| My review of THE HONEYMOONERS: New Jersey world premiere of new musical based on the TV sitcom | |
| Posted by: jesse21 08:36 pm EDT 10/08/17 | |
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| - The new musical stage adaptation of Jackie Gleason’s legendary television sitcom The Honeymooners may not send you to the moon, but it offers plenty of old-fashioned musical comedy pleasures, appropriate for a show set in Brooklyn and Manhattan just before Christmas 1950. It opens today in a world-premiere run at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse. I mostly admired the book by two TV writer/producers: Dusty Kay (produced Entourage and Roseanne) and Bill Nuss (veteran writer of over 300 hours of network prime-time series). They’ve created an extended episode of the TV show wherein Ralph Kramden (Michael McGrath), disappointed again in not getting promoted to dispatcher from a driver of a New York Ciy bus, concocts another get-rich-scheme for himself and his municipal-sewer-worker buddy Ed Norton (Michael Mastro). They can win $500 in a jingle contest that a Madison Avenue advertising agency is conducting in desperation of pleasing a difficult client named “Old Man Faciamatta” (Lewis J. Stadlen) who manufactures a product named Faciamatta Mazzeroni cheese. Ralph and Ed not only win the contest, they get actual jobs at the ad agency at $400 a week. (Note that their previous weekly salaries of $65 as bus driver and sewer worker translate into about $560 in today’s money. So a $400 pay check at the agency would be an annual salary of roughly $180,000 today.) Complications and tests of loyalty, love and friendship ensue. It all ends up with Ralph and Ed presenting their jingle commercial during a live broadcast of the Cavalcade of Stars TV show on the old (and defunct) DuMont network which was Jackie Gleason’s original variety show before moving to CBS. The musical has a nifty ending but I don’t want to spoil it. The writers make the show sing by introducing plot and character points that are intrinsically musical. There is the centerpiece of the jingle itself on which the plot revolves. As far as the characters are concerned, Norton can compose musical jingles and play piano. Ralph’s wife Alice (Leslie Kritzer) demonstrates early on that she too can hit the keyboards. And Norton’s wife Trixie (Laura Bell Bundy) is a former burlesque performer who retired after marrying, but now is offered a lead-singer job at the El Morocco nightclub. (Yes, she does get involved with hubby’s jingle commercial for the live broadcast.) The book makes use of all the classic lines like “Baby, you’re the greatest!” / “Pow, right in the kisser.” / “To the moon, Alice!” They even squeeze in a scene at the Loyal Order of Raccoons lodge. The script breaks the fourth wall a few times with meta lines that might be annoying if they were not as funny as they are. On three occasions, Norton, whom Ralph regards as his dimwitted inferior, accurately predicts the future. Example, Noton wonders if some day there would be a telephone you could take with you anywhere. The unimaginative Ralph replies: “That’s ridiculous. The phone cord would be too long.” Then there is the issue of marital relationships back in the 1950s. The show addresses what might be considered today as misogyny by first glorifying that the husband is the boss in the second song, “King of the Castle,” a duet for Ralph and Norton. But immediately thereafter, as a strong counterpoint, it is clearly established that Alice Kramden is in control and that Norton’s life revolves around his worship of Trixie. It wasn’t much different in the TV series, but the strong women aspect is emphasized more in the musical. The book’s theme is that love and friendship trump money and career. At the same time, the musical’s relevance is unmistakable. It is a contrast to present-day economic reality by harkening back to a time when anything was possible in America and where every worker could optimistically aspire to becoming a member of the affluent middle class. I can’t praise the score as much as the book. The bouncy tunes are a throwback to musical comedies of the 1950s and 60s written by two relatively unknowns. Think of something like the Jule Styne, Comden & Green score to Bells Are Ringing as an ideal example. The music here (by Stephen Weiner) is a generic version of that type of score, even including an overture, entr'acte and exit music. The lyrics (by Peter Mills) often rise to some clever turnings of rhymes. Their best number is the first-act closer “Toast of the Town” after Ralph lands the job at the agency and dreams of living on Park Avenue where he and Alice throw swank parties. Another good song is “A Woman’s Work” in the second act, a solo belt number for Leslie Kritzer’s Alice, a pro-feminist declaration that removes any residual sexism that might still be lingering in the presentation. The four principals turn in fine work despite being burdened with the necessity to largely imitate the TV series stars: Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph as Ralph, Ed, Alice and Trixie respectively. Michael McGrath’s Ralph in his fat suit looks like Gleason but barks like Nathan Lane which has become a common trait in the actor’s performances. It is no coincidence that on the way out of the theater, I overheard women in two instances proclaim: “When this show comes to Broadway, I bet Nathan Lane will play Ralph.” Supporting roles, besides a fine Mr. Stadlen, are well handled by Lewis Cleale in a fairly large role as the agency’s creative director; David Wohl as the agency owner; Chris Dwan as Ralph’s rival jingle writer; Kevin Worley as Trixie’s ex-boyfriend and boss; and Holly Ann Butler as the Kramden’s neighbor Mrs. Manicotti. John Rando (a Tony winner for Urinetown) directs to give equal balance to the jokes and the romance whether it’s between the married couples or the bromance between Ralph and Norton. He manages to keep the flow of the show moving adroitly. Choreographer Joshua Bergasse (the last Broadway On the Town) offers plenty of dance sequences and they do charm with his terrific ensemble of four woman and eight men. He has a lot of fun incorporating Gleason’s “and away we go” moves into the choreography and impresses the audience with a big ballroom number. His, and the show’s, biggest misstep is when the agency salutes their Italian-American client (Mr. Stadlen) with a tarantella that is ridiculously out of place, even in musical comedy; although it was worth sitting through just to hear Ralph in the next scene say, when Alice asks him how was his first day in the new job at the ad agency: “Great. Everybody dances on the tops of tables.” The production design is strong. Beowulf Boritt’s scenic design goes right back to the golden age of musicals with plenty of flats flying in (better believe there’s a midtown Manhattan skyline bathed in a full moon) and set pieces flowing in-and-out of the wings. The transitions from scene-to-scene of the many places around town are smooth. We see, of course, the shabby Kramden kitchen in Brooklyn and the better decorated Norton apartment above it as well; the ad agency; El Morocco; a bus depot on the West Side; and so on. Jason Lyons’s bright lighting design is just what the material calls for. Jess Goldstein’s costumes are sometimes amusing, sometimes wonderfully tacky. All three designers collaborated with Mr. Rando on the 2014 On the Town. While The Honeymooners is pretty close to being ready for Broadway, one has to pause to wonder if a transfer would sell tickets. The subject matter and style of presentation might be attractive to older audiences, but such an old-fashioned musical is not the kind of show that becomes a hit today unless a megastar like Bette Midler headlines. Another Paper Mill Playhouse musical with “honeymoon” in the title, Honeymoon in Vegas which celebrated the 1960s-era Rat Pack, was a Broadway flop only two years ago, despite strong endorsement from The New York Times. As for myself, I wish I could say about The Honeymooners: “Baby, you’re the greatest!” Alas, not quite, but I must confess that at yesterday’s Saturday matinee, I felt once again like the teenager who relished the gags and songs of uncomplicated musical comedy. It was a pleasant nostalgic feeling. ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ - Jesse MUSICAL NUMBERS: ACT ONE “Going Places” -- Ralph (Michael McGrath) and Bus Drivers “King of the Castle” -- Ralph and Norton (Michael Mastro) “Eighty-eight Keys” -- Alice (Leslie Kritzer) “Undeniable”-- Trixie (Laura Bell Bundy) and Norton “The Madison Avenue Line” -- Freddie (Britton Smith), Ralph, and Bus Drivers “Upshaw and Young” -- Streb (Chris Dwan), Gray Flannelers, Secretaries, Ralph, and Norton “Infine la Felicità” -- Faciamatta (Lewis J. Stadlen), Bennett (Lewis Cleale), Ralph, Norton, Streb, and Gray Flannelers “Trixie’s Audition” -- Trixie and Francois (Kevin Worley) “Toast of the Town”-- Ralph, Alice, and New York Society ACT TWO “To the Moon”-- Ralph and Alice “You’re One of Our Kind” -- Bennett and Norton “Keepin’ It Warm” -- Trixie and El Morocco Ensemble “Love Gone Down the Drain” -- Norton and Sewer Workers “The Raccoon Hymn” -- Ralph and the Raccoons “A Woman’s Work” -- Alice “I’ll Miss the Guy”-- Ralph and Norton “Faciamatta Commercial” - Trixie and Cavalcade Ensemble “Baby, You’re the Greatest” -- Cavalcade Host (Michael L Walters), Ralph, Alice, Norton, Trixie, and Ensemble SIDEBAR: THE HONEYMOONERS opens Sunday, October 8, 2017 at the Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ 07041. Running time: 2½ hours, including a 15-minute intermission. Act One: 64 minutes. Act Two: 66 minutes. Limited engagement through October 29. Link to website. - |
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