Review - On The Town: Subways Are For Seeking

Penned by a pair of downtown revue writers (Betty Comden and Adolph Green), composed by a wunderkind New York Philharmonic conductor (Leonard Bernstein), choreographed by a Ballet Theatre soloist (Jerome Robbins) and originally directed by musical comedy master George Abbott, there's never been a musical on Broadway that mixes highbrow and lowbrow with such a wondrous cacophonous clash as On The Town.

Its lineage can even be traced to the visual arts; Paul Cadmus' controversial 1934 painting The Fleet's In!, that so outraged viewers with its erotic depiction of sailors carousing with loose women and one very well-groomed gentleman that it was removed from a WPA exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery. But Robbins saw how the painting could dance if the sailors were depicted more as "healthy, vital boys" and, with Bernstein composing, he created and starred in the ballet Fancy Free, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in January of 1944. By December of that same year, by the suggestion of the ballet's set designer, Oliver Smith, the piece was transformed into the Broadway musical comedy smash that enjoys a terrific concert mounting from Encores! this weekend.

While its story of Three Sailors plopped in New York for a 24 hour leave who each meet a gal more than willing to show her appreciation for our boys in uniform can seem like little more than frisky frolics on the surface, that big pink elephant in the room nobody's talking about is that there's still a war going on and this might be the last day of freedom these boys have to squeeze every possible bit of fun out of life before being sent out somewhere to meet with a tragically early end. (A point that was sadly ignored in the misguided film version, released and set in 1949.) Just try not getting choked up when the time for parting comes near and the newly matched couples try and be casual about it by tossing off the lyric, "Oh well, we'll catch up some other time," when they all know that there's just no way to be sure.

From its opening hymn for early-risers, "I Feel Like I'm Not Out Of Bed Yet," (sung with ear-perking bellows by Geno Segers) to its closing confirmation that New York, New York will ever remain a hell of a town - sandwiching such first-rank theatre songs as the soul-pulling "Lonely Town," the madcap "Carried Away," and the raucously swinging "I Can Cook, Too" - On The Town's shining score glitters even brighter thanks to the symphonic orchestrations by Bernstein, Hershey Kay, Don Walker, Elliot Jacoby and Ted Royal. Conductor Todd Ellison, who always seems so deceptively laid-back in performance, has the 30-piece orchestra practically conversing with each other as they exchange musical phrases with the contrasting voices of a non-stop urban landscape.

The gag-infested scenes (the book has been condensed by David Ives for this production) blend into emotion-revealing interpretive ballets that are a vital part of the story-telling. While notations for Robbins' original choreography are not known to exist, Warren Carlyle has remounted three numbers from what the master devised for the 1989 production of Jerome Robbins' Broadway, and has faithfully worked in his style to complete the evening's dance requirements in visually striking fashion.

Given the short amount of rehearsal time contractually allowed for staged concert readings and the physical limitations provided by the on-stage orchestra, it's understandable if director John Rando's staging didn't quite provide the comically frenetic frenzy my own personal taste would have desired by the opening night performance. But the muscular charm bouncing off the stage for nearly three hours nevertheless gloriously glides with the refreshing breeze of knockout entertainment.

Tony Yazbeck exudes attractive tough-guy sentimentality as Gabey, the sailor who falls for a photograph of "Miss Turnstiles for June" displayed in a subway car and sets out on a city-wide quest to find her. His singing of " Lonely Town" is a beautifully touching moment of open-hearted longing. The show's lead dancer, Jessica Lee Goldyn is sunny and athletic as the elusive girl of his dreams, turning darkly sensual in a ballet where he actually is dreaming of her.

Playing oversexed cab driver Hildy, Leslie Kritzer burns up the stage as a top-shelf musical comedy comedienne who can let loose with jazzy, show-stopping vocals as she pursues the initially reluctant Chip (a fine Justin Bohon). Jennifer Laura Thompson, as the man-hungry anthropologist Claire de Loone and Christian Borle as Ozzie, the gob whose primitive-looking mug drives her batty, score their share of funny moments, as do Michael Cumpsty as Claire's cuckolded fiancé, Julyana Soelistyo as her perpetually sneezing roommate and Rachel Coloff as a pair of positively awful nightclub torchers, but the biggest laughs of the night are in appreciation of AndRea Martin, who milks so many hilarious bits from her small role as a boozy ballet instructor I was afraid the dancers would slip on the puddles left on the floor.

On The Town has not been especially lucky when it comes to Broadway revivals with two significantly revised mountings lasting only two months each. While the Encores! production can use a bit of a spit-polish, not to mention a return to the full Comden and Green book, it's nevertheless an exuberant example of musical comedy at its best.