Ghost Light Monday--The Comedy of Errors

Today's "dark" day is about a non-musical theater production I attended. Chicago Shakespeare Theatre has been around for about 20 years and has grown not only into one of the biggest theater companies in Chicago, but has become an actual Chicago institution.

This past week, I attended their production of Comedy of Errors. Dare I say, this is not one of the great plays in the canon. But the concept of the CST production is great. Barbara Gaines, who is the Artistic Director for the theater, directed this production, and with the help of playwright Ron West has created a play-outside-a-play to frame Shakespeare's original.

The story for the frame takes place at the Shepperton Studios outside London in 1940. A troupe of British actors and one American crooner have gathered to make a film of Comedy of Errors.

In a newly written scene in Act One, we are introduced to the cast of actors, technicians and the director who are bringing to life the cast of characters in Comedy of Errors. Included are the aging director, who is married to his leading lady--a Vivien Leigh-type; a swashbuckling leading man; the leading man of the last generation, who is having difficulty handing the reigns to his successor; the underappreciated mousy production secretary; the bedraggled props assistant; and the put-upon dresser of the leading lady. Each brings their own gripes and quirks to the production, and when we see them enacting their roles in the play proper, those quirks come out in hysterical ways.

If you've seen Noises Off, the musical Kiss Me Kate, or Kenneth Branagh's film A Midwinter's Tale, you've seen this concept in use. Here, it works brilliantly to add an additional layer of humor to Errors.

There even was some music in the show, as one of the actors in the Shepperton troupe is an American singer a la Frank Sinatra. Beside acting in the film, he is providing the songs for the sound track and the audience gets to hear him sing two numbers of the 40s era being "recorded."

But the real treat today was seeing a new take on an old play that didn't rob the original of it's worth, but rather celebrated that original. There have been many productions of Shakespeare that move the action to another time, or another place. They have often felt like putting a new veneer on an old cabinet. But this production put a lovely new case around the old cabinet, protecting it and showing it off in a new light.

Comedy of Errors
By William Shakepeare
Additional scenes by Ron West
Directed by Barbara Gaines
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Sorry, this production closed June 29.

Smokey Joe's Cafe Broadway production on DVD

With this production, we enter the world of the so-called "Jukebox shows"--with songs written not to be performed together, but for commercial release. Smokey Joe's Cafe offers the music of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two anchors of the Brill Building group of songwriters.

I find the Brill Building very interesting. It housed some of the finest songwriters from the Big Band Era and Rock & Roll, including Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Neil Sedaka, and a slew of others. If ever there was a building that deserved a musical unto itself, the Brill is that building. Unfortunately, for me, Smokey Joe's isn't the musical the Brill deserves.

Leiber & Stoller wrote music in the 50s and 60s. While I like some of this music, putting it back to back to back doesn't give me the variety I want in either a musical or a concert. The musical arrangements don't help. I longed for a slow ballad with just piano and bass backing up the singer, to break the monotony. Too much of the music seems to be at the same tempo. Does every singer in the cast have to sound like they're squalling for American Idol? I'm all for the Phil Spector "wall of sound", but once in a while I'll like to bang my head against something else.

Well, according to the Internet Broadway Database, this show ran for 5 years and more than 2,000 performances, so clearly I'm in the minority in my response to Joe. It's not the first time I've been in the minority, nor will it be the last.

Smokey Joe's Cafe The Songs of Leiber and Stoller
Music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Live Broadway production for release on DVD
Cast: Ken Ard, Adrian Bailey, Matt Bogart, Brenda Braxton, Victor Trent Cook, BJ Crosby, DeLee Lively, Deb Lyons, Frederick B. Owens,

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Original Cast Recording

I was in high school when I first encountered Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris in a production at a nearby college. I was immediately drawn to it, probably more for musical reasons than for the lyrics, most of which were probably over my head at the time. Maybe a lot still are.

The cast recording contains 23 songs (the show contained some others that were not recorded) which opine on love, war, selfworth, death, and a whole lot of other timeless topics. Perhaps the timelessness of the human condition is the point of this revue. As the opening song "Marathon" states: We're always dancing through the nights and days.

The cast of four is uniformly good, capable of styles ranging from music hall bawdy to cabaret to legato singing. "If We Only Have Love" which concludes the show is a beautiful song about how together we can overcome any obstacle.

Mort Shuman, who performs in this cast, was instrumental in bringing this revue to life and, along with Eric Blau, is credited with providing the English lyrics. They are generally excellent, at times playful, at times poetic. I've never heard the songs in French, so I can't speak as to how closely the English follows Brel's original.

The interesting liner notes to this CD reissue discuss Brel's history, the creation of the show, and the effects it had on the songwriting community. I was shocked to learn that Brel died in 1978 at only the age of 49. That means he was 39 years of age when his songs were collected into this revue.

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Music and Lyrics by Jacques Brel
English Lyrics by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman
Original Cast Recording released in 1968 by Columbia Broadway Masterworks
CD reissue 2002 Sony Music Entertainment
Cast: Elly Stone, Mort Shuman, Shawn Elliot, Alice Whitfield

Call Me Madam film on DVD

Composer and lyricist Irving Berlin makes his first appearance in my Year with the Ethel Merman vehicle Call Me Madam. Wealthy Texas oil widow Sally Adams is posted as Ambassador to little Lichtenburg and lusty singing ensues.

Joinging La Merm in this film (and actually holding their own) are Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, and George Sanders. Mr. Sanders sings one nice number and Ms. Ellen dances a nice dance or two, but the real delight is Mr. O'Connor. I've of course seen him clowning in Singin' in the Rain, and loved "Make 'Em Laugh", but in Madam, O'Connor has to sing, dance and romance the girl--usually all at the same time. And he pulls it off with elan. A tap number where he bursts a lot of balloons is particularly creatively choreographed.

Madam's music perhaps is not uniformly the best that Berlin produced. The memorable song from the score is "You're Just in Love" and it doesn't take a genius to realize it's the best number, because the film reprises the tune again and again! Fortunately, it really is a great quodlibet song with two melodies overlapping one another. "It's a Lovely Day Today" is also a memorable tune, but the other haven't lasted the course of time.

I've actually seen this show live on stage, in a City Center-like staging in Chicago with Jo Anne Worley as Adams and Malcolm Gets as her press secretary Kenneth Gibson. It was about ten years ago, but Worley was great, as I recall, and Gets had a very nice singing voice.

Call Me Madam
Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Screenplay by Arthur Sheekman based on the
Book by Howard Linsday and Russel Crouse
Released by 20th Century Fox in 1953
Cast: Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, George Sanders

Oklahoma! 1998 London Stage Production on DVD

I can't believe I've gone almost a month into my Year and not yet listened to a show by the grand poobahs of American Musical Theater--Rodgers and Hammerstein. Well to make up for that lapse, I'd better choose a good show and a good production to start the discussion. And with the filmed version of the 1998 London stage production of Oklahoma!, I've met both those criteria. Stage director Trevor Nunn has been putting the exclamation point on musicals all of my adult life.

This production was Hugh Jackman's introduction to the world, I believe, and on behalf of gay men all over the world--thank you Mr. Nunn. Mr. Jackman is well cast as Curly, with a good singing voice and charming demeanor. If his acting is perhaps not as nuanced as some of the other performers, or if his Curly doesn't quite project some vulnerability to balance the bravado, well, his bare chest helps make up for it.

The real star of this production for me is Josefina Gabrielle as Laurie. Ms. Gabrielle proves herself a true triple threat, singing Laurie's rangy songs without getting tinny in her upper register, truly dancing (not just performing dance steps) in the dream ballet, and most impressively, imbuing Laurie with real inner conflict about her impending womanhood and the choices she must make. For the first time, I saw Laurie as a microcosm for the state of Oklahoma. Just as territory folks are thinking about what's to be gained and lost in becoming a state, Laurie struggles with her statehood.

If you rent this DVD through Netflix or by other means, be sure to watch the DVD extras, which are on a separate disc. Not only was it nice to here the performers talk in their usual British accents, but the "making of" part of the DVD answered some questions I had about how they filmed this in front of an audience (the brief answer is that they didn't). One beef about the extra DVD--the talking heads aren't clearly identified. The actors are obvious, Trevor Nunn is obvious, Richard Rodgers's daughter Mary and choreographer Susan Stroman--not so much, and poor Ted Chapin of the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization could be just about anyone, if you didn't know.

Oklahoma!
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics and Book by Oscar Hammerstein II
1998 Royal National Theatre Production
Directed by Trevor Nunn
Choreographed by Susan Stroman
Released on DVD in 1999 by Image Entertainment
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Josefina Gabrielle, Shuler Hensley, Peter Polycarpou, Jimmy Johnston, Vicki Simon, Maureen Lipman

Wicked Original Broadway Cast Album

Today's entry is the bonafide Broadway juggernaut of the new millennium. It's also succeeded in bringing in a whole new audience to the Broadway theater--no easy feat. It is the first entry in my Year with composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who got his feet wet in musicals with Godspel and Pippin, which I would qualify as "soft rock" musicals. With Wicked he has a more mature musical style that combines traditional Broadway styles with a pop music mentality.

You need to have a villain if you're going to have a hero. But does Wicked have a hero? Most in the audience would say that Elphaba is the hero, but the characters on stage certainly wouldn't agree. And Elphaba is not without fault, ego, or mistakes.

And with the two strong performances by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth in the original Broadway cast, the argument for who is the hero is further confused. Both Ms. Menzel and Ms. Chenoweth are singers that defy categorization (if not gravity). They have a "belt" mentality without the limitations of a belt range. They can choose their vocal placement to keep from having an obvious break in their ranges, unlike many belt singers. Perhaps this is by benefit of being among a generation of musical performers who have always used microphone amplification for their entire performing life.

I saw Wicked in the sit down production in Chicago with Ana Gasteyer in the role of Elphaba. The whole production was wonderful and the women in particular were great. Rondi Reed (who just won a Tony in a straight play) was Madame Morrible. I'm sorry I don't recall the actress who was Galinda. The complicated set was a bit of a puzzle to me. To me, it took away from the action on stage rather than added to it.

Wicked
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by Winnie Holzman
Based on the novel by Gregory Maquire
Original Broadway Cast recording
Released by Decca Broadway in 2003
Cast: Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Joel Grey, Carole Shelley, Norbert Leo Butz

The Fantasticks film on DVD

Well my musical education has truly been lacking, because I have never been in or seen a production of The Fantasticks. I knew the two most famous songs "Soon it's Gonna Rain" and "September", but that was about all.

This film version probably only gives a hint of how it must be on the stage. The production values are very high, which almost makes up for some very average singing. Again the duets/trio/quartets are the most fun, I think. Joey McIntyre and Jean Louisa Kelly portrays the young lovers. Since I live in a cave, I'd never actually heard New Kids on the Block, so didn't know Mr. McIntyre. The cave does have a television, so I recognize Ms. Kelly from some rather pedestrian sit-coms.

The DVD extras include longer versions of the songs, and the original Rape Song from the stage production which was watered-down for the film. It's a shame, because it's one of the few times that El Gallo Jonathon Morris comes alive in a musical number.

The Fantasticks
Music and Lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt
Book by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt
Released by United Artists in 1995
Cast: Jean Louisa Kelly, Joe McIntyre, Joel Grey, Barnard Hughes, Teller (without Penn), Jonathon Morris, Brad Sullivan