AISLE SAY Berkshires
ON THE TOWN
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Book and Lyrics by Betty
Comden and Adolph Green
Directed by John Rando
starring Clyde Alves, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Tony Yazbeck
Barrington Stage until July 13
On the Town (running at Barrington Stage until July 13) is a helluva show! The team
of Leonard
Bernstein (score), Jerome Robbins (director/choreographer), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (book and lyrics), collaborated on their first Broadway project and
created a musical comedy picture of New York City, circa
1944.
WWII was raging, men were fighting overseas and the
fleeting nature of life and dreams inspired a story of three sailors on a
24-hour leave. Limiting themselves to the romance of the city and a beat-the-clock
structure only added poignancy to what might otherwise have become a loosely
strung-together series of scenes and a parcel of songs.
It’s more than merely noteworthy to acknowledge that
the creative team went on, both separately and, on occasion, together, to craft
some of the theatre’s most popular works over the next ten, or so, years.
Bernstein, of course, enjoyed the most diverse and most acclaimed attention,
though Jerome Robbins did pretty well for himself, too. The writing partners,
Comden and Green, had great success in Hollywood and split their time between
film and theatre. But back to where they first struck gold…
Three sailors burst onto the streets of Manhattan at
6:00 in the morning and they have one day to see the sights of the city. With
guidebook in-hand, and with dreams of pretty girls swimming in their overheated
imaginations, they launch themselves forward. On the subway, Gabey sees a poster of Miss Turnstiles, the subway
girl-of-the-month, and he is smitten: he is immediately compelled to find her.
And with this mission fixed and unshakeable, the sailors split up to find the
mystery girl. In so doing, they find girls of their very own, too.
“On the Town” is a quest for human connection and
comfort. As written by Comden and Green, it’s told in a series of revue scenes
that are both clever and downright corny – without the Bernstein score to
raise the emotional stakes, it’s possible that the show might be nothing more
than a quaint period piece. But, as I’ve said, there is a Bernstein score.
There is exuberance (“New York, New York”), sexual hunger (“Come Up to My Place”/ I Can
Cook Too”), melancholy (“Some Other Time”) and, best of all, loneliness that
begs respite (“Lonely Town”). In these songs, the characters reveal themselves
to each other, to themselves and, by extension, to us. (There are novelty
tunes, too, but they aren’t up to the level of the others and many reflect a
revue style now long out of date.)
And when they aren’t singing their joys, fears and
longings, the characters dance as further proof that human connections are
paramount. Of the many dances – with the young Jerome Robbins at the
helm, and with “On the Town” having been based on his earlier ballet, “Fancy
Free”, it’s not surprising that there is too much dance – the “Pas de Deux”,
“Times Square Ballet” and “Imaginary Coney Island” are the finest. (As with the
secondary novelty songs, there are dance interludes that would be better left
to the diehard archivist or dance historian to appreciate, so little do they
add.)
The company assembled for this production is young,
tireless and fully committed. Clyde
Alves and Jay Armstrong Johnson, play Ozzie and Chip with ingenuousness that charms. And as Gabey, their smitten buddy in search of love and Ivy Smith, Tony Yazbeck is sensational. He conveys innocence without compromising intelligence
and he adds warmth to every scene that he is in. His vocal strengths are as
considerable as his dancing and acting, and his seeming lack of effort
establishes a relationship with the audience that roots the entire production.
My only quibble with his performance is that Yazbeck produces too much sound at
the end of his numbers, thereby stepping outside his character long enough to
show us how much more the performer is capable of. And this is a textbook illustration
that less is really much, much more.
Elizabeth Stanley, Alysha
Umphress and Deanna Doyle play opposite the three men with as much pent-up energy as the guys,
themselves. All three have opportunities to reveal singing and dancing skills:
Umphress has a large voice and takes full advantage of her two belt-em numbers,
while Doyle is delightful as Miss
Turnstiles. Stanley embraces the full foolishness of her big song, “Carried
Away”. And Stanley and Umphress get to join Alves and Johnson for the
next-to-closing, “Some Other Time”, one of the finest musical theatre songs
ever written.
And where we don’t see them, but where we do see the
results of their work, and appreciate their accomplishments: John Rando (director), Darren
R. Cohen (musical director), Joshua Bergasse (choreographer), Beowulf
Boritt (scenic
designer), Jennifer
Caprio (costume
designer), Ed
Chapman (sound design) and Jason Lyons (an exceptionally fluid lighting design).
Barrington Stage continues to build its strengths
with strong programming choices that are well served in performance. “On the
Town” is an enormous project, and I have to assume that the staff and all Board
members have dug deep and long into all available resources – human,
financial and inspirational – to mount a show of this caliber. Long may
they continue to do so!
Return to Home Page
Road
(National) Tour Review Index
New
York City & Environs Theatre Review
Index
Berkshire,
Massachusetts Theatre Review
Index
Boston
Area Theatre Review Index
Florida
Theatre Review Index
London
Theatre Review Index
Minneapolis/St.
Paul (Twin Cities) Theatre
Review Index
Philadelphia
& Environs Theatre Review
Index
San
Francisco Bay Area Theatre Review Index
Seattle
Area Theatre Review Index
Toronto,
Ontario (Canada) Index