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Walter Kerr Theatre
219 West 48th Street
New York
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Reviewed
June, 2008
Running time 1:45 - no intermission
Closing July 27, 2008
Price range $29 - $119
A sensitive musical equivalent to a short story
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Amidst all the flash and hoopla of Broadway, one small show has eked out a
brief, three month run delivering a simple story without extraneous
embellishment. Taking both its story and its structure from a teleplay by
Paddy Chayefsky, which was itself turned into a movie by Gore Vidal, this
version reinforces the sentimental elements of the original through a gentle
score while the production steadfastly refuses to try to make more of the
story than it can stand. It is one of a trio of one-act musicals in the
2007-08 season which have had wildly different experiences. One,
Xanadu, became a surprising hit, a hot ticket
that looks like it will be around for quite a while. Another,
Glory Days, folded in a single
evening as the least successful show of the season. Somewhere in the middle
is this musical with three well known names above the title: Faith Prince,
Tom Wopat and Harvey Fierstein. Each has a following and that must have
helped at the box office. Fierstein also wrote the book, something he's done
before to great acclaim. (He wrote the book for the hit La Cage aux
Folles and the less successful Legs Diamond as well as the play
Torch Song Trilogy.) |
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Storyline: In the Bronx in 1953 a taxi driver and
his wife face a conflict over how to spend the bereavement benefit they will
receive because their son has been killed in action in Korea. The payment
plus their savings could buy a half interest in the taxicab or a large
wedding and banquet for their sole remaining child - but not both.
The story first saw the light of day on the small screens
of mid-fifties televisions as a teleplay on the Goodyear Television
Playhouse. After Chayefsky's success with Marty, this somewhat
similar tale of blue color denizens of the boroughs of New York was also
turned into a movie with Ernest Borgnine. However, it did not achieve the
same success. Indeed, some of the initial reviews were brutal. The New York
Times' Bosley Crowther said "this tale of crabbing and wanting in the Bronx
is without great compassion or appeal." This new musical version for the
stage tries to add compassion and appeal but still stumbles a bit over the
essential selfishness of the character of the mother of the bride. Faith
Prince softens it as much as she can and has flashes of humor and of angst
(her long-held scream when things fall apart functions almost as a one-note
aria). However, she can't completely overcome the essence of the character
required to make the plot make sense.
John Bucchino's score is a pleasant example of the
current situations songwriters find themselves in on the musical stage. The
structure of modern musicals require musicalized scenes that serve the needs
of the story, underline important character information and last only as
long as their dramatic function requires, instead of the traditional 32 bar
a-a-b-a love songs that used to be known as show tunes and became popular
hits and standards. Most of the score is lovely and the songs tend to blend
together to create an atmosphere. It is good work and a few of the numbers
may well have a life on the cabaret circuit.
Fierstein plays Faith Prince's brother, a single gay man
who lives with the family, bedding down on the couch in their living room.
He functions as the focal point for the play, sometimes silently observing
scenes and sometimes taking part in the action. He's the one who knows the lessons to be
drawn from the events. His performance is warm, witty and appropriately
avuncular. Wopat delivers a finely modulated performance as the dead-tired,
beat-down cabbie, husband and father. His "I Stayed" is the strongest
dramatic musical moment of the show. Leslie Kritzer is a disappointment as
the daughter because she makes her singing voice as timid as her character.
This approach makes sense but it does a disservice to the duets or trios she
sings. Matt Cavanaugh, on the other hand, is only a disappointment because
he's so underutilized. As those who saw him last year in
Grey Gardens in this same
theater know, he can do much more than he's given here.
Music and lyrics by John Bucchino.
Book by Harvey Fierstein based on the teleplay by Paddy Chaefsky and screen
adaptation by Gore Vidal. Directed by John Doyle. Music direction and
arrangements by Constantine Kitsopoulos. Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.
Design: David Gallo (set) Zachary Borovay (projections) Ann Hould-Ward
(costumes) David Lawrence (hair) Brian MacDevitt (lights) Dan Moses Schreier
(sound). Cast: Matt Cavanaugh, Harvey Fierstein, Philip Hoffman, Katie
Klaus, Leslie Kritzer, Heather Mac Rae, Faith Prince, Lori Wilner, Tom Wopat,
Kristine Zbornik.
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