New York, New York, a helluva town.
The Bronx is up, but the Battery's down.
The people ride in a hole in the groun'.
New York, New York, it's a helluva town! ♪ ♫
On the Town, the 1944 stage musical by Betty Comden & Adolph Green, most famous in its 1949 big screen incarnation with Gene Kelly & Frank Sinatra, is back on the boards. (Just in time for Green's centennial this December. What a songwriting pair those two were.)
I always thought the '49 film was somewhat forgotten, at least in comparison to Anchors Aweigh (1945) the first Kelly/Sinatra sailors musical but maybe that's because I'm an Oscar freak and the first pairing was a much bigger Oscar deal in its day with 5 nominations and a win. So I was surprised some years ago that On the Town made the AFI's 25 greatest musicals list at #19 . I always thought of it as very stage bound so I shouldn't have been surprised that it's so utterly delightful on the stage. [more]
Tony Yazbeck leads the impressive dancing in On The Town
My heart goes out to Tony Yazbeck who risks Gene Kelly comparisons every damn night but he's an amazing hoofer, graceful but über masculine so he's definitely in the descendants of Kelly school of male leads. If the show lags a teensy bit during his solos and dream ballet style duet it's not due to any deficiencies of charisma but only that his dramatic sequences are so tonally different than the rest of the show with its indefatigable comedy and high energy ensemble dances.
For those who are unfamiliar the show is about three sailors on 24 hour shore leave who want to see all of NYC. They have a rather hilariously inept and geographically challenged itinerary of sights to see but naturally this quickly gets shoved aside for girl-chasing. They split up to sow their oats. Chip (Sinatra in the film / Jay Armstrong Johnson on B'way) hooks up with horny taxicab driver Hildy and Ozzy (Jules Munshin in the film / Clyde Alves on B'way) gets involved with a horny engaged woman -- it's great that the women are the sexually aggressive ones in this musical. Gabey's (Kelly/Yazbeck) dreamgirl proves more elusive which is where the second act and the reunion of all the characters comes in.
The show is very funny and, incidentally, if you've just seen Birdman and wondered why that one audience member in your theater was laughing so maniacally at that crazy lady screaming across the rooftops at Michael Keaton, please to know that that was New York comedy legend Jackie Hoffman who plays multiple comic relief roles here. Yes, it's that kind of comedy - a comedy that also has comic relief. It's very very silly and sometimes very silly is pure bliss when you're hitting a Broadway show for the night.
Alysha Umphress invites Jay Armstrong Johnson "Come Up To My Place"
The MVP here is, perhaps no surprise, Alysha Umphress as Hildy the cab driver. In the 70s revival Bernadette Peters won the show's only Tony nomination playing her. Lea DeLaria won new fans playing Hildy in the '99 revival (though she missed on the Tony nomination which went to Mary Testa in the roles now played by Jackie Hoffman). It helps to have a number as perfect as "I Can Cook" to sing but watching Umphress do it is a wholly thrilling moment. When I saw the show in previews it was one of those special fusions of star/character that only comes with live entertainment. There's that moment when you're absolutely loving a performance and you can see, right there on the star's face, that they're also loving giving the performance for you. You see two things at once, the emotions of the character and the elation on the performer's face when they're fully aware of how much they've just stopped the show. Thought balloon: "Nailed it!"
Previous revivals haven't stayed open more than two months but I could see the latest having a healthy life through next summer's Tony Awards. It's super exuberant, well sung and danced and leaves you with a stupid stupid grin on your face.
In fact, I don't even know why I reviewed it just now because basically Iain said it all right here...
If you love dancing and beautiful women and military guys and dinosaurs and if you love all kinds of stuff like the earth and comedy... this is the right show for you."
On the Town sizzle reel
Lea DeLaria's "I Can Cook" from the 1999 revival