By Ron Fassler . . .
Penny Fuller and Anita Gillette, once friendly rivals, are back with their cabaret act as rivalrous friends in Sin Twisters: The Next Frontier, which played at Birdland. First premiering in 2013, I have seen them in these entertaining collections of songs and stories numerous times. Still glamorous Broadway Babies, they continue to exude the sweetness and light that first trumpeted their arrivals on the New York theatre scene in the early 1960s. Gillette’s charming and effervescent presence has pervaded more than a dozen Broadway shows since beginning at the top (though in a small role) with Gypsy, starring Ethel Merman. Fuller, after appearing as “Wedding Guest” in a one-performance flop called The Moon Besieged, had far better luck with her next play, when she was chosen to replace Elizabeth Ashley in Neil Simon’s hit comedy Barefoot in the Park. It feels impossible that these two are octogenarians now, but as noble practitioners of “you’re-only-as-young-as-you-feel,” this pair raise the level of that practice to an art.
The French actress Simone Signoret called her autobiography, Nostalgia Isn’t What it Used to Be, based on a piece of graffiti she once read. The memory of that title came up for me while enjoying these two pros strut their stuff. Nostalgic? Not really. Even though the evening was filled with reminiscences from their careers, it felt a lot more like they were still busy experiencing life in the present. Ambitiously, they took on more than a dozen songs and, with stories added to the mix, wound up with a ninety-minute show. Though never overstaying their welcome, director Barry Kleinbort might have been wise to insist on their going with fewer songs and allowing for more patter, which seemed to delight the audiences no end.
As for the songs, it was a smart collection that contained renditions which had the audience either giggling or rummaging for Kleenex. Gillette’s “Isn’t He Something!” from Sondheim’s Gold! (also known as Wise Guys, Bounce and finally, Road Show), is a touching solo she sang in one of its multitude of workshops, only to lose the role to Jane Powell when it was cast for its pre-Broadway tryout (it only made it as far as Chicago and Washington, D.C., however). It fit perfectly within the scenarios of the many ups and downs of both actress’s multiple credits, each sharing a laugh or two over their various trials and tribulations, particularly so when Fuller performed “Time Heals Everything” (from Jerry Herman’s Mack & Mabel, which contained a story about how she almost got to play in the original production). When they alternated lyrics to “Once Upon a Time,” Charles Strouse and Lee Adam’s enduring ballad from All American (a show that featured Gillette in her first leading ingenue role), their memory work, each totally individualized, was palpable.
Besides Sondheim and Herman, it was a night for everything from Rodgers (Hart and Hammerstein), Jule Styne and Comden & Green, Irving Berlin, Kander & Ebb and William Finn, among others. A special tip of the hat to Musical Director (and active participant) Paul Greenwood on piano and to Tom Hubbard, solid as a rock on bass.
The steady feeling in the presence of two stalwarts like Anita Gillette and Penny Fuller is that they’re still ingenues inside. Their presence on stage is youthful and they remain forever optimistic, just as they were when they came as twenty-somethings to New York City in pursuit of their dreams and desires. I know it’s true, that the biggest present either of them would love for their birthday or Christmas would be another part on Broadway. Hell, they’ll do off-Broadway, regional theatre… a commercial! They are game, they are raring to go, and they’ve still got it!
SIN TWISTERS: THE NEXT FRONTIER played April 17th at Birdland (315 West 44th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). For information on more shows go to www.birdlandjazz.com
