BWW Reviews: DAMES AT SEA Sails Into Totem Pole Playhouse

Some shows sing their way into your heart, and others dance their way there. Some laugh their way in. A very few do all three, which is all you really need to know about DAMES AT SEA. The Off-Off-Broadway show that launched Bernadette Peters to stardom nearly as fast as its heroine rockets to fame during the performance is at Totem Pole Playhouse now, singing, dancing, and clowning its way into Central Pennsylvania's bosom. Directed by Totem Pole veteran Carl Schurr and once again displaying James Fouchard's skills as very possibly the best set designer in the middle of the state, George Haimson, Jim Wise, and Robin Miller's riotously funny lampoon of the Busby Berkeley musicals of an earlier era has sailed into port in Fayetteville, and is, as ever, even more fun than an audience should be allowed to have.

Every show has a star, and the show "Dames At Sea," the show-within-the-show of DAMES AT SEA, stars Mona Kent, played hysterically by Broadway veteran Jane Labanz. Ruby, the Ruby-Keeler-type star of DAMES AT SEA itself, is played by a charming Natalie Wisdom, of the Broadway production of Billy ElliotT. In Fayetteville, however, the true star may be the actor playing Joan, the backup dancer and galpal to Ruby, as that character is played by Broadway veteran, former local, and daughter of Totem Pole veteran Kay Yaukey, Katrina Yaukey. They and their male counterparts take over the Totem Pole stage, transforming it into both the backstage of a crumbling theatre and the deck of a Naval vessel, where the show "Dames At Sea" will be put on.

The Busby Berkeley "Gold Diggers" shows aren't the only things spoofed in DAMES AT SEA, however - an observant audience member will spot moments that parody songs from other shows. The opening number, chanteuse Mona Kent's ode to Wall Street, manages a subtextual and musical dig at CABARET's "Don't Tell Mama," while seaman Dick, the up and coming composer, brings us his "Broadway Baby Doll" that's a musical reference to SINGING IN THE RAIN's "You Are My Lucky Star." The titular number, "Dames At Sea," sung by Dick, Lucky, and the Captain, is reminiscent of Cornelius and Barnaby's singing of "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" in HELLO, DOLLY. If you're going to give a nod to parody, parodying the best is always the way to go, and DAMES AT SEA does exactly that.

For those looking for the big, Busby Berkeley style musical number, "Raining In My Heart" offers the girl, the song, the chorus dancing with rain slickers and prop umbrellas as well as the boundless enthusiasm. For those who want Cole Porter or Noel Coward humor, or plenty of humor about 1930's Broadway shows, that's buried in this show too. (Who's the fat man in the dinghy with Cole Porter? "That's Elsa Maxwell.")

This is a fast-paced show, but how can it not be? After all, in one day, Ruby gets off the bus from Centerville, USA, walks into a theatre and lands a job as a dancer in a Broadway show, falls in love, gets engaged, takes over when the star gets ill, becomes a star herself, gets sent roses by the President of the United States, and gets married. That's a lot for a production to absorb and retell in only the usual two hours - but in its inception it was only a 30-minute revue, so the current audience can breathe more easily than the earliest audiences could. It's also a lot for a cast to show an audience, but that is no problem for this cast. Particularly noteworthy is Kent M. Lewis, a veteran of the national tours of Billy Elliot and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG who, in his Totem Pole debut, plays both Hennesey, the harried theatre man, and the captain of Dick's and Lucky's ship (and former lover, it's discovered, of Broadway star Mona Kent from her pre-fame days in Pensacola... different pre-fame days, it turns out, than the even more embarrassing days when she first met chorus girl Joan). If anyone's handling a heavy part it's him, but he succeeds admirably, especially as the Captain, who's in love with Mona and jealous of the young, talented Dick.

As director, Shurr's done a fine job of keeping this show moving, keeping it tight, and keeping the cast true to the breathless "gosh, golly, gee whiz" attitude of the Busby Berkeley shows that's required to make DAMES AT SEA succeed. This is not one of those knowing, "wink, wink" musicals that approaches the subject it's lampooning with cynicism. It's not URINETOWN, willing to break the fourth wall to make sure the audience knows that the show's writers know they're being sarcastic. DAMES AT SEA is a gentle, loving spoof that's actually a tribute to the very shows it's showing up. There's no deep philosophizing, no multi-layered humor with veiled meanings, no sarcasm, no commentary either on the state of America's military or on the state of modern theatre. And Shurr makes sure that nothing intrudes on its charming, entertaining mood, that nothing creeps in that diverts attention from the show's delightful diversion. This is a show that only works when it's kept pure, and Shurr has succeeded perfectly in keeping its vision of nothing but entertainment - the same mind-set that the 1930's musicals espoused - intact.

Along with the usually fine Totem Pole set, there's some excellent costuming by Erin Nugent and some outstanding choreography by Ilona Kessell, a DC-area Helen Hayes award winner for her work there who's graced the Totem Pole stage with her work before. Fortunately, the show has been granted a cast who can not only sing but can tap, and Kessell's choreography works perfectly for their dance backgrounds.

If anything's a summer show, this is it, and it's well worth considering this for your Fourth of July entertainment, as it's playing that day. This tribute to early Broadway musicals and to the glories of the United States Navy is as charmingly and unselfconsciously patriotic in its own musical-theatre way as anything ever has been. It's at the Totem Pole through July 7. Call 717-352-2164 or visit www.totempoleplayhouse.org for tickets.

Photo Credit: Totem Pole Playhouse

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