Front Row Centre review ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER

 

Musical theatre fans who listen to the original cast recording of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER often wonder why the show is seldom staged. The score by Burton Lane overflows with melody. What is missing from the CD is the overlong and clumsy book that Alan Jay Lerner created.  To reshape the material into a coherent show requires the work of a talented director. 

 Enter Joe Cascone.  

 

Having studied all the pre-Broadway and post-Broadway scripts he has prepared a version that is highly entertaining. 

 

It helps that he has a dynamic leading lady. Her name is Ashley Gibson and whether playing the kooky 1960s waif Daisy Gamble or the 18^th Century bartered bride Melinda Welles you can't take your eyes off her.  She is particularly effective in her solo second act ballad "What Did I Have That I Don't Have " when she discovers the doctor liked her better before. Two hundred years before. 

 

That brings us to the story that Lerner concocted. While under hypnosis to stop smoking, Daisy Gamble reveals that she lived a former life in 18^th century England as Melinda Welles.  The catch is that the Doctor finds himself falling in love – not with Daisy but with Melinda. 

 

The situation is ripe with possibilities but unfortunately Alan Jay Lerner was never able to solve the puzzle and make it work. While the script's structural problems may never be 100% surmountable, Cascone manages to keep the show focussed by trimming the lengthy book scenes and letting the wonderful songs carry it. 

 

The musical values are well taken care of thanks to the small ensemble led by Liane Fainsinger, who also provides harpsichord accompaniment for the period sequences. These sequences give Bryan Chamberlain an opportunity to pour his beautiful voice over the haunting love song "She Wasn't You."  

 

It is a joy to see Gordon Elkin on stage as the thinly veiled parody of Aristotle Onasis. His song "When I'm Being Born Again" in which he schemes to leave his fortune to his future self was a rousing showstopper that got the second act off to a lively start. 

 

As the doctor/professor who discovers Daisy's secret past, Cascone himself employs a brusque Frasier Crane-like demeanour notably to the tour-de-force "Come Back to Me." Contrasting with this is the understated passion and longing he brings to the song "Melinda." 

 

The transitions from present to past are ingeniously staged and helped in no small way by Gareth Crew's sensitive lighting design.  

 

Cascone and company have made this problematic show work. Thanks to their efforts, and the melodious score – not to mention the performance of Ashley Gibson  - this production is well worth investigating. 

  

The Civic Light Opera Company presents ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER at Fairview Library Theatre, 35 Fairview Mall Drive, until October 28. Performances are Wednesdays at 7, Thursday to Saturday at 8 with matinees on Sunday October 22 and Saturday October 28 at 2. . Tickets are $17.50- $20 and available at www.CivicLightOperaCompany.com or by calling  (416) 755-1717. 

  

To post a comment, you must register and login.