MUSICAL MAYHEM: MY TOP TWENTY-FIVE MUSICALS – Part 13b
THE TOP TEN – #6
NOTE: Due to the
length of this entry, I'm dividing it into two parts. This is part two of two.
And picking up where I left off in Part One...more Company!
10:30 PM? Say what?
Interesting billing for Melissa Hart. Although listed second, the font size is the same as most of the cast except for Davis and Dailey. One could argue, with justification, that as far as Chicago audiences were concerned, she was equal to Irene Dailey and Michael Davis as far as star power.
Melissa Hart was hugely popular in Chicago, playing both Sally Bowles in Cabaret and Fran Kubelik in Promises, Promises in lengthy runs at the Shubert. She won a Jefferson Award for her portrayal of Amy. She would pretty much retire from performing in the 70s, get her MFA, now teaches in St. Paul, and continues to act. A few years ago we saw her as Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Guthrie.
September, 1972. A present to me from me on my 22nd birthday. This locally-mounted Company was the first musical produced at the Forum Theatre in suburban Summit, a newly-opened 425-seat proscenium house next door to its older, very successful in-the-round sibling, the superlative Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. With a cast of Chicago and New York actors and starring Michael Davis, Irene Dailey, and Melissa Hart, this was the Chicago premiere of the Tony-winning musical. The touring company slated to play the Shubert earlier in the year had cancelled its engagement due to unexpected poor box office sales. Seriously? Wow. Everything about this production was first-rate, yet I felt the production didn't quite work. Melissa Hart, a favorite of mine from the Chicago tours of Cabaret and Promises, Promises, was terrific as Amy. Michael Davis, the full-throated Rutledge of Chicago's 1776, was a handsome, suitably remote Robert, and he sang the crap out of the songs. Irene Dailey, while certainly an accomplished actress, didn't do it for me as Joanne, however. Now, that could very well be because the only Joannes I had seen up to that point had been Elaine Stritch and Jane Russell, both formidable ladies whose performances were a combination of powerful personalities, talent, and an abundance of star power, and compared to them, Ms. Dailey's performance, though assured, didn't quite cut it. Now please understand, I didn't dislike this production because I did like it. Quite a lot. I just wasn't in love with it. – at the Forum Theatre, Summit, IL
Sidebar:
According
to the program, the orchestra for this production numbered three musicians who
played over a dozen instruments. I remember a full sound, so bravo, ladies and
gentlemen of the orchestra. Cast as Jenny, Ami Silvestre would sizzle as
Phyllis in a widely-acclaimed production of Follies
a year or so later at Candlelight. Iris Lieberman, Marta in this production,
would become a staple on the Chicago theatre scene and is still active today.
Sadly both the Forum and Candlelight would close debt-ridden in 1997.
Holy
Second Show, Batman!: On Saturdays, the Forum's performances were at 7:00
PM and a mind-boggling 10:30 PM. What this means is that Company's second show didn't come down until after 1:00 AM! And they had a show at 3:30 the
following afternoon! No. Just no.
November, 1972. Just because I had mixed feelings about this production
didn't mean I didn't want to see it again. Melissa Hart had withdrawn due to
illness and was replaced by a very capable Judy Rice. Now a few months into its
run, this was a tighter performance than the one I'd seen that September, but I
was still underwhelmed with Irene Dailey. – at the Forum Theatre, Summit, IL
October, 1995. It would be twenty-three years before I would once again
visit Robert and those "good and crazy people," his married friends
in Company. This was my first
encounter with the superb Roundabout Theatre Company, a company that
consistently turns out quality work. This was also the first Broadway revival
since Company's premiere twenty-five
years earlier. Scott Ellis' sparkling production, aided by Rob Marshall's
choreography, didn't necessarily offer any new insights, despite the addition
of "Marry Me a Little," cut from the original production, and revisions to the Robert/Peter/Susan
scene that implies at least one homosexual liaison between Robert and Peter,
but, then again, it didn't have to blaze new trails. Another interesting change
was lyrically in "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" which replaced "I could understand a person if it's not a
person's bag/I could understand a person if a person was a fag." with
"I could understand a person if he said to go away/I could understand a person
if he happened to be gay." Doesn't have the same pop, perhaps, but is far
less offensive. And look at that cast, among them Danny Burstein, Kate Burton,
Diana Canova, Veanne Cox, Charlotte d'Amboise (Kathy…danced up a storm), Jane
Krakowski (April…terrific!), La Chanza (Marta…OMG!), and Debra Monk. Boyd
Gaines opened the show as Robert, but experienced health issues early in the
run and was replaced for most of it by understudy James Clow, who was terrific.
This was the first time I saw Debra Monk, and I became an instant fan. She had
the unenviable job of tackling a role so irrevocably identified with its
originator, and making that role her own. Let's face it. It isn't easy
following Elaine Stritch, even twenty-five years later, but Monk did it and did
it extremely well. I liked her a lot. But the standout performance of this
production was Veanne Cox, whose performance as Amy was breathtakingly funny
and heartbreakingly touching at the same time. She stopped the show dead cold. A
class production all around. It's always good to visit an old friend. – at
Criterion Center Stage Right (Roundabout), New York
December, 2006. In 2005, director John Boyle
brought a critically-praised production of Sweeney Todd, starring Patti
LuPone and Michael Cerveris, to Broadway in which the actors doubled as the
show's musicians. It was an interesting concept, one I felt didn't always work,
but the critics went crazy for it and producers were probably ecstatic over the
cost savings of not having to use both actors and musicians for a
musical. So, a year later, director Boyle brought another Stephen Sondheim
classic, Company, to Broadway, via Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and
once again, the actors doubled as the show's musicians. And once again, an
interesting concept, but, I'll admit it, I missed a full orchestral sound, and
sometimes those damn instruments just got in the way. There were three
instances, though, where this actors-as-musicians really worked: 1) In
"The Little Things You Do Together," Barbara Walsh, as Joanne, played
the triangle. In and of itself, that wasn't remarkable. What was
remarkable was the look of total been-there-done-that that she gave the
audience every time she rang the triangle. Priceless.; 2) Marta, Kathy, and April
using saxophones instead of "do-do-do-do-DO!" during "You Could
Drive a Person Crazy.; 3) Raúl Esparza accompanying himself on the piano for
"Being Alive." A lovely touch. The electric "Tick Tock" was
axed in this production, reducing Kathy's role to basically nothing, something
I missed as a Company veteran. The production design was sleek and minimal
and suited this production. The cast was uniformly good. Barbara Walsh's Joanne
was dry and wise and she delivered a thoughtful, masterful "The Ladies Who
Lunch." Esparza's Bobby was suitably vulnerable, suitably remote, and
carried with him a simmering sexuality in every scene. However, and this is a
big however, the entire performance suffered from a lack of energy. Everything
was done well, but it was all very low-key. The show had opened a day or so
earlier after a 4-week preview period, so perhaps everyone was tired and needed
a couple of days off. Both the NY Times and Variety fainted over
it. I less so. Curiously, I was mad about the PBS Great Performances video of
this production. Made me want to see the stage version again. – at the
Barrymore Theatre, New York
Sidebar: John Boyle tried
a actors-as-orchestra Mack and Mabel in London. It got an indifferent
reception there. And Watermill Theatre in the UK mounted a actors-as-orchestra Sunset
Boulevard. While it's a bold concept, it does somewhat limit your casting.
Not every bankable star and not every hard-working Equity actor can play an
instrument. Patti LuPone played the tube in Sweeney Todd, and admittedly
that was great good fun, but added nothing to either her character or the show.
She could play the tuba, so she played the tuba.Today, the musicians are
sometimes on stage and play an active part in the action, witness Bright
Star and Come From Away, and sometimes the actors will play a bit
here and there, but the full-blown concept of actors-as-orchestra has pretty
much died down. I, for one, am happy about that.
April, 2011. Forty years after that performance seated in the last row
of the Mezzanine at the Alvin Theatre. Recipe: Take a landmark 1970 musical.
Add the New York Philharmonic Orchestra with the peerless Paul Gemignani as the
conductor. Add a staggering cast of stars from the stage and television. Stir
it with skillful direction by Lonny Price and choreography by Josh Rhodes. Put
it on stage at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The result? A Company unlike any Company I've seen. Cast-wise, it was Company on steroids. In alpha order: Craig Bierko, Stephen Colbert,
Jon Cryer, Katie Finneran, Neil Patrick Harris, Christina Hendricks, Aaron
Lazar, Patti LuPone, Jill Paice, Martha Plimpton, Anika Noni Rose, Jennifer
Laura Thompson, Jim Walton, and Chryssie Whitehead. Except for Robert, the
ladies in Company have the meatier
roles, always have, so before I go any further, I want to give a well-deserved
shout-out to all the hard-working, under-appreciated guys in the show. Well
done, gentlemen! And now, on to the ladies. Misses Paice, Thompson, and
Whitehead all did well in the less-flashier female roles. Martha Plimpton's
scene with Stephen Colbert was comic genius. Anika Noni Rose gave an urgency to
the anthemic "Another Hundred People." Katie Finneran was simply
delicious as the reluctant bride, Amy. Mad
Men's Christina Hendrick as April was a revelation…touching, vulnerable,
and very, very funny. And what about NPH, you ask? As Robert, he was the most
adorable of the talented gentlemen I've seen as Robert, looked good shirtless, and
anchored the show with confidence and ease, but that adorableness sometimes
worked against him. I've never thought of Robert as being particularly adorable.
Charming, funny, a pal…yes. Adorable, no. I'm being churlish. Harris'
performance was solid and thoroughly enjoyable. But, the no-holds-barred,
jaw-dropping performance of the evening was Patti LuPone as Joanne in a remote,
chilling performance. Her hair-raising "The Ladies Who Lunch"
threatened to blow the roof off of Avery Fisher Hall. This was LuPone at her
absolute finest. So privileged to have been in the audience. This was not the
definitive Company, the inimitable
1970 original still holds that title, but it certainly was the starriest. – at
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York
And finally...
©
2017Jeffrey Geddes
No comments:
Post a Comment