| Two instances come to mind: After a brilliant, rich, perfect rendition of "I Feel Like I'm Not Out Of Bed Yet," the outstanding actor/singer Philip Boykin returned to the stage after "New York, New York" and played the "Miss Turnstiles" announcer as an extravagantly gay stereotype. Later when Gabey was looking for Ivy at Carnegie Hall, doors opened to reveal one or two gay stereotypical canoodling couples, ho-ho-ho. Then again, I felt the whole production was rendered as a cartoon, top-to-bottom, completely at odds with the powerful and frequently serious score and story implications. My father saw the original and loved it; I saw all three Broadway revivals, and only the first one (Bernadette Peters, Phyllis Newman, Ron Hussmann, Marilyn Cooper et al., directed and choreographed by Ron Field) was true to the show, alternately hilarious and powerful. |
