I am happy to report there is practically nothing new in this deliciously old-fashioned musical. Therefore, its goal is to be entertaining -- how unusual in today's "modern" standards (and we all know how depressing the "modern" musicals have been!). The show "suffers" from the crimes of director Michael Mayer's insistence on rampant enthusiasm from a large, youthful cast, who are forced to deliver a sprightly score, by such veterans as Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen, Sullivan & Scanlan, Jeasnin Tesori, Jay Thompson, Victor Herbert (yes, that's right) and Tchaikovsky (the very same), enhanced by Doug Besterman and Ralph Burn's bold, brassy, Broadway orchestrations, while executing Rob Ashford's high-energy choreography, in Martin Pakledinaz's riotously-colored costumes, around David Gallo's glitzy sets, under Donald Holder's bright lights.
As in the l967 movie musical, the happy-go-lucky story is about a young heroine (Sutton Foster), fresh from Kansas, who hits the Jazz Age New York pavements, rips up her return trip ticket just before her purse is snatched, and she's in it for good! By coincidence (and Richard Morris/Dick Scanlan's book) the first person she meets is a cynical playboy, Jimmy (Gavin Creel), who sends her to a hotel for single women, mostly wannabe actresses, run by ex-actress, the sinister Mrs. Meers (Harriet Harris), assisted by two Chinese immigrants (Ken Lueng & Francis Jue), who aid her in kidnaping her orphan/tenants and selling them into white slavery. Millie just seeks a rich boss to marry (Marc Kudisch), but he falls for her new best friend, Miss Dorothy (Angela Christian), a beautiful orphan, who suddenly disappears on the eve of her Big Date with the Boss. You can guess the rest of the plot, but you must see how well it is delivered.
Ms. Foster, who suddenly inherited her starring role just before previews in La Jolla, is a dynamo who brings the house down, deservedly, in "Gimme, Gimme" a plea for love inspired by her new friend, the Josephine Baker-ish nightclub star, played by Sheryl Lee Ralph of Dreamgirls fame. Equally exciting are the other juveniles: tenor Gavin Creel, who can sing, dance and act, as can Angela Christian, another triple threat, with a soaring soprano voice over nimble feet. Harriet Harris and Marc Kudisch employ their acting talents to obscure their vocal deficiencies. Anne Nathan is a riot as the office manager with a heart.
The show is infused with memorable moments (which do seem somewhat familiar): the "girls" are indistinguishably wonderful, be it giddy flappers or outrageous typists (a very inventive, must-see office scene), Jimmy and Millie fall in love and dance on the window ledge of a tall office building, there's an elevator which requires its occupants to tap to be activated, Mrs. Meer and her accomplices communicate with huge Chinese/American super-titles flashed above. And the infectiously joyous title song of the movie is intertwined throughout the score, so that you enter and leave humming it.
Purists will complain that the show is not campy enough (like The Boy Friend), that the many composers employed weaken the score (there must have been problems requiring last-minute song replacements, but reaching back for Victor Herbert and Tchaikovsky does seem silly and desperate), that any subtlety is sacrificed by the over-the-top efforts of the creative team and the willing cast to "sell" the numbers and force the laughs, but this is, after, an old-fashioned musical whose goals, to keep the customers happy and awake, are admirably met.
