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A CurtainUp Review
Encores! Pipe Dream
By Elyse Sommer
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It takes all kinds of people to make up a world, All kinds of people and things. They crawl on the earth, They swim in the sea, And they fly through the sky on wings. All kinds of people and things, And brother, I'll tell you my hunch: Whether you like them Or whether you don't, You're stuck with the whole damn bunch! — "It Takes All Kinds of People." |
Leslie Uggams
(Photo credit: Ari Mintz) |
But now that the Encores! concert treatment has been applied, the lovely score and fun elements come off to best effect. The book is forever so-so, but as Encored at City Center, the show's musical strength and fun elements are maximized, and the weaknesses of the book are minimized.
For starters David Ives has obviously streamlined and tweaked the story so that it clocks in at a crisp 2 hours. Then there's the top to bottom superb cast. Will Chase, who's gained national prominence as part of the new TV musical Smash, is smashing as Doc, the marine biologist romantic lead. Oscar Hammerstein, who was never comfortable with a show about prostitutes, would be happy with Laura Osnes, last seen on Broadway as the murderous Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde more a prickly homeless girl than a hooker. The always excellent Tom Wopat does not disappoint as Doc's pal Mac. To lead them and the rest of the dynamic ensemble, there's the wonderful Leslie Uggams as the waterfront flop house Madam Fauna instead of an opera star as was the case in 1955 when diva Helen Traubel was cast — or I should say, miscast.
To further enhance the visual pleasures of this production, there's some snazzy choreography by Kelli Barclay and the on the mark costumes by Toni-Leslie James. Of course in this day or reduced orchestras, often not even in the same venue as the performance, there's the thrill of a big orchestra, in this case expertly and energetically led by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. It was the start-up view of the full-sized orchestra that contributed to the long-running success of Lincoln Center's revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific. Speaking of that H&R super hit, several Pipe Dream numbers reflect the songwriting duo's better known tunes (e.g. Chase's beautiful rendition of "The Man I Used to Be " and Philip Hernandez and the Flophouse Gang's "Bum's Opera"). What's more, the choreography and overall sensibility of the production numbers featuring Doc's waterfront pals as well as Fauna and her hookers now seem almost more like South Pacific's sailors and nurses than Steinbeck's less attuned to Hammerstein's comfort zone characters.
While Encores! concert productions allow the actors to perform with scripts in hand, the Pipe Dream cast has dialogue and lyrics down pat. As always, this is an all too limited run, but if you don't manage to catch one of the remaining performances, the good news is that a live recording is being made and will be available from Ghostlight Records this summer.
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Pipe Dream Lyrics and Book by: Oscar Hammerstein II Music by: Richard Rodgers Based on the novels “Cannery Row” and “Sweet Thursday” by John Steinbeck Directed by Marc Bruni Cast: Will Chase (Doc), James Clow (Ray Busch), Philip Hernández (Joe), James Moye (Jim Blaikey), Laura Osnes (Suzy), Steve Routman (George Herman), Leslie Uggams (Fauna), Stephen Wallem (Hazel) and Tom Wopat (Mac). Music director: Rob Berman Choreographer: Kelli Barclay Sets by John Lee Beatty Costumes: Toni-Leslie James Lighting: Ken Billington Sound: Scott Lehrer Concert adaptation: David Ives Music coordinator: Seymour Red Press Orchestrations: Robert Russell Bennett Dance arrangements: John Morris Running Time: 2 hours and 10 minutes with intermission From 3/28/12; closing 4/01/12 Wednesday at 7:30pm, Thursday and Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, Sunday at 2pm and 7pm New York City Center 130 West 56th Street CityTix: (212) 581-1212 Tickets: $25 - $100 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer March 29th press performance |
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Musical Numbers
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Act One
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Act Two
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Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. Visit Curtainup's Blog Annex For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message. If you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
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