Variety (Dec 1944)

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40 LEGITIMATE Wednesday, December 20, 1944 Play Out of Town of ntiitii CiiiniliMi Siullll : :il In 11.'in 111 1'I"ti O.-.ll',. llMi Town Boston. Dec. 15 11(1 Tinll I'>lt!;i.v iirii.liii I J'J scciK'H (Iwi) iii-lsl unit .\<]nl)ili (ircen frmii !»• JlM-tiHU' IllllihlllM. KOUlUIPii ."^oi NiMHv Wnlkpi. Helly C'oiuil.'n. (in-oii. .Iiilin HnlllPH. Hciliorl Clil-.'lw.lni, I'n^ Ali*\:iiul.-)- unil Itiiy IIoi'l'iM'Hl. . .\IUMi\ 1/ (ir<l lioiiiMolii: lyrics. Oiinilon, (ir.'.Mi .m Ili'i-nsii-lii; rlioi'CORraidiy, Jonmir Ui.lil'ln> C(iiilimii>». Alvlii CoU; KluKCil by llvmAl. bou: l1lU^^lt•aL comluclnr. Mux i;i.!)i.mii;u Al Coliinlal. Diuiior, Deo. 1,: ?< ■ lii Lconaid Benistciii-Jcromc Kob- jbiiis collaboration I. Tln-ce sailors on I a 24-lu)ui' pas.s in New YorU stal l oiil I to do the town. One spots a pinup I gal on a subway poster aiirl (;ets tlio I.'irM Workinftn... Si^i'tinil Woi-Kitiiiii. 1'lilr.l Workinntl. .. Or.zii'. ..- Cllif gnll.T Giil'oy Aiiily Tnin Ciuliilphln Ga.lulpliln, Jr Bill I'lmli'l- .. I.lulp 01(1 l^dy.. I'olli'ciiiun S. rpcrmnn. ...... Ilildy PlilicCKKin . Miirllii SidK.Mh Piank .Mill..11 ..... ^ .Uorl.ocl ^Ii-ct'iii- Addlph tiK'CIl . ... Ci l.s Alc.v.iiiilcr ..l.vK. ClKrH Jdim llidll..." riKiik W(;Kllii(i..U ...... .Ulcluinl li Aivi . .Kloi-fjnt'.' MacMlcltM(*l ........ .>tarl(in J\ijlll>M .. I.airy H"ll"n Ma.xino .\i:il((l'1 Ldjili.v Jackj'.Hi Milton Taulimmi N:iiic-y W.ilkci ItoiiiT 'I'real ir|),Miirnl '. Ilpiiiii nutiilin Claiiv...* llplty Comd.'ii SlnlKlc I'. Dilly Susan ,*livll Ivy ..: SdiKi OMlii laicV Si hnieeli'r Allc I'oki ic Plikln. Koberi I'lilphdlin Poil( I.a'inpwick Hubert JJantor or'CereinuiilOH SlliKcr.. . ; ■\Vailcv Spanii4l .linger The CJreal Lover Cddiliictor. Binimy. IJiiiK-eiR: Uarbura Giiy< .UdKer Tieiit ...Robert T.orenJ: Krnnk .Mllioii .t-'ranco.f Ci»..'s;ir.l .. .Herbert Gn^e- r ...Jeanne (Innlon ....Ray Hiirrisdn ..Herbert C'.reent. ... .llobert l.oren?, Lavtnc NlelKCU. Ativ V'anrtenberi:. Dtiroihy McNIchols. (*y- prleniic Gubelman, Jean Handy, VliKlnla Jllller. Nellie FiBber. Koyce Walliice. .Vllyii Ann JlcI.eile. Malka t.'nrber. Azu l!ai.l. Ruv Harrison. Don WelBBinuUer. Frank Neiil. C'nrlc Kbele. Jnmea Flashe Riley. Jlen P\a7.y.,i, VouRina MatbOHon, Duncan N<d>le. Frank Westbrook, Jobn Butler. Rlrbard D'Aiiy. Lyle Clark. SinKer..(: France,.; Cn.saaril. Jennne CJordon, Lila KInp. Kranrea Jja^er. Marlon KobUM-. Dorothy Johnson, Benlna Owena. Sbiiloy Ann Kurlon, I'Vank Milton. Ilocer Tieai. Martin Sanielb. Benjamin Ti*otniali. Mil- ton Taubmon. Herbert Greene. I.onny Jack- aon. Melrin Howard. 8ani Adamn. Rdberl Lorenz. The main trouble with "On the Town" is that everybody is so busy being young, unspoiled, Iresh and original that they have overlooked the basic necessity for ingratiating themselves with their audience. The result is that while aware of the original and delightful qualities of the piece, the audience is mostly, de- tached from it, and this serves to un- derscore the tiresome precocity of the show. Nonetheless, its prospects arc excellent, for its good points are very good indeed. It is really nothing but a series of spoken and choreographed variations on the wow ballet, "Fancy Free'' .\ i..i)'b lollici- two to liclp hiiu find licr. While holpinil- the olhcr two are pieltcd up and practically raped by a: eouDle o( sals (one ;in anlhropolORlsl. Ilie other a cabbie). Meanwhile, the first sailor finds his pinup girl in a siii);- in.ii-teacher's studio. Tlirou,t;h an elaborate! pretext. Ihc slngin,^' teacher brtyks the couple's date that evening, and the second act is devoted to nilery episodes during which the other two couples try to cheer the boy up. At length he finds the gill doing a hootcli dance at Coney Isl;ind. and everything is okay all around. To begin with; the book is ragged. It starts off brightly to establish a narrative with possibilities for every- thing froin slapstick to poignancy. About the middle of the first act the invention begins to waver and, bar- ring a trio of nitery scenes, stead- ily loses its grip on,the audience. This, it must be said, is as much the fault of the casting as the book, for only Nancy Walker of the six prin- cipals has quite enough sock stage personality to traverse far beyond the footlights. However, the dialog is never comic although often amus- ing, and the satire, although well-di- rected, is (again barring the nitery scenes) slightly collegiate in tone.; Leonard Bernstein's music is smart and: for ballet purposes, socko. but it is not exactly show music. There is little feeling of repose or warmth or lyric grace in the romantic num-. bers. and there is a tendency to dress them up in clever orchestral scoring rather than to support their mood. The amusing tunes, such as "I Get Carried Away." "I Can Cook" or "You Got Me." are terrif, however, and these three numbers all but carry the show. As it stands now. the orchestration overemphasizes the brasses, tricky, intricate rhythms and piquant dissonances, but it is mainly very clever. The choreography of Jerome Rob- bins seldom achieves the brilliance or the humor of "Fancy Free." Some of it is amusing, some of it is bright, and some is pretentious, but it'does provide Sono Osato with one really wow number in "Miss Turnstile," and it does ofler a Neanderthal com- edy ballet which is super. But for the most part it serves to heighten— along with everything else—the feel- ing that Art Has Come to the Musi- cal Stage And It Took Us Kldi To Do It. ■ , . It is, indeed, George Abbott s stag- ing of the piece, and Oliver Smith's mounting of it, which wins top hon- ors. Practically all of the big laughs develop from Abbott's veteran stage- craft, OS in the subway scramble, the two "rape" scenes in the girls' apartments and the three nitery scenes. The whole show, for that matter, is overpoweringly vivacious, a quality deriving to some extent from the ebullience of the entire cast. As indicated, only Miss Walker displays a really hep stage niamicr,, although Adolph Green and Betty Comden (the authors) are good in their comedy scenes, while no one in the cost has sufficicut vocal tech- nique to handle Bernstein's more or less instrurnental manner of writing (or the voice. All these things not- withstanding, "On the Town" could well develop Into a wham if properly pulled into focus up here. Elie. Legit Follow-Up Play on Broadway Dear Rath JoHKlOi M. Ilyiuun and Bernitrd Hart pro- diiLiioii o( coiuody In two ni li (on« aceiie) liv Noriiian Kraeiia; faaluiei VlinUila ull- nior». John Dall. Phvllla Povali. Tloward Siiiiib. siiiged by .^^ua» Hivrl: nelllng by l.'ri.(li.|Jdk Fd.t; opened at Miller, N. Y.. Dec. 'H; H.iO lop. Dora./ Mr.H. Kdilh Wllklnl... Miriam "WilklTiB JuilKO Harry Wllklno. Until WUklny.... 1.1. Willhini KeiiwrlKllt Albert Kuinmer...;... .M.n tba, SaawrlRlit SkI. I'buck ^'lncent.., llanil.l . Pauline Jlyera HlylllH I'ovab ... .T.enoro I.oncrkan Howard .Smith ...Virginia (lllmorn ............folin Dull .. Uarllelt Itiiblnaon Kay Conller .nicharil .McCiackeil ...retcr Dunn . "UTTLE WOMEN" (City Center, N, Y,) It's been some years since Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" was presented in New York, and its re- turn for a limited stay should be a welcome addition around this time. For the schoolgirl it's still one of those charming stories of young ladies in the 1860's, and its sentiment, warmth and occasional pathos retain their basic values as entertainment for adolescent girls around the Christ mas holidays. Jessie Royce Landis has ."staged the play excellently, from the adaptation by Marian De Forest, and Eddie Dowling, in association with the mu- nicipally-operated City Center, is the producer. It's a well-conceived one- setter. Mary Welch, Margot Stevenson, Susana Garnett and Frances Reid are Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth, respectively ., and their performances reflect the quiet charm of the period. Knhn. ACTOR CONCHIE 1-A Philadelphia, Dec. 19. Michael de Bauset, Hedgerow the atre. thesp who went to jail when he refused to appear for induction, was released from Lewisburg peni- tentiary last week and was almost immediately put in 1-A. DeBauset was released from the Federal bastille after serving 11 months of a two-year sentence. Evidently those concerned with the newest hit had no qualms about open- inx tlie play on the 13th day of the month, but no matter what date it bowed in, "Dear Ruth" would be a cinch success.^ New managers, Joseph M. Hyman and Bernard Hart, bounce in with the good thing, their maiden effort, and indicate how and why show business will get along even if some of the older showmen drop out. "Ruth." is a mirth-provoker, and a docker would probably And that It has more laughs than any of the new plays, which is really something in this fecund season. It has a simple enough story, staged by Moss Hart, a master who is said to have tooled Norman Krasna's original script. Action occurs in the living room of the Wilkins family, in Kew Gardens, a suburb of Manhattan. Papa Harry is a ti'affic-court judge, which gives him the privilege of making cracks about wellknown jurists and officiate at hasty marriages, like the one he docs with Ruth, his eldest daughter, of the debutante age. There's another kid. Miriam, around 16, who has ideas about a lot of things, some of them highbrow. This adolescent writes Lt. Bill Sea- wright, an aerial gunner overseas, filling the guy with a romantic urge. But Miriam, who goes in for poetry: too, signs Ruth's name to the pashy letters, some 60-odd, and so when Bill suddenly arrives at the Wilkins home and makes a big fuss over Ruth she doesn't know what it's all about. She is already engaged to a young banker who has a turbulent time of it after the manly soldier comes into their lives, "Ruth" may be classed as a gag show but it certainly qualifies as of- fering high amusement to the aver- age playgoer. It may also be re- garded as a farce, despite its comedy billing. Play could stand about 10 minutes' cutting. Howard Smith, who has been around though not much on Broad- way, copped flrst-nlght honors. He gets most of the laughs and scores them in easv fashion, sitting around puffing a pips, rarely being off the stage. Smith was formerly a vaude- ville pianist with Rae Cox, also do- ing comedy In the two-a-day. He hai been In radio for some time. Lenora Lonergan, the squeaky- voiced adolescent In "Junior Miss," is the runner-up in laugh-getting. She has dropped the tricky vocal stufT but is still a comedienne: TTie lass scores at least two belly laughs, notably when she drink? Scotch like it was ginger ale and talks to a big. panda doll (had they made it a Har-. vey the gag would be funnier). Vir- ginia Gilmore Is a honey as her sis- ter Ruth. Phyllia Povah, as the mother, has her best part since "The Women." John Dall is excellent as the flyer, Bartlett Robinson well cast, too, as the boy who doesn't get the girl, and Pauline Myers is okay as the colored maid. Ibee. Current London Shows London, Dec. 19. "Another Love Story," Phoenix. "Arsenle A Old Laoe," Strand. "Blithe Spirit," Duchess. "Happy & Glorious," Palladium. "Honeymoon," York's. "Jenny Jones," Hippodrome. "Last Mrs. Cheyney," Savoy. "Meet Me Victoria," Vic. Pal. "Mei rle England," Winter Gar. "Merry-Co-Bound," Adelphl. "Ntghl Venice," Cambridge. . "No Medals," Vaudeville. "Peek-A-Boo," Whitehall. "Private Lives," Apollo. "Quiet Weekend," Playhouse. "Sadler's Opera," Prince's. "Scandal at Barchester," Wynd. "Strike It Again," Wales. "Sweeter lower." Ambassadors. "The Maflstrate," St. Martins. "Three's a Family," Saville. "This Was a Woman," Comedy. "Tomorrow World," Aldwych. "Uncle Harry," Garrick. "What Vou Mean," Cambridge. "While Sun Shiaes," Globe. MOmY TALKS AISD DETROIT HAS IT I f f MAID IN THI OZARKS 8«vm Wttki. $9«.032.00 EARL CARROLL VANITIES Four WMks, $87.12«.00 WILSON THEAIWE MERRY WIDOW ThrMWMlis. $97,532.00 AIR-CONDITIONED I CENTRAL HEATING DETROIT. MICH. 0 SEATS 1.918 (892 MAIN KOORl 0 STAGE. 41 FRET 9 INCHES IT 41 Kn 9 INCHES 100 FEET WALL TO WALL-COUNTER.WEIGHT SYSTEM AMERICA'S FimST LEGITIMATE THEATRE PAUL WILLIAMS, Manager 334 Madison .4venue Detroit 26, Mich. UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT AND POUCY 1945 SEASON NOW BOOKING J. B. JOHNSON, JR. D. D. MacFARLANE, Operators