'S Wonderful

In these tough economic times, some regional theaters are cutting costs by reducing the number of productions they're offering. However, the venerable Westchester Broadway dinner theater has decided to increase the number of its productions, hoping that by offering more shows of varied styles, they'll attract more customers overall. Thus, this spring they've scheduled productions of 'S Wonderful, Hairspray, and George M! I'm all for their goal of offering more shows.

As for 'S Wonderful, a revue of Gershwin songs, well, I wanted to love it. After all, George and Ira Gershwin created some of the most enduringly popular standards of all time. And Ray Roderick, who conceived and directed this show, has packed as many Gershwin songs into one night as possible, sung by five perky singers, with bits of connecting dialog. I love Gershwin, and Roderick certainly did right by Irving Berlin when he created a Berlin revue, I Love a Piano. But, for me, this show was a disappointment. I've heard so many of these familiar songs sung better. I got restless, listening to great songs unevenly performed. These singers have been given solid-gold material. But when it became clear that the singer offering "Swanee" (lyrics by Irving Caesar), in an arrangement modeled on Judy Garland's surefire version, wasn't secure in the lyrics, and the choreographer chose the most clichéd, hokey, "weren't the good-old-days corny?" kind of staging, I gave up. These songs deserve better.

(Pictured: Clockwise from left: Deidre Haren, Sean Watkins, Stacey Harris (in the air), Blakely Slaybaugh, Mary Millben; photo by John Vecchiolla)

Chip Deffaa
Cabaret Scenes
March 3, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org