The City Center Encores! revival of the beloved 1953 musical is just too busy for its own good.
By Brian Scott Lipton
In the past few years, City Center Encores! has tried to make lightning strike twice by presenting shows it has already done, including Fiorello! and Pal Joey, albeit without much success. If hopes were even higher for visionary director Zhailon Livingston’s production of the 1953 musical comedy Wonderful Town – a huge hit for Encores! in 2000 which transferred to Broadway in 2003 – the letdown proves to be even greater.
At least on Wednesday, the show felt tentative, poorly paced, decidedly overlong (at 2 hours and 40 minutes) and extremely overcrowded — with many of the musical’s numbers feeling very overchoreographed. (That said, Lorin Latarro’s ensemble work is extremely good, as is Ayodele Casel’s tap choreography.) So much goes on at times, it became hard to know where Livingston wants us to focus.
Nonetheless, one can see many of the charms of the show — written by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov and based on their hit play, My Sister Eileen — about two naïve and very different sisters from Ohio (well played by Anika Noni Rose and Aisha Jackson) who move to 1930s Greenwich Village. The book-smart Ruth Sherwood (Rose) wants to find acceptance as a journalist, while the coquettish Eileen (Jackson) aspires to earn success in the theater, as well as the attention of as many men as possible.
Still, it helps enormously that these two superb actresses have excellent sibling chemistry, even if casting Rose – a classic feminine beauty – as the supposedly far less attractive sister proves to be a laughable and almost fatal error. (The brilliant costume designer Linda Cho’s decision to place Rose in pants and Jackson in a frilly dress really doesn’t solve this problem!)
More importantly it might help more if there was any romantic chemistry on stage; Rose never really connects with the strong-voiced Javier Munoz as editor Bob Baker – her eventual love interest — nor do we feel any heat between the flirtatious Jackson and her two main suitors, drug store employee Frank Lippincott and seemingly slimy Chick Clark (played capably by Etai Benson and John Rapson). Even the “illicit” pairing of downstairs neighbors Helen (Jessie Hooker Bailey) and football star Wreck (Fergie Philippe) falls fairly flat.
Luckily, the score by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green still has more than its fair share of winners: the sisters’ charming duet “Ohio”; the sardonic “One Hundred Ways to Lose a Man,” the vibrant “Conga!” and the tongue-twisting “Swing” (all performed excellently by Rose); the beautifully ballads “A Little Bit in Love” and “It’s Love” (beautifully executed by Jackson), as well as the pensive “A Quiet Girl” (which allows Munoz to shine).
Moreover, the entire score – including a lengthy overture – is gorgeous played by the Encores! orchestra under the direction of the brilliant Mary-Mitchell Campbell. Here, they’re pitched above Teresa L. Williams utilitarian set, but still mostly in view.
To be fair, this is one of those productions that will more fully come together during its 10-day run and probably shouldn’t be judged on its opening night performance! Maybe by next week, Wonderful Town will turn out to be wonderful, after all.
Wonderful Town continues at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street) through May 11. Visit www.nycitycenter.org for tickets and information.
Photos: Joan Marcus