Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 2/17/13 & Theatre Quote of the Week

The musical’s book, by George Abbott and Jerome Weidman, while a fine example of muscular musical theatre character-driven craft, may not live up to the show’s high pedigree as a Pulitzer Prize winner (The Pulitzer Advisory Board rejected the Drama Jury’s strong recommendation to award Toys In The Attic.) and a Best Musical Tony winner (It tied with The Sound of Music to win over Gypsy.), the score is a ravishing example of Golden Age Broadway at its best.

In a rousing Bowery waltz, a distracted group of party officials compare their regular card game with their assignment to find a candidate willing to run for office against an unbeatable opponant:  (“Politics and poker / Shuffle up the deck and find the joker.)  In a lively Charleston, fans of candidate Jimmy Walker reference the hit song he wrote to voice their support:  (“Hey Jim, we promise on voting day / We will love you in November as we did in May.”)  In a furious march, a chorus of women factory workers strike for a decent living wage:  (“Must we sew and sew solely to survive / So some low so-and-so can thrive?”)

Working with a condensed version of the book by the co-author’s son, John Weidman, the Encores! concert staging of Fiorello!, the musical that premiered the series 20 years ago, glosses over the weaker elements and sparkles with old-fashioned moxie.  Director Gary Griffin’s uncomplicated staging leaves plenty of room for the actors to perform out to the audience, Alex Sanchez’s choreography explodes with period exuberance and Irwin Kostal‘s original orchestrations burst with tradition Broadway style as played by the 28 musicians following Rob Berman’s baton.  This is a brash musical that doesn't need an elaborate production to come out big.

Since the actor playing the title role in Fiorello! must resemble the husky and diminutive real life fellow, the show offers some of musical theatre’s character men a rare opportunity to play a romantic lead.  The terrific Danny Rutigliano, accustomed to getting laughs in supporting roles, is a gritty, determined sparkplug in the role that won a Tony for unknown Tom Bosley.

But playing Fiorello LaGuardia is a bit of a mixed blessing.  Like Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, the title role has curiously little to sing.  (Tellingly, Bosley’s Tony was for Best Supporting Actor.)  In its original form, he didn’t sing at all in the second act, but in later productions a musical soliloquy, made up of snippets from the rest of the score much like Gypsy’s “Rose’s Turn,” was added to the second half.  Perhaps this is because the character’s rise from benevolent lawyer helping the poor to Republican congressional candidate who miraculously defeats the corrupt Tammany Hall Democrats to become a mayoral hopeful, is more of a backdrop for the main romantic story; how his secretary carries a torch for him even while watching him court and marry another woman.

That secretary is also an unusual romantic lead for a Broadway musical as she sings no love ballads; but Erin Dilly is a bit of a sparkplug herself, charming in her two numbers about romantic frustration.  The lush and lovely singing is left to Kate Baldwin, possessor of one of Broadway’s most beautiful and expressive sopranos, playing the labor leader who appreciates LaGuardia’s heroism – both in civic duty and on the battlefields of Europe – enough to accept his marriage proposal.  The evening’s most entrancing moment comes when she’s left alone on stage to sing the captivating “When Did I Fall In Love?”  The lilting melody contains the unusual sentiment of wondering, “When did respect first become affection? / When did affection suddenly soar?”

Cigar chomping Shuler Hensley gives gravel-voiced color to his role as an old-time political tough-guy campaign manager, leading his cronies in the aforementioned “Politics and Poker” and the classic comic romp, “Little Tin Box,” which spoofs the excuses made by Tammany Hall cohorts caught taking kickbacks.

One of those cohorts is a hard-nosed policeman (Jeremy Bobb) who manages to win the heart of union seamstress Dora (a wonderfully goofy Jenn Gambatese) who insists “if he'd get an honest job I would marry him” in another classic song from the score, “I Love A Cop.”

Adam Heller knocks out some good laughs as LaGuardia’s overworked employee and Emily Skinner is a knockout in her one scene, playing a Broadway star who belts out a number supporting the man they called “Gentleman Jimmy.”

Fiorello! is the type of show that Encores! was created for; a fun evening giving actors a chance to shine in a musical that in today’s economic climate wouldn’t attract enough ticket sales to last long on Broadway.  Maybe because it’s just too good.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top: Danny Rutigliano and Company; Bottom: Jenn Gambatese and Erin Dilly.

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Posted on: Sunday, February 03, 2013 @ 07:45 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

Picnic

The women who took over the American workforce during World War II were abruptly expected to quit once the boys started coming home.  And while many looked forward to settling down with a traditional Mr. Right and staying home to raise 2.7 babies, there were others who were torn between the safety of normalcy and their yearning for something more dangerous and adventurous when William Inge’s Pulitzer-winning Picnic premiered on Broadway in 1953.

Like those Chekhov dramas that the author called comedies, very little and a whole lot happens in Picnic, as much of the play is spent introducing us to relationships that have been simmering long before the curtain rose.  Director Sam Gold’s grounded and sensitive production benefits from an excellent ensemble of veteran actresses who beautifully balance the humor and sorrow of this delicate piece and a realistic set from Andrew Lieberman that allows the audience to peak through windows into bits of more private moments.

The action fully takes place in adjoining back yards of two homes in a rural Kansas town – even the title event occurs offstage – on a hot September Labor Day.  In one home Flo (Mare Winningham) has been left by her husband to raise their two daughters alone.  18-year-old Madge (Maggie Grace), who’s expected to snag a husband and settle down before her privileges as the prettiest girl in town diminish, sells beauty aids at the local dime store while entertaining longings to escape the confinements of small town life.  Her brainy adolescent sister Millie (Madeleine Martin) is a sarcastic tomboy who dreams of moving to New York to make good on her artistic talents.  She mocks Madge’s physical charms while secretly envying the attention she attracts.

Renting a room from Flo is unmarried schoolteacher Rosemary (Elizabeth Marvel) who claims to love the independence granted her by the single life.  Her gentleman friend, Howard (Reed Birney) seems in no hurry to be in a committed relationship.

Next door lives Helen (Ellen Burstyn), a widow left alone to take care of her never-seen mother.

Sparks start hitting the dull everyday sameness of these women’s lives when Helen hires handsome young drifter Hal (Sebastian Stan) to pick up some extra money doing yard work, which he frequently does shirtless, displaying an impressive physique.  While the other women go giddy over Hal’s attractiveness, Madge is drawn to him because she sees in him someone who, like herself, is valued only for beauty.  Complicating matters is that Hal’s old chum is Madge’s fiancé, Alan (Ben Rappaport), a nice, financially well off guy who doesn’t seem concerned with anything about his bride-to-be beyond her looks.

While Winningham lovingly shows Flo’s concern over her oldest daughter’s future and Martin is excellent as the ignored teen with the drive to make something of her life, the production’s only flaw is the lack of chemistry between the young couple.  Grace has the looks and coltish presence to make Madge believably desirable but her conflicting emotions regarding taking the safe route with Alan or plunging into dangerous waters with Hal seem only rudimentarily explored.  Likewise, Stan struts with runway model confidence but we lose the inner workings of Hal.  Their lack of chemistry together leaves the central drama hanging.

Marvel, however, sets off numerous sparks in her boisterously comic performance, especially in a second act scene where, fueled by alcohol, Rosemary comes to realize that she really does want to get married.  Her desperate pleas to Howard to marry her, pitifully low in self-esteem, are played with such agonized force that the scene is difficult to watch.  Gold stages the moment’s end with chilling sadness.  It is unquestionably the dramatic acting highlight of the Broadway season thus far.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top: Mare Winningham, Maggie Grace and Sebastian Stan; Reed Birney and Elizabeth Marvel.

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Posted on: Saturday, February 02, 2013 @ 04:26 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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About Michael: After 20-odd years singing, dancing and acting in dinner theatres, summer stocks and the ever-popular audience participation murder mysteries (try improvising with audiences after they?ve had two hours of open bar), Michael Dale segued his theatrical ambitions into playwriting. The buildings which once housed the 5 Off-Off Broadway plays he penned have all been destroyed or turned into a Starbucks, but his name remains the answer to the trivia question, "Who wrote the official play of Babe Ruth's 100th Birthday?" He served as Artistic Director for The Play's The Thing Theatre Company, helping to bring free live theatre to underserved communities, and dabbled a bit in stage managing and in directing cabaret shows before answering the call (it was an email, actually) to become BroadwayWorld.com's first Chief Theatre Critic. While not attending shows Michael can be seen at Shea Stadium pleading for the Mets to stop imploding. Likes: Strong book musicals and ambitious new works. Dislikes: Unprepared celebrities making their stage acting debuts by starring on Broadway and weak bullpens.