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Storyline: A super-sized high school girl breaks down barriers based on color
and girth in Baltimore in 1962 as she leads the effort to get the
after-school television dance program -- with its all slender, all white
teenage dancers gyrating to the latest rock and roll records -- to abandon its
limitation of just one “negro day” a month. In the process she becomes the
hit of the show, wins the love of the most popular boy and starts a national
movement.
A
triumph of knowledgeable professionalism, all the elements of this show are
calculated to accomplish their functions but they all combine into something
that doesn’t feel at all contrived. Building on the structure of John Waters’
cult-hit film, Meehan Mark O’Donnell wisely constructs a script which is gently humorous rather
than going for the laugh-till-it-hurts approach of The Producers. The
brand new score reminds some of Bye Bye Birdie’s mix of top ten pop
songs and traditional show music. The songs move the story along
efficiently while getting and then keeping the audience in a very good mood.
The new starring youngster
is Carly Jobson who maintains an astonishing energy level throughout a show
that has her on the stage almost the entire evening. She's bright, she's
chipper, she's funny and she sings and dances very well. Also new to the
show, in the role of her mother, is Michael McKean. His performance is
"straight" in the sense that he doesn't try to seem to be a man playing a
woman but rather simply an actor playing a part. While the part was
originated in the film by cross-dressing Devine and in this musical by
Harvey
Fierstein, McKean's
performance makes one think of all the actresses who might make a go of the
role. (What is Bette Middler up to these days?)
As he has since the show first opened, Dick Latessa shines with a mature warmth as
the young girl's father. When McKean and Latessa combine for
the soft shoe charm song “(You’re) Timeless to Me” it warms every heart in
the house. The only real disappointment among the new cast members is the
normally satisfying Jonathan Dokuchitz who, as the disc jockey who hosts
Baltimore's afternoon television show, sings some of his number like concert
renditions of hit songs, sacrificing the story-telling function of some of
the lyrics.
Director Jack O’Brien reunites with choreographer Jerry Mitchell with whom
he gave The Full Monty such clarity of storytelling, to again keep
the narrative moving smoothly with a sense of momentum. Mitchell even
managed to throw in some basketball imagery like he had in Monty, but
with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, turns it into dodgeball. David
Rockwell’s scenic design is witty, colorful and very functional and Harold
Wheeler’s orchestrations fill the house with a 50s & 60s sound. It all adds
up to a good time.
Book by Mark O’Donnell and
Thomas Meehan. Music by Marc Shaiman. Lyrics by Scott Whittman and Marc
Shaiman. Directed by Jack O’Brien. Music Direction by Lon Hoyt.
Choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. Design: David Rockwell (set) William Ivey
Long (costumes) Paul Huntley (wigs) Kenneth Posner (lights) Marc Shaiman
(arrangements) Harold Wheeler (orchestrations) Steve C. Kennedy
(sound) Frank Lombardi (production stage manager). Cast: Richard
H. Blake, Mary Bond Davis, Jonathan Dokuchitz, Tracy Jai Edwards, Chester
Gregory II, Jackie Hoffman, Carly Jibson, Dick Latessa, Aja Maria, Michael
McKean, Brooke Tansley, Joel Vig, Barbara Walsh.
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