The Matthew Risch revisal directed by Joe Mantello had a lot of treats. Risch seemed to be working very hard, which didn’t seem very « Joey” but he was game and personable, and he purportedly was thrown into it with little rehearsal. Perhaps way too young for Channing’s Vera, too. And Stockard Channing should’ve been perfect, but she was too arch, her ironies too studied and too italicized, and her face was unnatural with plastic surgery which tipped her into a Cruella DeVil world. The Linda was excellent and had a lovely voice. And Martha Plimpton nearly walked away with the whole show as Gladys. Very va-va-voom and an absolute trouper of a golden-age musical comedy type.
But Mantello’s staging was absolutely wonderful. Constant movement, constant action.
A real pleasure.
I’m not enough of a connoisseur to pronounce judgement on the rewrite of the book, but it played fine for me. Divine costumes.
I must admit I’m spoiled by the singing in the movie version; Sinatra and the women who dubbed Hayworth and Novak are like velvet. |
