It's nonstop laughs aboard the Twentieth Century, a luxury train traveling from Chicago to New York City. Luck, love and mischief collide when the bankrupt theater producer Oscar Jaffee (Golden Globe winner Peter Gallagher) embarks on a madcap mission to cajole glamorous Hollywood starlet Lily Garland (Tony and Emmy Award winner Kristin Chenoweth) into playing the lead in his new, non-existent epic drama. But is the train ride long enough to reignite the spark between these former lovers, create a play from scratch, and find the money to get it all the way to Broadway?
Ellis actually has him pump iron with the tiny actress as a barbell. And, over and over, Carlyle turns the four train porters into a marvelous tap-happy quartet that recreates the sound -- and the almost preposterous pleasure -- of the long-lost cross-country carriage trade. Lovely, all lovely.
The Roundabout Theatre Company's new production with Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher doesn't live up to all that the musical could be theatrically, musically and comically. That being said, the production is still pretty damn enjoyable. To speak metaphorically, the glass may not be full, but it's certainly more than half full.
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