Encores: Music in the Air

Judging from Thursday night's performance, the Encores production of the 1932 musical Music in the Air is not one of the stronger revivals in the history of the series, but there are at least two things about it that might make it worthwhile: the singing and comic acting of its star, Kristin Chenoweth.

A collaboration between Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, Music in the Air can be considered one of the last gasps of the operetta form that was popular on Broadway during the first part of the twentieth century. Following three provincial Bavarian musicians who encounter their worldly urban counterparts in Munich, the musical has its charms, but this Encores production doesn't seem to make the most of them. It might have played up the comedy, or the dichotomy between the country and the city, or it might have relied more on vocalism to win over the audience. Instead, director Gary Griffin just seemed to sparingly sprinkle a little comedy, a little urban-rural culture clash, and a little bravura singing into the mix, only intermittently adding flavor to a generally bland production.

Robert Sella offers a very effective Act Two tirade as the orchestra leader Uppman, but this show belongs to Chenoweth. She brings life into the proceedings with her strong, clarion singing as well as her comic portrayal of the narcissistic prima donna Frieda Hatzfeld, a caricature reminiscent of those played by Madeline Kahn. Each of Chenoweth's entrances brightened the stage (the spotlights help, of course), but even her star power was not great enough to leave it undimmed upon her exits. The effect is not inappropriate considering that genuine stardom is part of the show's subject matter; at Music in the Air you can see just how much of a difference a genuine star can make in a production.

Here's a version of "I've Told Every Little Star," from Music in the Air.



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And here's "The Song is You" as performed by Keely Smith.



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The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein

The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein is a very solid musical—and the "solidity" is its weakness as well as its strength. The production values are high, the music well-written, the performances professional. Most audience members should be satisfied, especially if they can take advantage of discounted tickets from sources such as Playbill.com.

But when it comes to the laff factor—the musical's ability to live up to the high low comedy standard established by the original movie—that's where the show falls as short as its title is long. When I saw it on June 15 (when many of the original leads were in it, with Jon Patrick Walker doing good understudy work as Frederick Frankenstein), I left with a greater appreciation of the cartoonishness of the movie characters. In the film, Gene Wilder swung wildly between meekness and madness, Teri Garr was a deceptively ditzy sexpot, Madeline Kahn was a prissy prude, Marty Feldman was a pop-eyed Igor, Cloris Leachman a brilliantly brittle Blücher, Kenneth Mars a mechanical marvel, and so on and so forth. In contrast, the Broadway characters came across as bland, not as kooky.

Musical Maven Myra has noted that at least two songs could easily be cut from the show's 160 minute running time. She seems right about that—though it's possible that the "extra" songs give the company time to change scenes. What I don't understand is why the silliness that worked so well in the movie seemed to be lost in the transition to the stage. I'm sure that the production remains very solid—"the best that money can buy"—but I hope that the producers try to juice the show by encouraging the actors to make their characters more comical.

Just look at how goofy the comedy can be in this trailer—not at first, but eventually. It's enhanced by the camera work, which gives audiences a more intimate perspective than the stage (especially in the doleful glances Peter Boyle gives the camera), but there's still got to be a way to raise the comic quotient in the theater.



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MERV GRIFFIN (1925-2007)

Here talk-show host Merv Griffin talks with Patti LuPone while Madeline Kahn sits on the sidelines, quite possibly disapproving.



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