Theater Matthew Broderick New Musical Is Modestly Nice Work

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Entertainment Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors Michael Giltz Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ Follow Video , George Gershwin , Ira Gershwin , Kelli O'Hara , Matthew Broderick , Nice Work If You Can Get It , Broadway , Musicals , Entertainment NewsReact Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyTheater: Matthew Broderick's New Musical Is Modestly 'Nice Work' NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT ** out of **** IMPERIAL THEATRE Everyone knows that the hardest part of creating a new musical is writing good songs. A good tune will let audiences forgive a host of ills in the book and sets and costumes. So if you begin by plundering the vaults of George and Ira Gershwin, your task should be much easier. All you need to do is whip up a frothy, silly plot; cast some charming leads; string together those standards and -- voila! -- you've got a hit show. Heck, they did it 20 years ago with Crazy For You. Let's do it again! Nice Work If You Can Get It proves that it's not as easy as all that. They have the silly plot. It's about a millionaire playboy named Jimmy destined for his fourth doomed- to-fail marriage when he falls head over heels in love with a tough-talking but lovable female bootleggernamed Billie. She uses his weekend mansion to stash some hooch, his potential in-laws include a NewYork Senator and a Prohibitionist who can smell liquor a mile away and everyone sings and dances andwoos the night away. They have the charming leads. Kelli O'Hara has gone from strength to strength in South Pacific and The Pajama Game, to name just two recent successes. As Billie, she sings like an angel, dances with aplomb and shows a flair here for physical comedy. Matthew Broderick is Jimmy. It must be said: he has a modest voice and isn't much of a dancer, but somehow he has willed himself into a genuine musicalcomedy star and we love him. The audience is always on his side and if there are any jokes in the book,he'll land them like a pro. He walks on stage and you smile. He dances awkwardly and you smile. Hisvoice fades a bit on the big numbers and you smile.MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2 Chipotle Busted For Cheating Customers Out Of Pennies Republican Attendees Thrown Out After Racist Attack On CNN Worker RPatz Agrees To Meet KStew But Is Selling Their Home PHOTO: The Queen Rolls In A Range Rover Wearing A Hoodie Deaf Boy Asked To Make Controversial Change (VIDEO) GOP Approves Abortion Ban FOLLOW USCelebrity TV Political Hollywood Features Hollywood Buzz Videos Help Us Write 'The Words' Quick Read | Comments (27) | 08.20.2012August 29, 2012 Edition: U.S. FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS MEDIA CELEBRITY TV COMEDY FOOD STYLE ARTS BOOKS LIVE ALL SECTIONS Bill Moyers Dean Baker John Hillcoat Bobby BowdenHOT ON THE BLOG HuffPost Social Reading Like 102 Posted: 04/24/2012 11:20 pm SHARE THIS STORY Submit this storySPONSOR GENERATED POST Like 1k Like 13k Like 89 Like 1k Like 4k Recommend 9kPolitical Hollywood Movie Trailers The Avengers Electronic Dance Music More Log in Create AccountThe problems, funnily enough, start with the songs. Needless to say, if these were original songs we heard for the first time, your jaw would drop with delight. But we've heard these songs a thousand times. First, you have to earn the right to use these tunes. They don't give you a free pass; in fact, they increase your burden. You can't just plop the songs in anywhere and by gosh, they better fit the moment or they'llfeel random. For example, very early in the show O'Hara sings "Someone To Watch Over Me" after meeting the wealthy Jimmy (Broderick). She sings it beautifully, of course, and it's a standard in every sense of the word. But does it fit this character at this moment? I suppose you could pretend we're seeing another side of her and I'm being too picky, but everything we've been told about Billie and most everything we'll see for the rest of the show is that she's a plucky, self-sufficient gal with a better head for business than he'll ever have or want. She doesn't need protecting and someone better watch over their jewels or she'll swipe 'em, thank you very much. The incongruity of this character singing this song is turned into a joke by having her cradle a rifle. But she doesn't need a rifle; what Billie needs here is a song about refusing to be in love, about standing on her own two feet and not needing a man to rescue her. She's no princess in a tower and what Jimmy loves about her is exactly that: her independence and smarts She does it again in Act Two when Billie sings "But Not For Me." At this point, I guess I should accept that she's a secret romantic but really I was thinking after hearing these two songs and the title tune, whydidn't they just revive Crazy For You? (That show contains all three numbers.) The placement of the songs began to feel random; any tune could be sung by any characters in any order and it wouldn't matterterribly much. This wouldn't be so important if every other element of the show were strong. The sheer quality of the tunes should win you over. But that's hardly the case. The story wisely gives all the secondary characterstheir own storylines and motivations. The dim-witted bootlegger Duke (Chris Sullivan) lets Jeannie(Robyn Hurder) believe he's an English duke and about to become King of England. (It's that kind ofshow.) The clever Cookie (Michael McGrath working overtime) finds himself posing as a butler to keep aneye on their hooch but inexplicably falling for the alcohol-despising, moralistic Duchess EstoniaDulworth (Judy Kaye). Plus everyone is wondering who the mysterious Brown Beard might be, thebootlegger running the whole show that none of them have ever unmasked. Amidst all this craziness, the show forgets to put any real obstacles in the way of Jimmy and Billie. His fiancée Eileen Evergreen (Jennifer Laura Thompson, trying hard to channel Madeline Kahn) becomes anafterthought; right at the finale she becomes a daddy's girl who demands her way a la the ending of theclassic comedy Arthur , but it's too little too late. And for much of Act Two the romance of Billie and Jimmy fades into the background while all the other lovers elbow their way into the spotlight. Duchess and Cookie have a big number together and then in the blink of an eye they have another big number together. And then they reprise it again a little later. Plus, they forget the first rule of comedy: threes. A modest but effective gag involves playing "Rhapsody In Blue" for a brief moment when two people kiss. They do it once. We laugh. They do it twice. We laugh.... And then they don't do it a third time? At least they were being over-ambitious with the script. The sets by Derek McLane are under-ambitious. The world for these glossy musicals about the frivolously rich should be glamorous and appealing.McLane had money to burn on Follies, Ragtime and How To Succeed and those shows benefitted. Their sets were clever ( Succeed ), protean ( Ragtime ) or at least eye-popping ( Follies ). Here the elements are perfunctory at best. Some architectural touches at the mansion jut out at the frontof the building and also jut out when you're in the back. A squat, ugly fountain dominates one dancesequence but since it was so prominent and unprepossessing I assumed the jug held so prominently bythe statue which pointed directly at the audience would somehow come into play. Surely there was somepurpose to this and water or confetti or champagne or something would splash out of it? Alas, no; it's merely squat and ugly. Jimmy's bedroom is an orange-ish fever dream with stripes on the walls and ugly patterned curtains and unseemly bedcovers all clashing and fighting with one another for your attention. It's not tacky enough tomake some point about Jimmy's cluelessness when it comes to nice things and how he needs a woman'stouch. (Though God knows, the room certainly does.) it's just distracting. A lack of imagination prevailsthroughout with the finale taking place in a narrow space at the front of the stage with a so-so backdropto indicate a change of scene before they wheel out that fountain again and sing "They All Laughed," MAP: Hurricane Isaac's Path Aims For Gulf Coast Isaac Balloons Into A Hurricane, New Orleans Threatened The Most Awkward Wedding Photobombs DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5 Bill Moyers WATCH: Both Parties Give Invisible Americans the Silent Treatment Dean Baker Poverty: The New Growth Industry in America TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 7 MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1 of 2 HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3Recommend 287 Recommend 696 Like 1k Small Town Jerk Kyra Sedgwick on "The Possession" Kim Kardashian Wants a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame What's Your Favorite Michael Jackson Memory? 13 Movies That Changed The Way We View Poverty Madonna's Message For Americans: 'Don't Get Fat And Lazy' WATCH: Raging Grannies Have Some Words For Todd Akin which at least includes a line about taking a bow to make it fit. The costumes by Martin Pakledinaz are generally better, though a would-be comic moment with chorus girls popping out of a tub wearing bubble-draped clothing isn't much of a sight gag. In general, the gals are dressed sexily and appealingly, though why they ruin Billie's cute maid outfit with an ugly paper hat is beyond me. (Just take it off, Kelli.) The male dancers fare less well. They're introduced as the vice squad of that enemy of demon rum, Duchess Dulworth. They guys come out in Guys & Dolls -style gangster suits with wide pinstripes. it was so out of appearance with their task as enforces of morality and the law, I imagined it was a clue. Was the Duchess in fact the Brown Beard, that mysteriousbootlegging boss? Nope, it's just an odd and misleading choice of clothing. Director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall has done better work. That vice squad comes out onstage in a weird, blocky move with their arms held awkwardly at their sides, teetering back and forth likerobots. I'm not quite sure why, even when it was reprised later. One deft touch was placing the maledancers on the floor and have Broderick slide across them like a pastry on a conveyor belt. In Marshall's defense, Broderick seems awfully limited, perhaps because of back surgery? His charmingly awkward dancing worked well in that 1995 revival of How To Succeed and when playing the nerdy accountant in The Producers . But this show calls for a genuine leading man who can sing and dance. Broderick has charm to spare and Marshall works around him as much as she can. But during at leastone big dance number with O'Hara, it felt as if we were watching a run-through where Broderick wasmaking sure he had his moves down and would amp up the energy when the real performance began. All that said, with this cast and those songs, it's not a bad night at the theater, just a disappointing one. It's quickly forgotten but you won't be miserable while watching it. How could you, with Brodericksqueezing every laugh he can out of Joe DiPietro's book and O'Hara singing like a lark? The supportingcast do their bit with energy. Judy Kaye doesn't don a lampshade but she does swing from thechandeliers to goose up the energy and Michael McGrath is a good foil. If there was more of a show tosteal, they'd steal it. Everyone else appeals, with Hurder in particular lingering in my mind with sexappeal and spunk for a much bigger role. And a few touches worked quite well. They turned "By Strauss" and "Sweet and Lowdown" into a competitive duet between the Duchess and Cookie that puts those two standards in a fresh context. Best of all is the silly, throw-away scene where Broderick serenades O'Hara with a ukulele and a collegiate contingent of Whiffenpoof-like singers pop in out of nowhere to provide backup. It makes no sense, it's goofy and illogical and it's a quiet delight that captures the charm they were probably shooting for all along. The Theater Season 2011-2012 (on a four-star scale) The Agony And The Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs ** 1/2 All-American ** All's Well That Ends Well/Shakespeare in the Park ** Assistance ** The Atmosphere Of Memory 1/2 * Blood Knot at Signature ** Bob *** 1/2 Bonnie & Clyde feature profile of Jeremy Jordan Broadway By The Year: 1950 ** 1/2 Broadway By The Year: 1997 ** 1/2 Carrie ** 1/2 The Cherry Orchard with Dianne Wiest ** Chinglish * 1/2 Close Up Space * Clybourne Park *** 1/2 Crane Story ** Cymbeline at Barrow Street Theatre *** Damn Yankees ** Death Of A Salesman with Philip Seymour Hoffman ** 1/2 Dedalus Lounge * 1/2 Early Plays (Eugene O'Neill at St. Ann's Warehouse) * End Of The Rainbow * Ernani at Met w Angela Meade *** 1/2 An Evening With Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin *** Evita * 1/2 Follies *** 1/2 Fragments *** Galileo with F. Murray Abraham ** HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2 HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Celebrity babies Ron Paul Civil Rights Television John McCain Missing Persons Afghanistan Election 2012 Drug War MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » ricky_martin RetweetMake Room for (the New) Daddy http://t.co/Q6eIDokm via @huffingtonpost feliciaday RetweetThink on it: Cambridge scientists say all mammals, birds, manyothers including octopi, havehuman-like consciousness. http://t.co/aF6W2ZQhThe Gershwins' Porgy And Bess *** 1/2 Godspell ** 1/2 Goodbar * 1/2 Gore Vidal's The Best Man ** 1/2 Hair *** Hand To God *** Hero: The Musical * 1/2 How The World Began * 1/2 Hugh Jackman: Back On Broadway *** Hurt Village *** Irving Berlin's White Christmas *** It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later *** 1/2 Jesus Christ Superstar * 1/2 King Lear at Public with Sam Waterston ** Krapp's Last Tape with John Hurt *** The Lady From Dubuque ** 1/2Lake Water ** Leo *** Love's Labor's Lost at the PublicLab ** 1/2 Lysistrata Jones * Magic/Bird * The Maids ** Man And Boy * 1/2 The Man Who Came To Dinner ** Maple And Vine ** Master Class w Tyne Daly ** 1/2 Measure For Measure/Shakespeare in the Park *** Milk Like Sugar *** Mission Drift * 1/2 Misterman ** 1/2 The Mountaintop ** 1/2 Newsies at Papermill ** Newsies On Broadway ** 1/2 Nice Work If You Can Get It ** Ninth And Joanie * No Place To Go ** 1/2 Now. Here. This. * 1/2 Olive and The Bitter Herbs ** 1/2 On A Clear Day You Can See Forever * 1/2 Once *** 1/2 Once on Broadway **** One Arm *** One Man, Two Guvnors on Broadway *** Other Desert Cities on Broadway ** 1/2 Painting Churches * 1/2 Peter And The Starcatcher *** 1/2 Pigpen's The Nightmare Story *** 1/2 Private Lives ** Queen Of The Mist ** 1/2 Radio City Christmas Spectacular ** 1/2 Regrets * 1/2 Relatively Speaking * 1/2 Richard III w Kevin Spacey at BAM *** The Road To Mecca ** 1/2 Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History Of The Robot War ** 1/2 The Select (The Sun Also Rises) ** 1/2 Seminar ** Septimus & Clarissa *** 1/2 Shlemiel The First ** 1/2 Silence! The Musical * 1/2 69 Degrees South * 1/2 Song From The Uproar ** Sons Of The Prophet *** 1/2 Sontag: Reborn * A Streetcar Named Desire with Nicole Ari Parker ** Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark * 1/2 Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays ** Stick Fly **FOLLOW ENTERTAINMENTA Streetcar Named Desire ** The Submission ** Super Night Shot ** 1/2 Sweet and Sad ** The Table ** 1/2 Titus Andronicus at Public with Jay O. Sanders * 1/2 Tribes *** 1/2 The Ugly One ** Unnatural Acts *** Venus In Fur *** We Live Here ** Wild Animals You Should Know ** 1/2 Wit ** 1/2 Zarkana ** NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL 2011 Blanche: The Bittersweet Life Of A Wild Prairie Dame *** 1/2 Central Avenue Breakdown ** 1/2 Crazy, Just Like Me *** Cyclops: A Rock Opera * Ennio: The Living Paper Cartoon ** 1/2 F---ing Hipsters ** Ghostlight ** Gotta Getta Girl ** 1/2 for staged reading Greenwood * Jack Perry Is Alive (And Dating) * 1/2 Kiki Baby ** 1/2 Kissless * 1/2 Madame X ** The Pigeon Boys *** Time Between Us * 1/2 Tut ** FRINGEFEST NYC 2011Araby * The Bardy Bunch ** Books On Tape ** 1/2 Civilian ** Hard Travelin' With Woody *** Leonard Cohen Koans *** 1/2 The More Loving One ** The Mountain Song *** 1/2 Paper Cuts *** Parker & Dizzy's Fabulous Journey To The End Of The Rainbow ** 1/2 Pearl's Gone Blue *** Rachel Calof ** 1/2 Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending ** 2 Burn * 1/2 Walls and Bridges ** What The Sparrow Said ** 1/2 Yeast Nation *** Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews. Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free tickets to shows with the understanding that he will be writing a review. Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz Related News On Huffington Post: Like 75k GET ALERTS Guns N' Roses Slash Once Caught David... Samuel L. Jackson: 'Unfair' Hurricane Isaac Avoid... '2016: Obama's America' Fact- Check Rachel Weisz & Terrence Malick: 'To The...Read more from Huffington Post bloggers: Cara Joy David: In Support of Jennifer Laura Thompson Thompson has just the right mix of vocal prowess and slapstick ability. Nice Work If You Can Get It isfar from the best thing she's ever done but her genius is apparent in her featured role, like acombination of Christine Ebersole and Madeline Kahn. More in Entertainment... 02:44 PM on 04/25/2012 Good thorough review -- I like it when a critic takes the time to describe the sets and costumes. The consensus of this and other reviews I've read are pretty much what I expected. But, hell, I'd pay a hundred bucks to watch Kelli O'Hara defrost her freezer. I fell over-the-moon in love with her in "South Pacific" and I'll follow here anywhere -- even to "Nice Work If You Can Get It" if necessary. 04:58 PM on 05/11/2012 Thanks for commenting. I don't always have useful comments to make about the technicalelements, but try to remember there's more to a show than just the stars and the songs.You'll certainly have spent your money well if you're a fan of O'Hara; she's a lot of fun asalways and yes, South Pacific was one of the best revivals I'd seen since Carousel almosta decade earlier and O'Hara was a big reason. Advertise | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | About Our Ads | Contact Us Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved. Part of AOL-HuffPost EntertainmentRecency | Popularity 3fingerbrown Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz freelance writer Permalink | Share itComments 2 Pending Comments 0 View FAQ Comments are closed for this entry View All 608 Fans 127 Fans

Theater Matthew Broderick New Musical Is Modestly Nice Work

📄 Theater Matthew Broderick New Musical Is Modestly Nice Work

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