|
||||||||||||||
|
'The Musical of Musicals (The Musical)' a witty satire of the genre Spoofs and puns float through tale of destitute heroine and nasty landlord By Lucy Komisar NEW YORK
The music is atonal, dark absolutely Sondheim. The lyrics are spoofily sophisticated: "I've no money, que será, que Seurat!" And to "the heavy," who has money to advance in exchange for accepting his advances: "You were making some pretty sPacific Overtures." Then there's a Kander & Ebb section about a young woman who can't pay the rent. Okay, you've guessed it. The shtick is that there's a gruel thin plot that is staged five times in the idiom of five favorite musical writers or teams: Sondheim, Kander & Ebb, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Jerry Herman. Pamela Hunt directs and choreographs at a bright and fast pace, with actors making entrances and exits in what sometimes seems like double time.
Bogart's lyrics are clever and sharp, cutting America's musical idols down to size. Take Rodgers & Hammerstein: "Oh what beautiful corn! The wind whispers secrets. The field is all ears!" In homage to the corn, there's an "I don't love you" song. And a character declaims, "Don't throw okays at me!" The choreography of one show is described as "a run of De Mille ballet." Yes, lots of puns! In the Kander & Ebb piece inspired by the opening of "Cabaret," Wilkommen(in German) is followed by "Hasta la vista and Erin Go Bragh, Gezuntheit and Que será será." And "Life is a cabernet." Well, it is a speakeasy. "Sell Your Body," Fraulein Abby counsels eviction-prone Juny. And those "Chicago" Fosse dancers! When Andrew Lloyd Webber's moment arrives, the cast pushes the piano into puffs of smoke. Rockwell sings, "If you heard the song before, you will hear it even more ... It might sound just a teeny like something like Puccini. Who would sue? It's just a case of déjà vu, this wretched recitative." Well, maybe Junita should sue after she is knocked flat by the falling chandelier. Rockwell, by the way, has great style and panache. Jerry Herman's moment is full of a prancing chorus and meaningless text a star vehicle. The pianist (Rockwell) describes how "The audience, led by gay men, rises to their feet." So will you, of whatever persuasion. This kind of on-the-mark wit and tuneful parody is great fun, though it helps a lot if you've seen musical targets.
|
|||||||||||||
Copyright © |