The Reprise! Theatrical Company stages musicals up at the Freud Playhouse at U.C.L.A. with minimal sets and costuming but maximum talents. In the past, my reviews of their offerings came too late to do much good for Los Angeles theatergoers: Their shows only run for sixteen performances apiece and my season tickets were for the next-to-the-next-to-the-last performance. Ergo, by the time I could post my rave recommendation here, it was too late for most of you to scurry out and by tickets.
Not so, this time. Last evening, I attended opening night of the Reprise! presentation of My One and Only, which is sub-titled "The Gershwin Musical." Actually, it's a Gershwin musical but let's not quibble. If you live in L.A., you have to scurry out (or over to this website) and purchase tickets.
Some history. In 1927, George and Ira Gershwin did the score for Funny Face, a musical with a book by Fred Thompson and Paul Gerard Smith. Several of its tunes, including "'S Wonderful," "He Loves and She Loves" and the title tune were quite popular and the show itself ran 244 performances, which was a respectable number back when theaters weren't air conditioned and shows often closed for the summer because of it. (Funny Face opened November 22, 1927 and closed June 23, 1928.)
In the late seventies and early eighties, a number of shows that made it to Broadway were highly-revised revivals of old musicals with familiar tunes. Usually, someone would come in to revamp and modernize the book, and they'd interpolate a few hit songs from other shows by the same composer(s). When Ira Gershwin — he was still alive at the time — gave the okay to bring back Funny Face, that was the idea: Update its rather silly story and toss in some other great Gershwin tunes. By the time it made Broadway in May of 1983, My One and Only (the new title) had changed more than its makers had expected. Tommy Tune starred with Twiggy, Roscoe Lee Browne, Charles "Honi" Coles, Denny Dillon and a whole bunch of great hoofers. Mr. Tune also co-directed and co-choreographed with Thommie Walsh…and the show must have delighted audiences because it ran 767 performances and has had a healthy life since.
Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer supplied the new book and I don't know why but I'm going to try to summarize the plot. It's the story of Captain Billy Buck Chandler and famous swimmer Edith Herbert. He's a somewhat-unkempt hick (no one is ever too unkempt in a Gershwin musical) who wants to be the first man to ever fly a plane non-stop from New York to Paris. This is before Lindbergh, obviously. He is distracted from this goal momentarily when he falls in love with Edith, who has recently made headlines by swimming the English Channel. She is the third woman to do this but, as her scummy manager boasts, "…the first attractive one." The manager is a slimy Russian who is keeping her under his thumb because he has her passport…and also some naughty photos she posed for when she was younger. She needs Chandler's help to escape this horrible relationship…and that's pretty much what it's about.
No…come to think of it, that's not what it's about. It's about performing Gershwin tunes. What's in the previous paragraph is just the excuse to sing "Strike Up the Band" and "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and "I Can't Be Bothered Now" (several times) and other glorious tunes. Since the company does a splendid job of this, a good time is had by all.
Michael Gruber plays Cap'n Chandler. He's terrific, striking the right notes of hayseed and suave sophistication at the right moments. Rachel York plays Edith. Rachel York has been wonderful in everything she's ever done and the streak continues, unabated. Vicki Lewis, who was so good in the last Reprise! show I saw (City of Angels, though I neglected to mention her at the time) just about steals the whole show. The only thing that stops her is that Betty Garrett is also in the cast and you can't steal what someone else has already stolen.
Yes, it's Betty Garrett…Betty Garrett from Words and Music and On the Town and My Sister Eileen and talk about your Living Legends. Someone — maybe director-choreographer Dan Mojica — had the genius idea to cast her in the role played on Broadway by Charles "Honi" Coles. Well, why not? Ms. Garrett's late husband Larry Parks did okay working in blackface, playing Al Jolson. Why shouldn't his widow play a part written for a short, older black man? (I got to speak with her after the show and she joked she was worried about being "typecast" in that kind of role.)
The whole cast is excellent…and I'd like to single out Richard Israel, who played the Russian. As you may know, these "concert-style" shows are done with very little rehearsal and Richard had less than anyone. Another actor was to have played the part until he suddenly got cast in a new TV series. Mr. Israel was called in and began rehearsals last Saturday and there was a preview performance on Tuesday night. Most human beings could not even learn half the dialogue in that time, let alone all the staging and blocking and dancing that goes with it. If he'd screwed up a bit, you could forgive the guy but that wasn't necessary. It was a thoroughly polished, flawless performance.
I had a rollickin' good time at My One and Only and as far as I could tell, so did everyone else who was smart enough to get tickets. It's almost a no-brainer: You can't beat The Best of Gershwin and note for note, tap for tap, this cast more than does justice to the legacy of George and Ira.