Reviews of:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Aida
A Class Act
Contact
42nd Street
The Invention of Love
Judgment at Nuremberg
Proof
The Rocky Horror Show
Seussical--The Musical
Stones in His Pockets
The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife

Broadway, the Great White Way of American Theater, is very alive and well in the Spring of 2001. It’s so healthy, in fact, that a few shows that wanted to open this season could not because there wasn’t a theater available for them. Cats may have sung its final meow and Miss Saigon’s helicopter may have flown its last flight, but there are still plenty of long running shows to see in case you haven’t had the chance. Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera keep the crowds entertained as do Rent, Chicago, Cabaret and Fosse.

MUSICALS

Seussical--The Musical

This delightful confection of Dr. Seuss characters by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime) deserved more Tony recognition and a longer life than it had. Although it opened in November, it closed two weeks after receiving a solo Tony nomination for actor Kevin Chamberlin. The production, the fun score, and some production elements deserved recognition. The Cat in the Hat (Cathy Rigby) led the audience through the different threads of stories from Seuss’ work. Chamberlin was Horton the Elephant who was talked into sitting on Mayzie LaBird’s (Michele Pawk) egg while she goes off to have fun. Gertrude McFuzz (Janine LaManna) bemoaned her lack of tailfeathers and her unrequited crush on Horton. Horton attempts to save the minuscule world of Whoville and all its Whos, including JoJo (Aaron Carter). The Grinch and Yertle the Turtle also make appearances in this very tuneful show. Rigby’s infectious joie de vivre easily crossed the footlights and enchanted the audience, young and old. The colorful costumes, scenery, and lighting by William Ivey Long, Eugene Lee and Natasha Katz, respectively, were well executed. Hopefully Seussical will have a future around the country in local productions.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

This new musical posted its closing notice the same day it received its two Tony nominations for design elements. It actually logged fewer performances at the Minskoff Theatre than it did previews. Its closing wasn’t much of a surprise, however, as the show didn’t have much going for it. This first Broadway outing by country western composer Don Schlitz featured a very nondescript score. The one standout number was the ballad "This Time Tomorrow," which Linda Purl, as Aunt Polly, sang to great effect. There was a lot of youthful exuberance on stage in the persons of Joshua Park, Jim Poulos, and Kristen Bell as Tom, Huck Finn, and Becky Thatcher. Unfortunately, Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Mark Twain couldn’t overcome the episodic nature of the original. The scenes just never coalesced into a whole. But Heidi Ettinger’s scenic design effectively created the various locales, and Kenneth Posner’s lighting did a fine job of illuminating them.

A Class Act

The New York media has taken this show to its heart and despite only 40% capacity audiences, it’s still running and received the Tony nomination for Best Musical that should have gone to Seussical. A Class Act is basically a musical revue of the work of composer Edward Kleban. The songs are from shows he composed that were never produced. It’s easy to see why--the melodies are pleasant but undistinguished, and the lyrics are bland for the most part. Kleban’s one success was his lyrics for A Chorus Line and from the story of his life that is fashioned around these trunk songs, it would seem the influence of director Michael Bennett and composer Marvin Hamlisch are what made Kleban’s lyrics for that show something special. Lonny Price who co-wrote the book, with Kleban’s lifelong friend Linda Kline, directed and stars as Kleban. It’s obvious he’s spread himself too thin. This show would work better in a cabaret setting with one-tenth of the book. On a Broadway stage, it’s lacking in nearly all respects. The cast is plucky, but except for Sara Ramirez, fairly bland.

42nd Street

This revival, the last show of the current Broadway season to open, should be one of the year’s biggest hits. Mark Bramble, one of the original book writers of this 1980 Tony winner, is at the helm this time, and no expense seems to have been spared to recreate the glory of the original. Douglas W. Schmidt’s scenery and Roger Kirk’s costumes are sparkling and jazzy. The cast is probably the largest on Broadway, and when the curtain rises on more than three dozen tapping feet, the adrenaline in the audience begins pumping at full speed. If you ever thought there was a Broadway show that couldn’t handle any more big dance numbers, this would be the one. Well, choreographer Randy Skinner would prove you wrong, as he has added three more to the mix, and, overall, the dancing is just fabulous. The energy of that youthful chorus and the beat of the orchestra gets your feet a-tapping in your seat. Kate Levering is impressive as the ingenue who taps her way to fame. David Elder is the acrobatic juvenile who really gives those giant dimes a workout in "We’re in the Money." Christine Ebersole looks smashing as Broadway diva Dorothy Brock. One of the tunes added to the show is "I Only Have Eyes For You" which Ebersole sings in full torch song mode. There are a few problems with the show. Mary Testa is virtually laughless as second banana Maggie Jones, while Michael Cumpsty mugs his way through what should be the musical’s darkest character, Julian Marsh.

The Rocky Horror Show

Another strong revival is this rock and roll gender bender. The intimate confines of the Circle in the Square have been transformed into a rollicking party center. Christopher Ashley’s inspired direction and the lively choreography of Jerry Mitchell give this show its drive. The onstage band is loud, but T. Richard Fitzgerald and Domonic Sack’s sound design is so great, you don’t miss a lyric. Tom Hewitt really wails as Frank ‘n’ Furter, the Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania. He takes command of the stage in his fishnets and stratospheric heels. Jarrod Emick and Alice Ripley display great voices and gams as the virginal Brad and Janet who lose more than their innocence one rainy night. Daphne Rubin-Vega and Raul Esparza contribute fine support as Magenta and Riff Raff. The one sour note in the show is the very miscast Lea DeLaria as Eddie/Dr. Scott. An extra treat is having Dick Cavett as the Narrator deliver some very dry political humor between the songs. If you want to party hearty on Broadway, this is the show.

Contact

This show is the reigning Tony Award winning Best Musical, until The Producers get officially anointed on June 3. The two shows have one thing in common: the genius of Susan Stroman who choreographed and directed both productions. Contact stirred controversy last year because it doesn’t have an original musical score, doesn’t even have an orchestra, and the music has been pre-recorded. It’s basically three short stories brought to life by Stroman’s unique brand of theatrical magic. The curtain raiser, "Swinging," is a delightfully sexy romp in a French forest glade, circa 1767. The second scene , "Did You Move?" features the amazing Karen Ziemba as a browbeaten wife in a 1954 Queens Italian restaurant whose fantasies more than make up for her reality. The show’s longest segment, "Contact," features three-time Tony winner Boyd Gaines as a disillusioned and suicidal ad exec who finds a new zest for living at a dance club where the seductive Girl in a Yellow Dress (the sensuous and sinuous Deborah Yates) struts her stuff. Stroman’s inventive choreography is the real star here, and it never fails to dazzle on the intimate confines of the Vivian Beaumont’s thrust stage. It will be interesting to see how she re-invents this work for the proscenium stage as the National Tour stops at L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre beginning in June.

Aida

This Disney produced musical (set to play L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre in November) was shamefully omitted from last year’s Tony nominees for Best Musical, although it did win for Best Score and Actress, as well as lights and sets. It’s a technically dazzling piece of theater, and Bob Crowley’s scenic and costume designs are in a world of their own. This retelling of the Verdi opera about the doomed love affair between an African princess and her Egyptian captor has a hummable score by Elton John and Tim Rice. Robert Fall's direction keeps the pageantry flowing smoothly from scene to scene. Tony winner Heather Headley is still thrilling audiences with her voice, but her acting is a bit overly mannered. Adam Pascal has the look and sound of a rock prince. Taylor Dayne steals the show as Amneris, the Egyptian royalty played more like a Jewish American Princess. Her campy performance of "My Strongest Suit" proves this girl really knows how to shop and accessorize. The whole production has a campy flair to it, but it doesn’t diminish the power of the tragic love story.

DRAMAS

Proof
David Auburn’s play is another media hit, winning this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama and gathering a host of other awards and nominations, but it is also an audience favorite. A large part of that is the performance of Mary-Louise Parker in the leading role as the 25-year old daughter of a mathematical genius who has just died. His final years were spent in the fog of Alzheimer’s with his daughter sacrificing her education and life to care for him. Now she’s not sure is she has inherited his genius or his dementia. To this reviewer, that answer is clear from the first scene, so there was no real dramatic thrust to the piece. The direction by Daniel Sullivan and the acting by the three supporting players seems to be strictly by-the-numbers. The production is as washed out and faded as John Lee Beatty’s back porch set design. Nice but no real prize winner except for Parker.

The Invention of Love

It’s surprising that Tom Stoppard’s new play isn’t creating the excitement that Proof is. Maybe Broadway has tired of all things English. It’s a shame because this reviewer feels The Invention of Love is one of Stoppard’s best and easily his most accessible. Director Jack O’Brien and set and costume designer Bob Crowley have aided immensely in giving the play a vibrant look and feel. But in a Stoppard play, language is the raison d’être and that’s the case here, well handled by the large and nearly all -male cast. English poet and Oxford scholar in Latin and Greek, A. E. Housman has just died at age 77. As he begins his journey across the River Styx, he looks back over the life he led, one of missed opportunities and regrets. Robert Sean Leonard plays Housman from ages 18 to 26, and the two actors are totally in sync with each other. It would seem difficult to separate them for award consideration. Housman was homosexual and in love with his best friend, Moses Jackson (David Harbour). But he was too shy to ever act on his feelings, and even more reticent after the trial of Oscar Wilde. Housman instead submerged his sexuality and led a scholarly life. Stoppard’s writing is very scholarly also, with lots of Latin and Greek and translations. But it never overwhelms the audience as say the quantum physics of his Hapgood. Daniel Davis delivers some needed comic relief and also some bittersweet reflections as Wilde. This is the one play you must see this season.

Judgment at Nuremberg

This show closed a week after being shut out for the major Tony awards, and it didn’t deserve its quick demise. Abby Mann adapted his Oscar-winning screenplay to the stage, and director John Tillinger and his all-star cast brought it vibrantly to life. It’s 1947 Germany and the Americans are still trying war criminals, but they are down to the very bottom of the list. The military prosecutor (Robert Foxworth) may think the former German jurists in the dock deserve the maximum penalty, but the judges and even his commanding officers are more attuned to the present day realities. America may soon need Germany as an ally against Russia, so hurry up and be done. But that doesn’t erase what these men did or, in some cases, didn’t do when they sat in judgment themselves. Strong performances from the large cast, especially Maximilian Schell, George Grizzard, Michael Hayden, Marthe Keller and Joseph Wiseman.

The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife

Playwright Charles Busch has a hit with his first Broadway outing with this marital comedy. Busch doesn’t appear in the play, and there are no drag roles in the play at all. Most importantly, the play doesn’t fall apart until the final ten minutes, not in the first act as many of Busch’s previous efforts have. Lynne Meadow has done a strong job of directing, and the laughs come fast and furiously. Busch wrote the title role for Linda Lavin (who was out at the performance reviewed) but standby Jana Robbins gave enough of a Lavin impersonation to make the star not missed. Robbins ran the emotional gamut from A to Z, as she played a despondent wife who perks up when an old school friend arrives for a visit. Michelle Lee has lots of fun as the madcap, name-dropping, been-there-done-that friend. Tony Roberts provides solid support as the husband. Shirl Bernheim nearly steals the show as the constantly constipated but very funny mother. Santo Loquasto’s set and Ann Roth’s costumes give the show that proper upper East Side look. (This show is set for L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre in the Spring of 2002.)

Stones in His Pockets

This British import won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy. It does have some laughs as its cast of two play 17 roles with minimum changes to costume. The action is seen mostly through the eyes of two local Irishmen who get hired on as extras for a big budget Hollywood film. Writer Marie Jones was said to be inspired by the filming of the Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman film Far and Away. The plot is very thin, and the show rests on the talents and charms of its two players. Sean Campion and Conleth Hill do some amazing quick character changes with just a twitch of the body and a switch of the voice. They are very good at what they do but there isn’t that much variation in some of the characters. Without distinctive costume changes, everyone seems to blend together after a while. Joe Sears and Jaston Williams do this kind of thing much better in their series of Tuna, Texas shows.

Tickets for most shows are available through Tele-Charge (800) 432-7250 or Ticketmaster (800) 307-4100.