend Michael.

This production has always taken its time to make moments count––a different quality than Broadway’s usually slick, fast and funny mechanized production values. However, some of the moments in the second act have become MOOOOOMMMEEENNNTS. Still, outside of the show needing a little tightening, it delivers where it counts and BILLY ELLIOT holds its own as one of the really great shows of the decade.

During the finale the other Billys were watching the show from the box seats and cheering on their friend Dayton as he danced his last tap dance. It was a special occasion and as the audience departed, behind the act curtain could be heard the voices of the cast privately singing “Happy Trails to You” as a collective good-bye to Dayton Travares.

Elf

If you still delight in an annual viewing of the TV puppet-toon “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” or “Santa Clause is Coming to Town,” ELF is quite like those holiday specials come to life. Based on the film of the same name, Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin have composed a peppy Broadway score to go with Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin’s adaptation of the screenplay. This is no surprise of a score, but it is tuneful and it serves the proceedings, which are all full of delight, good will and holiday cheer. A nice new addition to the Christmas song catalog is the less than creatively titled, but wholly charming “A Christmas Song.” A clever number called “I’ll Believe in You”––a kind of anti-Christmas list––puts conditions on whether or not Beth Leavel as the mom and Matthew Gumley as the son will believe in Santa Clause and the two sing extremely well together. Mark Jacoby is the overworked father who neglects his family while the son just wants a day with his dad for Christmas. Anyone who can deliver that gift must be Santa Clause!

However, the main story here is that the Elf in question, Buddy, played with delightful glee by Sebastian Arcelus, has been informed that he’s actually human (which explains why he’s so tall), so he heads down to New York to find his real dad––the overworked Mark Jacoby. Either by accident or on purpose; by his innocence or his unorthodox resourcefulness, Buddy manages to fix the family and bring enough Christmas cheer to New York to keep Santa’s magic sleigh afloat (George Wendt supplies a cuddly off beat Santa). Along the way Buddy even finds a girlfriend in the depressed Amy Spanger whose life is brightened by his positive outlook and habit of breaking into cheerful song.

Casey Nicholaw has staged an old-fashioned musical comedy of the kind one might have seen around the late 1940s on David Rockwell’s wing and drop set adorned with Natasha Katz’s colorful lighting and animated projections. Gregg Barnes’ costumes walk the line between TV Christmas Variety Special and a true expression of character, which is to say: exactly as it should be.

This light hearted and bouncy show has as much for the adults as for the kids, but it is aimed directly at the audience that needs a little Christmas now and no one else. It makes a nice alternative to THE NUTCRACKER or the RADIO CITY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR. Humbugs stay home.

The Scottsboro Boys

Patrons arriving at the Lyceum Theater

Fred Ebb died in 2004 and did not live to see his show CURTAINS, written with John Kander, open on Broadway. Another show by the legendary pair who gave us CABARET and CHICAGO was THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS and after an Off Broadway run at the Vineyard Theatre last season, it has finally opened on Broadway at the Lyceum. Susan Stroman has staged it and David Thompson has written the book. Fred Ebb was the one with the big idea that the true story should be told in the style of a minstrel show. This sounds like a bold and controversial choice, but on the other hand using the world of show business as a way to frame a musical has always been Kander and Ebb’s way. Whether it is CABARET’S Kit Kat Klub, CHICAGO’S Vaudeville show, or KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN’S Hollywood musical film dreams, “Show Biz” has enabled Kander and Ebb to be both entertaining and deal with their very serious subjects all at once. This story takes place in the 1930s, a time when the American minstrel tradition was being brought back to life in the movies––viewed as a nostalgic old time form of entertainment that dated back to the 1840s. Even in the 1940s when Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were putting on minstrel shows in the barn, the genre was not looked at as inappropriate. This politically charged form turns out to be perfect for allowing for an exhilarating show and a playground for exploring this important story of social justice and an early civil rights benchmark.

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in BABES IN ARMS

The story, in short, concerns a group of black young men who, while riding the rails looking for work, were accused by two white women of rape. This was an out and out lie and caused the boys to go through numerous trials over a period of years for a crime they didn’t commit. A few of them were released from prison and years later a few more as well, but all of their lives were ruined. This sounds like a depressing story––it’s horrifying actually––but Kander and Ebb’s good old fashioned show tunes and Susan Stroman’s cake walks and tap dances brighten the whole thing up to a rousing and satirical good time. Even the dramatic scenes are performed in a heightened style in keeping with the minstrel show idea, but somehow, despite the highly choreographed nature, those scenes are still harrowing.

The design of the production is simple, with Stroman moving chairs around to help define spaces under a triplet of askew proscenium arches. Drapes come and go to help with the showmanship, but the bulk of the presentation is up to the fantastic cast who plays not only the boys of the title, but multiple other roles. The cast is all men, headed by John Cullum in the position of Interlocutor, Colman Domingo as the traditional Mr. Bones and Forrest McClendon as Mr. Tambo. Rosa Parks (Sharon Washington) is hovering around the whole time looking very significant, but doing nothing significant. The role will shortly become a bore for the actress, for she doesn’t sing or dance and has only one line. Still, her final moment is well worth the decision to add her.

The boys are played by Josh Breckenridge, Derrick Combey, Jeremy Gumbs, Joshua Henry, Rodney Hicks, Kendrick Jones, James T. Lane, Julius Thomas III., and Christian Dante White. The group sings and dances up a storm and the show offers each an opportunity to show off his strengths. The youngest, playing the 13 year old Eugene, has perhaps the most beautiful voice of the show. He is Jeremy Gumbs dancing a mean tap number in “Electric Chair” and shining forth with a golden lyrical voice in “Go Back Home.” He is a boy and his voice has not dropped, but he looks to be in danger of suddenly growing up, so hurry down to the Lyceum to see him before he gets replaced for daring to hit adolescence.

This is a great show––totally entertaining, historically fascinating, emotionally charged and such an unexpected gift to have a new Kander and Ebb show on Broadway.

The Scottsboro Boys in action

The Great Unknown

A wonderful entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival was THE GREAT UNKNOWN composed by Jim Wann of PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES fame and a book by William Hauptman best known for the book of BIG RIVER. This small contained musical told the post Civil War historical story of John Wesley Powell’s expedition down the Colorado River with a group of war veterans. Powell was played by Broadway veteran Tom Hewitt, who has filled out and aged a bit from his days as Frank Wildhorn’s DRACULA or ROCKY HORROR’S Frank N Furter. He is now a distinguished and robust looking man ready for a new era of roles and he leads this cast like the captain of the boat his character is. Powell’s brother Walter (Dan Amboyer) was a survivor of the Andersonville prison and returned home to find his brother had married the girl he was hoping to marry. She is Emma Powell, the only female character of prominence played by Kristin Maloney. The story focusses on the expedition party made up of the brothers and four men. There are pantomimed depictions of the various legs of the journey down river and camp stops––the compass breaks and the provisions are lost in the treacherous rapids. What is really discussed is the men’s residual bitterness of their war experiences and it is through this journey that they come to forgive and forget if not completely understand each other. Emma Powell materializes in flashbacks and the reading of letters to her husband that will never reach him. She would almost be useless except for the fact that it is nice to have a woman’s touch in the musical. This simple character exploration is elevated by a truly wonderful score of country western music. A small ensemble of two men and three women help to make the choral numbers sound big and rich and the soloists are all top notch. Particularly wonderful is young adolescent looking Thomas Wesley Stewart as Rhodes the cook. His song, “Lodore,” about the girls back home showed tremendous range and his effortless tenor voice was a thrill. The one black character, representing the new freedom from slavery is Somers (Bobby Daye), as part narrator, part moral compass, he finishes the show with a majestic ballad, “Memory Hill.” An ingeniously creative number lead by a character called Oramel Howland (Edmund Bagnell) who not only sings beautifully, but plays the violin while dancing with Celia Mei Rubin was the standout bit of staging by choreographer Liza Gennaro. Don Stephenson directed the show using the simplest of elements, making the 95 minute story as visually full of variety as the sound of the dynamic score.

A Little Night Music

The replacement cast of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC sounded almost better than the original revival cast. After walking like a robot through two Ethel Merman vehicles on Broadway, Bernadette Peters returned to the Sondheim world where she flourishes. However, she has not given up her schtick––that same mugging schtick we’ve been seeing since SUNDAY IN THE PARK with her baby doll voice for comic effect, the drawing out of words, creating strange line readings, throwing out those presentational arms for the long notes, etc. Even if you’ve never seen her live, then you’ve seen the videos of SUNDAY IN THE PARK or INTO THE WOODS and you know exactly what I’m referring to. Bernadette Peters is an old fashioned Broadway ham. Furthermore, just like in the Merman shows, she stopped the comedy to “make it real” for the ballad. This time the ballad is the well known “Send in the Clowns.” Everyone’s waiting for it, everyone knows it. La Peters delivers. But, after seeing her turn on the watery eyes in the middle of shows where she otherwise seems disconnected, it only seems part of her routine. Still, the performance of the hit tune worked and she made her exit to some fine applause. Not as fine as the hardy applause awarded to Leigh Ann Larkin as Petra, who followed up “Send in the Clowns” with a tremendous performance of “The Miller’s Son.” Larkin was perfectly good all night, but then came “The Miller’s Son” and she exploded into another realm of performance that became the highlight of the production.

Not a highlight was Elaine Stritch as Madame Armfeldt. Most likely it is her age, but Ms. Stritch went up on her lines three times (the same number of times she says the night smiles). It was up to little Keaton Whittaker as Fredrika to keep Ms. Stritch going by feeding her hints to get back on track. Ms. Stritch is like a wisecracking waitress from a ‘50s diner whacking away at her scenes. She gets laughs, but at the expense of the refinement, class and character of the show. Yet, there is something heartwarming about an aging star appearing in a role late in the career, for we all feel that we have somehow lucked out to be able to see the Legend one more time. Armfeldt’s death is particularly moving, not because of the character, but because there is a feeling that we might be saying goodbye to Elaine Stritch where the stage is concerned.

Henrick continues to be played by Hunter Ryan Herdlicka with a fine voice and his true cello skills. He is adorable and comical and gives the production quite a bit of charm. Fredrik is now played perfectly by Stephen R. Buntrock, who works beautifully with Ms. Peters. All of the supporting players meet or exceed expectations except for the bazaar performance of Ramona Mallory as Anne. Her line readings rise and fall in unnatural hills and valleys. She is nothing less than weird. Director Trevor Nunn needs to shake her and command her to become an actual person.

I was disappointed to hear that this revival would reduce the orchestration to eight pieces, but Jason Carr’s small orchestration is beautiful and I never thought I was getting less in the music department. David Farley’s set and costume designs are simple with an elaborate unit set that changes just enough to redefine spaces. There was an elegance in the simplicity. For all my little complaints this production was an overall joy. Another joy is the fact that the past ten years on Broadway have been dominated by revivals of Sondheim shows. One after the other we’re getting a chance to see top grade productions of all of them. For now we get A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at least until January.