Cabaret Scenes Theatre Review

For Kristin Chenoweth and Douglas Sills, two deliciously salty hams, "The Song Is You" is really "the song is me." Preening and posing on City Center's commodious stage, they glistened as the prima donna and her Hungarian playwright, trading scene-stealing opportunities with every toss of the cape and flash of the leg.

Jerome Kern's and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1932 comedy operetta, Music in the Air was dusted off and showcased with frivolity and fluff as the latest Encores! production. David Ivens revised the Hammerstein libretto, which is stale but is credited for featuring songs that grow out of the plot.

Ah—the plot. A music teacher, Dr. Lessing (Tom Alan Robbins), in the bucolic Bavarian town of Edendorf, hears a bird's song and is inspired to compose "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star." His doting daughter, ingénue Sieglinde (Sierra Boggess) and her stalwart schoolteacher boyfriend, Karl (Ryan Silverman), love the song. They urge Dr. Lessing to join the Edendorf Walking Club's excursion to Munich where he can look up an old friend and possibly get the song published. Off they march to the big city.

They find his friend, music publisher Weber, and run into difficulties, one being an effectively caustic orchestra leader, Uppmann (Robert Seller). The real drama, however, hits when demure Sieglinde and Karl are thrown up against the competitive, egomaniacal, fiery mega-stars of mittel-European operetta—Frieda Hatzfeld (Chenoweth) and Bruno Mahler (Sills). When Bruno begins flirting with Sieglinde, going so far as to write a new operetta for her, this is too much for Frieda, who retaliates by luring in country boy Karl and whisking him off to Berlin.

Understandably, Sieglinde's head is turned a bit by Bruno's grandiose attention, but in her heart, she was happiest back in Edeldorf, reflected by the song, "When Spring Is In the Air." At the end, the two couples re-join appropriately, and back in the village, everyone is joyful singing "We Belong Together."

From the moment we meet them, the stage belongs to Chenoweth and Sills. The virginal youngsters are left in their wake. In show biz, flamboyance trumps constraint every time. Chenoweth, a petite powerhouse, is all flashing eyes, explosive tantrums, and beguiling smiles, manipulating slyly, and holding her own very well against the brash and swaggering Sills who towers over her.

There are Kern's lovely melodies but really only two memorable songs. Each couple has one evergreen to reprise throughout the show—Chenoweth and Sills soaring in radiant vocal power with "The Song Is You." Boggess and Silverman were far more restrained with the catchy "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star," laden with nature's imagery.

Boggess, currently in The Little Mermaid, played her part sweetly with a pinch of tart. As directed by Gary Griffin, her singing and demeanor was soft, offsetting Chenoweth's robust soprano and irrepressible comic flair. Silverman stumbles boyishly compared to the grandiose SIlls. Their costumes further reflect differences: David C. Woolard dresses Boggess in an Alice in Wonderland blue dress and dirndl, while Chenoweth struts and poses in opulent bias-cut satins. Douglas Sills postures in a flowing cape and Silverman in lederhosen.

Walter Charles, David Schramm, Tom Alan Robbins, with Marni Nixon and Dick Latessa as Herr and Frau Director Kirchner, sketched out appealing theater personalities, with Nixon's Frau Director/retired diva Kirchner singing a song from back in her own day, "In Egern on the Tegern See."

John Lee Beatty designed functionally picturesque settings for countryside and urbane Munich. Griffin directed the show as straightforwardly as possible with Michael Lichtefeld's choreography, but after the final curtain, gold stars go to the irresistible antics of Kristin Chenoweth and Douglas Sills.

Operetta was already fading in popularity when the show opened in 1932. Music in the Air's 1951 revival did not revive any interest. Encores!' presentation, with its vibrant, harmonic orchestrations by Rob Berman and the energy on stage, may not transport the show back to Broadway—this is not Showboat, after all. It does, however, serve as another reminder of the depth and variety of American theater music and the value in polishing it up and showing it off every couple of decades.

(Phto: Ryan Silverman and Kristin Chenoweth; photo by Joan Marcus)

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
February 7, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org



	Music in the Air City Center New York, NY
For Kristin Chenoweth and Douglas Sills, two deliciously salty hams, "The Song Is You" is really "the song is me." Preening and posing on City Center's commodious stage, they glistened as the prima donna and her Hungarian playwright, trading scene-stealing opportunities with every toss of the cape and flash of the leg. Jerome Kern's and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1932 comedy operetta, Music in the Air was dusted off and showcased with frivolity and fluff as the latest Encores! production. David Ivens revised the Hammerstein libretto, which is stale but is credited for featuring songs that grow out of the plot. Ah—the plot. A music teacher, Dr. Lessing (Tom Alan Robbins), in the bucolic Bavarian town of Edendorf, hears a bird's song and is inspired to compose "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star." His doting daughter, ingénue Sieglinde (Sierra Boggess) and her stalwart schoolteacher boyfriend, Karl (Ryan Silverman), love the song. They urge Dr. Lessing to join the Edendorf Walking Club's excursion to Munich where he can look up an old friend and possibly get the song published. Off they march to the big city. They find his friend, music publisher Weber, and run into difficulties, one being an effectively caustic orchestra leader, Uppmann (Robert Seller). The real drama, however, hits when demure Sieglinde and Karl are thrown up against the competitive, egomaniacal, fiery mega-stars of mittel-European operetta—Frieda Hatzfeld (Chenoweth) and Bruno Mahler (Sills). When Bruno begins flirting with Sieglinde, going so far as to write a new operetta for her, this is too much for Frieda, who retaliates by luring in country boy Karl and whisking him off to Berlin. Understandably, Sieglinde's head is turned a bit by Bruno's grandiose attention, but in her heart, she was happiest back in Edeldorf, reflected by the song, "When Spring Is In the Air." At the end, the two couples re-join appropriately, and back in the village, everyone is joyful singing "We Belong Together." From the moment we meet them, the stage belongs to Chenoweth and Sills. The virginal youngsters are left in their wake. In show biz, flamboyance trumps constraint every time. Chenoweth, a petite powerhouse, is all flashing eyes, explosive tantrums, and beguiling smiles, manipulating slyly, and holding her own very well against the brash and swaggering Sills who towers over her. There are Kern's lovely melodies but really only two memorable songs. Each couple has one evergreen to reprise throughout the show—Chenoweth and Sills soaring in radiant vocal power with "The Song Is You." Boggess and Silverman were far more restrained with the catchy "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star," laden with nature's imagery. Boggess, currently in The Little Mermaid, played her part sweetly with a pinch of tart. As directed by Gary Griffin, her singing and demeanor was soft, offsetting Chenoweth's robust soprano and irrepressible comic flair. Silverman stumbles boyishly compared to the grandiose SIlls. Their costumes further reflect differences: David C. Woolard dresses Boggess in an Alice in Wonderland blue dress and dirndl, while Chenoweth struts and poses in opulent bias-cut satins. Douglas Sills postures in a flowing cape and Silverman in lederhosen. Walter Charles, David Schramm, Tom Alan Robbins, with Marni Nixon and Dick Latessa as Herr and Frau Director Kirchner, sketched out appealing theater personalities, with Nixon's Frau Director/retired diva Kirchner singing a song from back in her own day, "In Egern on the Tegern See." John Lee Beatty designed functionally picturesque settings for countryside and urbane Munich. Griffin directed the show as straightforwardly as possible with Michael Lichtefeld's choreography, but after the final curtain, gold stars go to the irresistible antics of Kristin Chenoweth and Douglas Sills. Operetta was already fading in popularity when the show opened in 1932. Music in the Air's 1951 revival did not revive any interest. Encores!' presentation, with its vibrant, harmonic orchestrations by Rob Berman and the energy on stage, may not transport the show back to Broadway—this is not Showboat, after all. It does, however, serve as another reminder of the depth and variety of American theater music and the value in polishing it up and showing it off every couple of decades. (Phto: Ryan Silverman and Kristin Chenoweth; photo by Joan Marcus) Elizabeth Ahlfors Cabaret Scenes February 7, 2009 www.cabaretscenes.org

Music in the Air

City Center New York, NY

City Center
New York, NY