|
HOME PAGE SITE GUIDE SEARCH REVIEWS REVIEW ARCHIVES ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP FEATURES NEWS Etcetera and Short Term Listings LISTINGS Broadway Off-Broadway NYC Restaurants BOOKS and CDs OTHER PLACES Berkshires London California Connecticut New Jersey DC Philadelphia Elsewhere QUOTES TKTS PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS LETTERS TO EDITOR FILM LINKS MISCELLANEOUS Free Updates Masthead Writing for Us |
A CurtainUp Review
Saturday Night
By Miriam Colin
As a Sondheim enthusiast -- make that Sondheim fanatic -- I wouldn't have missed the opportunity to see his first musical. But for those unfamiliar with or less partial to Sondheim, it's a pity that what started out as a triple threat Sondheim season has trickled down to this example of a great talent in the making without a comparable example of that talent fully matured. Ideally Saturday Night should be seen in tandem with Sondheim's latest and long-in-the-works opus, Wise Guys. That's how things were supposed to be until Wise Guys, turned into a theatrical version of vaporware -- with only New York Theater Works subscribers privvy to a short-lived, partial version. As one of those subscribers I'll have to admit that what little I saw of Wise Guys wasn't ready for prime time but I think it will get there before too many seasos pass. Judged in its present form, as the only Sondheim show on or off Broadway, Saturday Night feels more like a revival than a new musical. (Editor's note: it was supposed to be produced in 1955 but was cancelled after the producer's death). The director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall has done her darndest with an appealing cast, staging and choreography. It's not enough to overcome Julius J. Epstein's book which is not only weak and old-hat but weakens the entire show: A group of poor Brooklyn boys who hanker after Saturday night dates and riches by way of stock market tips. This may sound timely, a sort of pre-dot.com story but it's really more in the mode of Saturday Night Fever. All the talk about getting a date for Saturday night is only likely to increase the confusion with that show -- and I pity anyone who mistakenly ends up at the Minskoff instead of the Second Stage, since even early Sondheim and a mediocre book have that show beat by several miles. The two leads, David Campbell and Lauren Ward, are attractive and work well together as a duo. He plays an ambitious Wall Street runner and she pretends to be a society girl but turns out to also hail from Brooklyn. I didn't find Campbell quite up to expressing his character's combination of innocence and drive. The ensemble is actually more satisfactory. Andrea Burns and Clarke Thorell are particularly good as a jaded married pair. Their rendition of "I Remember That" is a definite highlight. The songs generally are what this is all about, from the repeated ensemble refrain "Alive and alone on a Saturday night is dead" to the nimble footed Christopher Fitzgerald's show-stopping "Exhibit A." Several of the lyrics do suggest well-known hits to come. For example, "That Kind of a Neighborhood" reminded me of West Side Story All are superbly orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick. Is Saturday Night likely to move to Broadway so that it could be Tony eligible as a new musical? Unlikely. Should you see it? Yes, if you enjoy seeing emerging as well as fully evolved talent. Probably not if you're not a big Sondheim fan. P.S. One point which I suppose only native Brooklynites will catch. With the exception of Clarke Thorell, the Brooklyn accents of this Brooklyn story are not even close to authentic.
|