Terry Teachout's Blog, page 227

TT: Joy in Runyonland

On Sunday I drove up to Massachusetts' Barrington Stage Company to see a letter-perfect revival of Guys and Dolls , and in today's Wall Street Journal I rave about it. Here's an excerpt.

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If "Guys and Dolls" isn't the best Broadway musical ever written, then...but why go on? Everybody who knows and loves the show agrees that it's as good as a musical can get. Frank Loesser's score is a platinum mine--at least half of the 16 songs, including "If I Were a Bell," "I'll Know," "I've Never Been in Love Before" and "Luck Be a Lady," are take-it-to-the-bank standards--and the book, smartly adapted by Abe Burrows from the raffish short stories of Damon Runyon, is funny enough to stand on its own.

But no musical, however classic, is invulnerable to bad direction, and Des McAnuff's miscast 2009 Broadway revival was an over-cooked scoop of mush soft enough to make anyone unfamiliar with "Guys and Dolls" wonder what the fuss was about. If only John Rando's new Barrington Stage version had opened on Broadway instead of in the Berkshires! Mr. Rando, a master of musical comedy who won a Tony for "Urinetown," gets everything right that Mr. McAnuff got wrong, and plenty more besides.

The manifold virtues of this revival start with the stars. The four lead roles are played by top-class regional-theater performers with Broadway experience, all of whom sing as well as they act. Matthew Risch, lately of "Pal Joey," is smooth and debonair as Sky Masterson, the high-rolling sharpie who wins the heart of Miss Sarah Brown (Morgan James), the dishy Salvation Army doll who longs to save the souls of all the heels on Broadway. Michael Thomas Holmes plays Nathan Detroit, the proprietor of the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, like a slightly nebbishy Harvey Keitel. Ms. James, a refugee from the cast of "Wonderland," has classical-quality pipes and enough warmth to melt the heart of a bill collector in January. As for Leslie Kritzer, who stood out in "A Catered Affair" and "Sondheim on Sondheim," she shines brightly as the tough but lovable Adelaide, a third-tier nightclub warbler who's been engaged to Nathan for 14 years and doesn't want to hear any more excuses.

None of these four pros needs help to make a strong impression, but Mr. Rando, working in tandem with Joshua Bergasse, the show's choreographer, surely deserves plenty of credit for sharpening the focus of their characterizations. Every plot point is put across with the unobtrusive crispness of the comradely kiss that Sky plants atop Adelaide's head at the end of the reprise of "Adelaide's Lament." The laughs are there, but so is the feeling: You never forget that "Guys and Dolls" is not just a comedy but also a double-barreled love story, and you believe at all times in the truth of the underlying emotions that give meaning to the jokes....

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Read the whole thing here .

TT: With humble apologies to Cole Porter...

...I offer this new lyric to an old song in the hope of making certain careless theatergoers think twice:

Turn off your cellphone,

Start powering it down.

Turn off your cellphone

Or your fellow men will frown.

If it rings at the end of The Crucible,

All the ushers will treat you as gooseable.

If you chat when you ought to be si-o-lent,

Then assume that your date will get violent.

We're all sick of the buzzing and ringing

That detracts from the acting and singing.

Turn off your cellphone

Or get out of town.

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Cole Porter's "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," sung by Lee Wilkof and Michael Mulheren in the 1999 Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate:

TT: So you want to see a show?

Here's my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:

• Anything Goes (musical, G/PG-13, mildly adult subject matter that will be unintelligible to children, closes Jan. 8, reviewed here)

• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical, G/PG-13, perfectly fine for children whose parents aren't actively prudish, reviewed here)

• The Motherf**ker with the Hat (serious comedy, R, adult subject matter, closes July 17, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• Play Dead (theatrical spook show, PG-13, utterly unsuitable for easily frightened children or adults, closes July 24, reviewed here)

IN CHICAGO:

• The Front Page (comedy, PG-13, extended through July 17, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:

• A Little Journey (drama, G, closes July 10, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK ON BROADWAY:

• The Importance of Being Earnest (high comedy, G, just possible for very smart children, closes July 3, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN CHICAGO:

• Porgy and Bess (operatic musical, PG-13, closes July 3, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY ON BROADWAY:

• The House of Blue Leaves (serious comedy, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:

• Old Times (drama, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN GLENCOE, ILL.:

• Heartbreak House (serious comedy, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:

• Follies (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY ON BROADWAY:

• Born Yesterday (comedy, G/PG-13, reviewed here)

TT: Almanac

"Q. Do you care about reviews?

"A. Of course you care. I don't read them, but you don't really have to--you know what they are with the way people respond. There's nothing in the world more silent than the telephone the morning after everybody pans your play. It won't ring from room service; your mother won't be calling you. If the phone has not rung by 8 in the morning, you're dead."

David Mamet ( interview , New York Times, May 27, 2011)

TT: Snapshot

"The 100 Greatest Movie Threats of All Time," compiled by Harry Hanrahan:



(This is the latest in a weekly series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Wednesday.)

TT: Almanac

"The thing about men that don't talk much is that they don't usually learn much, either."

Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

TT: Almanac

"Occasionally the very youngness of the young moved him to charity--they had no sense of the swiftness of life, nor of its limits. The years would pass like weeks, and loves would pass too, or else grow sour."

Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

TT: Here, but not here

I'm taking a couple of days off from the blog, the theater, New York, and life itself. (Regular readers won't need to be told why!) The usual theater-related postings and daily almanac entries will, needless to say, continue uninterrupted, and I've also rolled over the Top Five and "Out of the Past" modules of the right-hand column for your delectation. I'll also post the weekly "Snapshot" video on Wednesday. Otherwise, I'm elsewhere.

See you a little later in the week.

TT: Almanac

"'I doubt she'll want to spend no time in San Antonio,' Augustus said. 'That's where she was before she came here, and women don't like to go backwards. Most women will never back up an inch their whole lives.'"

Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

CD

Miss Peggy Lee (Capitol, four CDs). One of the three or four top names on the short list of great pop-jazz singers, Peggy Lee was exceedingly well served by this 1998 retrospective of 113 tracks recorded for Capitol in the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties. All the hits are here, including "Fever" and "Is That All There Is," plus a sizable helping of her own excellent songs. The liner notes are by Gene Lees, who knew Lee and understood her. The discographical information is sketchy, but you can find out everything you want to know here . If you're planning a road trip, pack this set (TT).