| My review of HONEYMOON IN VEGAS: Tony Danza & Rob McClure vie for a woman's hand | |
| Posted by: | jesse21 10:36 am EST 01/15/15 |
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| - I caught Honeymoon in Vegas over last weekend at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre where it opens tonight. Reading my comments on the initial presentation at Paper Mill Playhouse fifteen months ago, I decided to stick with those and offer that review here. The reason is that nothing of any substance has changed. Nor has the cast (even small supporting roles) or creatives. Nor have the songs in Jason Robert Brown’s score. Director Gary Griffin and choreographer Denis Jones have now accomplished what I hoped would happen: tighten up the action and improve the flow between scenes that take place in many locales. They are aided by state-of-the-art equipment that moves scenery faster and smoother than in the out-of-town tryout. The three leads - Tony Danza, Rob McClure and Brynn O’Malley - are now totally comfortable in their roles. Mr. Danza, in particular, is now more confident and smooth as silk. This throwback to 1960’s musical comedy is breezy fun. No, it is not truly distinguished or one of the all-time greats, but it is an enjoyable evening out. This time around, “Honeymoon” reminded me of exactly the kind of musical Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green turned out back when. Do Re Mi is the one that came to mind in particular. I did wish that Mr. Brown had provided an old-time hit parade song like “Make Someone Happy.” He does come close, however, with the catchy “When You Say Vegas.” No matter the Broadway fate of Honeymoon in Vegas, that song should have a long and lucrative life licensed for commercials. I am sticking with a 3½ star rating (out of 5). “HONEYMOON IN VEGAS” opens Thursday, January 15, 2015, at the Nederlander Theatre, 208 West 41st Street (between Seventh & Eighth Avenues), New York City. Seen at a preview on Jan 10 (started 2:05pm; ended 4:35pm). Running time: 2½ hours, including a 15-minute intermission. Act One: 1 hour, 7 minutes. Act Two: 1 hour, 5 minutes. Open-ended engagement. Tickets currently on sale through May 31, 2015. Link to website. Review below written on October 6, 2013. Initially, “Honeymoon in Vegas” began previews at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, New Jersey on September 26, 2013; opened on October 6; and ended its engagement on October 27. When the curtain rises on Honeymoon in Vegas, a Caesars Palace-style band with a mean horn section rolls toward the audience from upstage to play an overture so insistently Rat Pack bouncy that it could be heralding the imminent appearance of Ol’ Blue Eyes. The good news is that the musical to follow is not a bad substitute as far as enjoyable entertainment goes. It opens tonight at the Paper Mill Playhouse in suburban New Jersey in what appears to be a pre-Broadway tryout. Honeymoon in Vegas is a throwback to 1960s musical comedies: a light-as-a-feather, message-free, gag-filled romantic farce with plenty of genuine show tunes. You won’t find a Fosca moping about this stage, let alone a Leo Frank. I bring this up because fans of Parade and The Last Five Years may not cotton to Jason Robert Brown, golden boy of serious musicals, composing the kind of songs a Jimmy Van Heusen regularly turned out. However, this score is tuneful and damn good, including some lyrics in his contemporary list songs that Cole Porter might have applauded. The show is based on a 1992 movie of the same name that was written and directed by Andrew Bergman. Here he pens the musical’s book but frees it to work on the musical stage, also dropping subordinate characters and intensifying the deception angle. Additionally, Mr. Bergman friskily pokes fun at his twenty-year-old film. Quickly, the plot, a comedic version of Indecent Proposal, is this: Jack Singer (Rob McClure) has been dating Betsy Nolan (Brynn O’Malley) for five years but won’t commit to a wedding because his mother (a wacky Nancy Opel) on her deathbed made him promise he would never marry. ("No one could ever love you like I love you.") Betsy (now age 31 and “17 years on the pill”) gives him an ultimatum. But Jack says he must leave New York to break away from mom’s spell and suggests they fly to Vegas the next day to get hitched at a wedding chapel. As they register in the lobby of the fictitious Milano Hotel & Casino, she is spotted by another arriving guest, Tommy Korman (Tony Danza), a high-rolling, possible mob figure. He is struck by how much Betsy resembles his late wife Donna. Accustomed to getting what he wants, he tricks Jack into losing sixty grand in a poker game and, as alternative payment because Jack is broke, demands Betsy’s company (social, not sexual) for the weekend. Everybody agrees. Tommy and Betsy then jet off to his oceanfront house on Kauai where he intends to have her fall in love with him or maybe pay her a million bucks to fall in love with him. Jack follows in pursuit and finally makes a success of things with the help of a skydiving club whose members all dress as Elvis impersonators. I withhold the exact ending. But I will add that in this version the mother keeps popping up (literally) throughout the show to add to the amusement. If there’s a message here at all, it’s don’t hesitate to take the leap for someone (or something) you really love. The movie spent about twenty percent of its time leisurely basking in location exteriors: Manhattan, Bally’s on the Vegas Strip and Hawaii. Here the scenic designer Anita Louizos takes us to those same places, but simply and imaginatively. Milburn, New Jersey native Rob McClure, Tony nominated last season for Chaplin, was nurtured at the Paper Mill, a venue where he indeed gets entrance applause. He’s an animated fireplug who can command a big stage and be on equal footing in the charm department with co-star Tony Danza. The 61-year-old Mr. Danza has a likability quotient that has to be in the stratosphere. It is obvious audiences adore him. He is a little unsteady in his role (they started previews only on September 26), but that should improve. He performs a terrific song (“A Little Luck”) with a bit of dancing in the second act that might have been composed for a Sinatra, Martin or Bennett. Brynn O’Malley, a Paper Mill regular and the original Grace Farrell in the current Annie on Broadway, is a peppy Betsy with a brassy singing voice in the grand tradition of musicals. David Josefsberg (The Wedding Singer) is the embodiment of an old-fashioned orchestra’s crooner with a showgirl on each arm (also, later in the show, an Elvis). And, Matthew Saldivar (Peter and the Starcatcher) is just wonderful as Mr. Danza’s Italian-American henchman, Johnny Sandwich (“I changed it from Focaccia.”) Honeymoon in Vegas still needs work, tightening up bits and pieces here and there that aren’t landing. Director Gary Griffin (The Color Purple) has the show perking along nicely but he could increase the flame under the action a couple notches. Denis Jones’s choreography is very good at transitioning between scenes but could use some less clichéd steps. All things considered, though, and despite work that’s needed, I found myself grinning throughout the entire show. ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ - Jesse MUSICAL NUMBERS: Act One: Overture -- Orchestra “I Love Betsy” -- Jack (Rob McClure) and Ensemble “Never Get Married” -- Bea (Nancy Opel) and Ensemble “Anywhere But Here” -- Betsy (Brynn O’Malley) “When You Say Vegas” -- Buddy Rocky (David Josefsberg), Showgirls (Leslie Donna Flesner & originally Paige Faure, but now on Broadway, Erica Sweany) and Ensemble “Out of the Sun” -- -- Tommy (Tony Danza) “Forever Starts Tonight” -- Tommy and Jack “Betsy’s Getting Married” -- Betsy, Jack, Tommy and Ensemble “Come to an Agreement” -- Tommy “Do Something” -- Buddy Rocky, Jack and Ensemble Act Two: Entr'acte -- Orchestra “Hawaii/Waiting for You” -- Raymond (Raymond J. Lee), Betsy, Jack and Ensemble “Every Day Is Happy in Hawaii” -- Jack, Teihutu (George Merrick) and Mahi (Catherine Ricafort) “Friki-Friki” -- Mahi and Jack “You Made the Wait Worthwhile” -- Tommy, Betsy and Ensemble “A Little Luck” -- Tommy and Johnny (Matthew Saldivar) “Isn’t That Enough?” -- Jack “Airport Song” -- Ticket Agents (Tracee Beazer, Gaelen Gilliland, George Merrick) and Ensemble “Higher Love” -- Roy Bacon (David Josefsberg) and Ensemble “I’ve Been Thinking” -- Betsy “Honeymoon in Vegas” -- Jack, Betsy and Ensemble SIDEBAR ON CURRENT BROADWAY PRODUCTION: - | |
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