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A CurtainUp Review
Accent on Youth
By Elyse Sommer
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I Am a unique combination--witty, sensitive, imaginative, worldly, gay--and yet with a feeling for tragedy. . .And I know myself too well, I've been around too much, to deny that I'm charming.— Gaye, amusingly coming around to understanding why his young secretary is hopelessly in love with him. I thought either it would be a smash hitk, like a Eugene O'Neill play, or a dreadful, failure like--like a Eugene O'Neill play. But who would have predicted that it would turn out just a show.—Galloway, about the now closed play by Gaye |
David Hyde Pierce
(Photo: Joan Marcus) |
Of the three, Samson Raphae lson's 1934 backstage romantic comedy, Accent on Youth, comes cloest to a Yes. It revolves around a successful playwright Steven Gaye's (no double meaning in that surname—after all, we're in the 30s). His latest play is about a May-December affair which turns into a multiple case of life imitating art. Besides its effect on Gaye, who admits to 51 but is actually 53 and "can smell 60," the play changes the lives of its cast and even Gaye's butler.
Sure, it's dated. We're accustomed to seeing men considerably older than 50 acquiring trophy girlfriends and wives twenty and thirty years younger even if they're not in show business; and dial phones and radiograms have gone the way of the always filled cigarette boxes and top hats.
What prompts my Yes to Accent on Youth being worth reviving (albeit with some reservations) is that it stars David Hyde Pierce, whose tightly wrapped Dr. Niles Frazier won over even people too snobbish to watch TV sitcoms. He plays the debonair playwright with a perfect mix of self-assurance and wistful self-awareness about how his work has overwhelmed his ability to enjoy life's other pleasures— an enduring love relationship (he confesses to being "a one-divorce man"), travel, sports orr music. While he uses the deadpan delivery perfected during his long Frazier stint, Hyde Pierce also teases enough nuance out of his character to top off an entertaining two hours with a satisfyingly bittersweet ending.
While Hyde Pierce's Gaye is the glue that holds this fluffy entertainment together, he's well supported by an attractive cast, especially Byron Jennings as the actor whose on stage affair stirs his own yen for an extra-marital adventure and Charles Kimbrough as Gaye's devoted butler. There's an Indian arm wrestiling scene between Kimbrough and Jennings that's absolutely priceless.
Except for a slow spell in the second act, director Sullivan commandeers the unlikely but amusing events at a well-paced trot. With a boost from costume and wig experts Jane Greenwood and Tom Watson, Mary Catherine Garrison visually makes the leap from not really mousy looking secretary to stage diva and woman of the world. If her transformation doesnt go more than costume and hairdo-deep, blame it on the only-in-a-play situation that has her confession of love give Gaye the right focus on his stalled script, upgrade her job to that of the play's leading lady — not to mention embracing her as the answer to his middle aged heart's yearnings.
Ms. Greenwood supplies marvelously apt costumes for everyone, with one particularly smashing evening outfit for Rosie Benton who plays an ex-flame with whom Gaye almost takes a trip to Finland (She does and manages to find a less skittish suitor at her destination). Set designer John Lee Beatty adds to the show's visual pleasure with a to-die-for wood paneled duplex with a fireplace and window to an unspecific but obviously spectacular view.
Strictly speaking, Accent on Youth, is not a revival theatergoers couldn't live without. But it's light, entertaining and well staged. If MTC had wanted to turn Raphaelson's dated comedy into something fresher and more timeless, they might have copied the folks who turned his screenplay The Shop Around the Corner into the enduringly charming musical She Loves Me. After all, the talented Hyde Pierce has demonstrated s singing and dancing chops in Spamalot and Curtains.
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Accent on Youth by Samson Raphaelson Directed by Daniel Sullivan Cast: Hyde Pierce (Steven Gaye), Rosie Benton (Genevieve Lang), David Furr (Dickie Reynolds), Charles Kimbrough (Flogdell), Lisa Banes (Miss Darling), Mary Catherine Garrison (Linda Brown), Byron Jennings (Frank Galloway), Curt Bouril (Butch), Chuck - John Wernke (Chuck). Scenic design:John Lee Beatty Costumes: Jane Greenwood Lighting: Brian MacDevitt Original Music: Obadiah Eaves Hair & wig design: Tom Watson Running Time: 2 hours including 1 intermission Samuel J. Friedman Theatre / Biltmore Theatre, 261 West 47th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue From 04/07/09, Opening 04/29/09, Closing 06/28/09. Beginning May 4: Tuesday @ 7pm, Wednesday @ 2pm & 8pm, Thursday & Friday @ 8pm, Saturday @ 2pm & 8pm, Sunday @ 2pm Reviewed by Elyse Sommer 4/30/09 |
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Wicked
Jersey Boys
The Little Mermaid
Lion King
Shrek The Musical
South Pacific
In the Heights
Playbill 2007-08 Yearbook
Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide