Review - The Road To Qatar!: Songs On The Sand

Name your musical The Road To Qatar! and in less than five words and an exclamation point you've communicated to your audience what to expect; a zany, lightweight, tuneful fish-out-of-water comedy set in an exotic locale featuring a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby-ish pair with a healthy dose of sex and romance provided by a Dorothy Lamour-ish babe. And for a good deal of their pocket-sized ninety-minute musical, Stephen Cole (book and lyrics) and David Krane (music) deliver as promised. At its best, The Road To Qatar! is a funny, breezy musical comedy hoot with some legitimately toe-tapping melodies. But while enjoyable, the material isn't quite memorable, though the current production at The York has the feel of an early version of something that could be whipped into a pretty terrific show.

The production's big selling point is that the story presented on stage is nearly 100% true, beginning with the fact that one day in 2005, the two writers, who had barely known each other, each received an email from a representative of the Emir of Qatar, offering them a lot of money to pen a new musical for the opening of what would be the world's largest domed soccer stadium.

The boys, described in a catchy song as, "Two short Jews who write musical comedy," are soon on the road to... well, Dubai, at first... where they're granted every luxury that can be offered (except alcohol) in exchange for scripting an enormous spectacle that adheres to all the Emir's requirements; among them, the story must be about a sultan's son who, for some inexplicable reason, cannot leave the palace. There must be room in the plot for a herd of camels, a flock of falcons, a flying carpet, a full ballet troupe, a team of acrobats and an appearance by Muhammad Ali (yes, the boxer). Also, the musical must be named Aspire and there must be a Ricky Martin-type title song for the finale that repeats the word "aspire" ten times.

The theatre lobby has a wall full of photos of the actual production on display, and although I didn't spot the champ in any of them, it seems all the demands were met. And that's part of the show's major problem; there really isn't much of a plot. The Qataris make demands and the writers, perhaps after minor resistance, swallow their artistic integrity and do what they're told. There's lots of gags about musical comedy, living on the Middle East, demanding Jewish mothers and being gay but there's no danger, no conflict, no romance, no bonding between the main characters or anything else to frame the jokes into story worth following. There's the suggestion that the Qatari are in for some suffering if the show isn't a hit with the Emir but none of that seems to be of any concern to our heroes. A little less truth replaced by some interesting fiction might be in order.

Fortunately director Phillip George, who mounted several editions of Forbidden Broadway, has a knack for freewheeling fun and he has an excellent cast of comics to work with. Standing in for the real-life authors are Keith Gerchak, playing the composer as a New York Jewish neurotic in the Woody Allen tradition, and the snazzy James Beaman as the bookwriter/lyricist. Bill Nolte plays the producer as a big demanding blowhard, very much in the "Road" picture style of villains and Bruce Warren also has his broad, funny moments as both an Ethel Merman-loving special consultant and a flamboyant Italian director. Sarah Stiles combines a Dorothy Lamour look with a hilarious comic sense as the shy Lebanese translator. She's an absolute scream in the evening's funniest routine, where she attempts to accurately mimic her boss' violent outbursts.

Though the travels of Hope, Crosby and Lamour are remembered for their silliness, they were balanced out with realistic moments that kept the audience involved with the characters. Real life has given The Road To Qatar! its silliness. Now all that's needed is to create some realism in which to wrap it up.

Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: James Beaman and Keith Gerchak; Bottom: Sarah Stiles, Keith Gerchak, Bruce Warren, James Beaman and Bill Nolte.

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"The theatre is the involuntary reflex of the ideas of the crowd."
-- Sarah Bernhardt

The grosses are out for the week ending 2/6/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: DRIVING MISS DAISY (17.0%), Colin Quinn: LONG STORY SHORT (4.9%), THE LION KING (3.6%), MAMMA MIA! (3.3%), MARY POPPINS (2.9%), MEMPHIS (0.4%),

Down for the week was: Million Dollar Quartet (-16.2%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-15.6%), AMERICAN IDIOT (-13.8%), LOMBARDI (-12.9%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (-11.2%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-7.4%), CHICAGO (-5.4%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (-4.5%), WICKED (-3.1%), THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (-2.4%), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (-2.4%), JERSEY BOYS (-1.4%), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (-0.8%),