The Kid from Brooklyn
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Childers, Purcell, Finkel
Photo by Ed Krieger
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By Joseph N. Feinstein
I spent the better part of my youth adoring Danny Kaye. I saw all his movies; I watched his television program regularly; I saw the "Specials" of him conducting various orchestras; I knew and sang all his songs--"Deenah" is my favorite.
I came to the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood prepared and wanting to love Brian Childers who was to play Kaye in The Kid From Brooklyn. Unfortunately, that was not to be.
What we had on stage was two plus hours of noise and talk: "noise" because the acoustics at the theater were not "sweetened" to enable this viewer to understand the rapid-fire lyrics spewing from Mr. Childer's glib tongue; and "talk" because Christina Purcell and Joshua Finkel, portraying a dozen characters from Kaye's life, enter and exit in such speedy fashion as to leave both themselves and the audience breathless. The effort to crowd in thirty years of achievement was not successful. Lots of rather meaningless dialogue serves as bridges between the almost two dozen songs left primarily to Mr. Childers to sing. Karin Leone as girl friend turned wife, Sylvia Fine, plays her as an immature, jealous, ambitious, controlling person which leaves all of us both sorry for and hating her, simultaneously.
On the plus side, the four piece band consisting of David Cohen, Michael Benedict, Ernie Nunez and Glenn Ochenkoski accompany the stars beautifully. Peter J. Loewy's direction keeps the pacing and movement sufficiently exciting, even though the book, written by him and Mark Childers, lacked cohesion. Tyna Kennedy has a major task of keeping her lighting moving rapidly for the many scene changes which take place, and she rises to the task. But Stafford Floyd, in charge of sound, disappoints us by not creating a more audible sound emanating from that large stage.,
Those of you die-hard Kaye fans will probably find something to like and I encourage your attendance before the show closes on January 13. There's no question that Kaye's classic songs, "Pavlova", "Deenah", and "Tchaikovsky," alone will resonate and bring you fond reminiscences. Just let your memories and imagination take control and all will be fine!
The Kid From Brooklyn: The Danny Kaye Story El Portal Theatre 5269 Lankershim Boulevard North Hollywood 91601 Tel. 818-508-4200; 866-811-4111 Plays Thursday - Saturday @ 8:00 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday @ 3:00 p.m. Tickets: $40-$50 www.thekidfrombrooklynmusical.com
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