Milwaukee’s Windfall Theater closes its current season with a stunning production of the musical, City of Angels. Surprisingly, this is the first time the decades-old musical has had a local production.
City of Angels opened on Broadway in 1989 at the Virginia Theater. It was nominated for 10 1990 Tony Awards, and won six of them, including the award for Best Musical. The original cast included Gregg Edelman (1776, Into the Woods) as a detective novelist and James Naughton (Chicago, Our Town) as his onscreen alter ego.
The musical cleverly links the reel world of 1940s film noir, private-eye movies and the real world of a novelist who has agreed to write his book’s screenplay. The setting is Los Angeles in the 1940s. The two worlds collide when Stine, the novelist (Ben George), is forced to rewrite scenes according to the whims of an egotistical producer, Buddy Fidler (David Ferrie). Stine chafes at the prospect of turning his book’s more serious social messages into something he considers crass and commercial. His wife (Laura Monagle) leaves their hotel room in disgust and heads back to New York.
There is more bed-hopping in this script than even a determined bedbug could handle. After his wife leaves town, the lonely Stine ends up in bed with the producer’s right-hand administrator (Tamara Martinsek). Meanwhile, the producer is constantly rotating women in an out of his bedroom (and office) when his wife Carla (Amber Smith) isn’t looking. Carla’s having her own fling with a talented singer, Jimmy Powers (Doug Clemons). This musical suggests that morals aren’t required in 1940s Hollywood.
The 17-member cast moves easily around the stage in this intimate, 55-seat theater. Credit for the clever staging goes to director Carol Zippel, aided by Alicia Rice’s choreography. A chorus of about a dozen singers occasionally appear to set the mood. The lead singer is Jimmy Powers. His matinee-idol good looks are set off by a wardrobe of period costumes. The entire cast looks the part in their eye-popping outfits, which is no small feat for the company’s shoestring budget. The backdrop is minimal – only a series of window screens depicting images of palm trees and spotlights. Almost all the sets must remain onstage for the entire show, which creates a few logistical problems (such as when Stone is “roughed up” by some thugs in his office). Given the small size of the stage, the show’s lighting is unable to fully mask areas of the set that must remain “dark” during certain scenes. One of the show’s strengths is its score. Here, the music is produced by a piano, a flute and a set of drums. Credit for the music direction goes to Paula Foley Tillen and her talented trio. The show’s offbeat, jazz harmonies are difficult to sing, but the cast impressively handles the challenge. Doug Clemons (as Jimmy Powers) is one of several stand-out voices. As Stine’s fed-up wife, Laura Monagle also demonstrates her singing finesse. Tamara Martinsek (the producer’s assistant) can certainly belt out a song. One of the show’s highlights is when Martinsek and Monagle sing a duet, “What You Don’t Know About Women.” Also, the double-entendre edged “The Tennis Song” (“the ball is in your court”) is nicely done by Marty MaNamee and Amber Smith.
The show’s “big” number, “You’re Nothing Without Me,” is wonderfully delivered by Ben George and Marty McNamee as Stine and Stone. Although Buddy (David Ferrie) has a lesser solo to sing, Ferrie is spot-on in his stylized acting portrayal of a sleazy Hollywood producer.
Aside from the show’s length at 3+ hours, there is little to criticize about this production. The musical took a long time to get to Milwaukee, but Windfall Theater demonstrates that it has been worth the wait.
