In the 1930s, the 20th Century Limited could make it nonstop
from Chicago to New York in 16 hours. Unfortunately, the screwball
comedy on this legendary locomotive seemed just as long.
Reprise! Broadway’s Best’s revival of the 1977 Cy
Coleman musical “On The Twentieth Century” will be
chugging along in Freud Playhouse through Feb. 21, and while
entertaining at times, the musical just isn’t enough to drive
this train home.
With an oddness that characterized many ’70s musicals,
this operatic spoof takes an irreverent look back at the 1930s, a
time at which Hollywood’s rise to pop-culture reign was in
its prime while the pricier stage theaters were quickly falling out
of style.
At the butt of that transition was Oscar Jaffee (Bob Gunton), a
once-successful play mogul who lost his fame, fortune and his lady,
Lily Garland (Carolee Carmello), to “sleazy, cheesy”
Hollywood.
Jaffee and his Frick-and-Frack cronies, sufficiently played by
Dan Butler (Bulldog on “Frasier”) and Robert Picardo
(The Doctor on “Star Trek: Voyager”), find themselves
aboard the famed 20th Century Limited and try to lure Garland into
the role of Mary Magdalene in an attempt to return to theatrical
stardom.
What ensues is over-the-top, much like an over-extended episode
of “I Love Lucy,” complete with slapstick antics and
sometimes-amusing one-liners with exaggerated vocal
inflections.
But this silly romp isn’t completely devoid of anything
serious. Stars Gunton and Carmello demonstrate some serious musical
theater chops, even in this mediocre production. Gunton does a fine
job of pulling off the egotistical male Norma Desmond, and Carmello
vibrantly stands out as the rough Bronx girl turned self-absorbed
starlet.
While with a stock character like Garland actors run the risk of
coming across as annoying, Carmello emerges as the true thriving
star, with a powerful comic stage presence reminiscent of Carol
Burnett.
While the leads may have been able to pull off a two-person
show, the heart of musical theater is the dazzling spectacle of
ensemble numbers, the seamless synchronization of Pas de
bourrées and kick-ball changes combined with reverberating
vocal harmonization.
But a smorgasbord for the sensorium this was not. The dancing
was sloppy and out-of-sync, the singing unpolished, and the acting
lacked energy and motivation.
The set of this supposedly lavish train was not dressed to
impress, either. While it was intentionally cheesy, composed of
art-deco poster-board cut-outs and metal chairs, it was blaringly
sparse and failed to capture the legendary luxury of the eponymous
train.
And though screwiness is key in a screwball spoof, some of the
songs just go too far. For instance, the musical could have ended
nicely with a reprise of its catchy title song “On the
Twentieth Century.”
But, no, that would have made too much sense. Instead, the
finale is the idiotically bizarre song “Life is Like a
Train” in which the company nonsensically sings: “Who
said life is like a train? We did! We did! Ha ha ha, ho ho
ho.”
As the second-act opener, the dumb ditty might have made sense
after the audience was refreshed from intermission and ready for
any type of absurdity, but at the end of the play its inanity ruins
any chance of final redemption for the play.