Martini Talk: Meet Me In St. Louis & The Rockettes

Those seeking Broadway sized family fun this holiday season, or just a good old-fashioned heart-warmer with some classic tunes, can hop a New Jersey transit train to a sleepy little town called Millburn (less than an hour from Penn Station) for the Paper Mill Playhouse's grand and colorful production of Meet Me In St. Louis.  Blissfully revised since that hulking lummox of an original Broadway production which in 1989 prompted Forbidden Broadway's Gerard Alessandrini to write, "Clang, clang, clang went the music/Clunk, clunk, clunk went the book," this intimate, well-acted and beautifully sung mounting is joyous treat.

Bookwriter Hugh Wheeler's adaptation of the 1944 Vincent Minnelli-directed Judy Garland movie musical, about a turn of the century St. Louis father who accepts a job promotion that would require moving his family to New York just as one daughter is crushing on their cute neighbor and the littlest has her heart set on attending the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, mixes the trio of hits by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane wrote for the screen ("The Trolley Song," "The Boy Next Door," and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas") with other songs from the Martin and Blane catalog (most notably "You Are For Loving") and period classics that were used in the film ("Skip To My Lou," "Under The Bamboo Tree").  It isn't always an easy fit; "You Are For Loving" doesn't quite express the emotions felt by the young lovers at the time and the lyric to "The Trolley Song" really has nothing to do with anything in the story, but when you have a full-sized trolley car carrying the whole cast across the stage you may find yourself too delighted to be concerned with perfect song integration.

Director Mark S. Hoebee's talented cast is headed by the spunky Brynn O'Malley as Esther Smith, whose vocals nicely mix her character's excitable adolescence and emerging maturity.  With a major theme of the show being a child's eye view of the world, little Sophie Rubin has a lot of material to handle as youngest daughter, Tootie.  If her singing and line readings often lack clarity, they're never lacking in enthusiasm.  The attractive singing voice of Broadway's Gregg Edelman isn't put to a great deal of use, but his performance as the befuddled patriarch trying to keep his dignity while doing what's best for his family is funny and warm.  Donna English is a charmer as the mother while Patti Mariano as Katie makes for a funny and feisty Irish maid.  Christian Delcroix, as the Smith son, Lon, helps stop the show leading a strong singing and dancing chorus in choreographer Denis Jones' dynamite staging of the second act's big number, "The Banjo" (another song that has nothing to do with anything that's going on).

Rob Bissinger's eye-popping set, built specifically for the Paper Mill stage, features the exterior of the Smith's suburban home which folds out to a full interior view.  Charlie Morrison's lighting takes us through the four seasons where the story takes place, as do Thom Heyer's lovely period costumes, which offer a dazzling finale of the entire cast going to the fair in summer whites.  As we see them gasp with excitement at the world's first display of outdoor electric lights, becoming thoroughly enchanted is positively unavoidable.

Okay, let's get serious for a moment.  Am I really supposed to review The Radio City Christmas Spectacular?  Isn't that just a little too much like reviewing The Empire State Building or The Statue of Liberty?  Not quite.  Because even though just walking into that stunning, golden art deco palace might be considered one of this city's greatest entertainments, the show itself has been given a major retooling in this, its 75th anniversary production.  Though director and choreographer Linda Haberman hasn't removed those classic routines like the mini-Nutcracker, The Living Nativity or that truly spectacular moment when the legendary Rockettes, lined up as 36 wooden soldiers, do a slow motion backwards collapse into each other's arms, there is an extra layer of taste and elegance to the proceedings that you might not expect from a holiday tradition that some would dismiss as a hokey cliché.  This is spectacle done right.  From the dignified rising of conductor Mark Hummel's orchestra from the pit to snow-covered city scenes of set designer Patrick Fahey to the shimmering finale costumes of Frank Krenz, the gorgeous design of the show is always there to frame and highlight the main attraction, those extraordinary Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

First seen as high-kicking reindeer (Is there be any other kind?), they proceed to challenge dance  each other though a breathtaking "Twelve Days of Christmas," before taking a sightseeing break aboard a double-decker tour bus, adorably dressed in white fur coats that leave plenty of leg room.  After a stint as rag dolls in Santa's workshop, we hear the voice of Tony Bennett narrating film clips explaining the troupe's fascinating history followed by a grand finale of precision dance in glittery silver outfits that perfectly match the hall's art deco glamour.

Charles Edward Hall makes for a loveable Santa Claus, narrating the proceedings and taking time to teach a pair of young boys about the true meaning of Christmas.  An animated 3-D sequence is truly gasp-inducing.  With special glasses in every program, we can see toys and snow flying our way as Santa tours all the major sights of New York like Madison Square Garden, Rockefeller Center and the Times Square North Fork Bank.  (Hey, somebody has to pay for all those sequins.)

Michael Dale's Martini Talk appears every Monday and Thursday in BroadwayWorld.com.

Top photo by Gerry Goodstein:  Brynn O'Malley and company in Meet Me In St. Louis;  Bottom photo of The Rockettes courtesy of MSG Entertainment.

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