Paper Mill Playhouse is wrapping up its season with its most fully realized production of the season. Curtains, directed with flair by Mark S. Hoebee (and boasting Broadway-quality production values), is bright, splashy, colorful, and very funny. The best song in the show—the deliciously cynical "It's a Business"—is still running through my brain as I type this. This lively musical-comedy-mystery features a script by Rupert Holmes (who won the Tony for best book), and a score by Kander & Ebb. (Composer John Kander and bookwriter Holmes supplied some additional lyrics after lyricist Fred Ebb died during the development of the project.) The show is set in 1959, during the Boston tryout of a Broadway-bound musical; someone is murdering members of the company, and Lieutenant Frank Cioffi arrives to try to find the culprit. Top billing is given to Robert Newman and Kim Zimmer—best known for their work on TV's Guiding Light—and they give fine, perfectly agreeable performances. But Ed Dixon (in a supporting role) actually has the most presence of anyone in the cast; he registers the most vividly, and lands every archly comic line he delivers; he adds greatly to the fun of the night. David Elder, Anne Horak, Helen Anker, and Daniel Marcus are well cast, too. Although likeable and professional, Robert Newman doesn't have the comic-timing gifts that David Hyde Pierce (who originated the role of Lt. Cioffi on Broadway) has, so some laughs are lost. But there's so much that is right about this production—from the choreography by Joann M. Hunter to the costumes by Tracy Christensen, to the overall tone—I can't imagine anyone not having a good time.
Chip Deffaa
Cabaret Scenes
May 1, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org
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