Variety (October 1957)

62 ' LEGITIMATE PSRmfr Wednesday,, October 9, 1957 Shows on Broadway Look Back in Anger David Merrick presentation of English Stage Co. production of three-apt Cftve scenes) drama by John Osborne. Staged by Tony Richardson; setting, Alan Tagg; costumes. Motley; setting, lighting and costume supervision, Howard Bay; music for songs, Tom Eastwood. Stars Mary U re, Kenneth Haigfa; features Alan Bates. Vivienne Drummond. Jack Livesey. At Lyceum Theatre, ICY., Oct. 1, 57; $5.75 Jimmy Porter .. Kenneth Heigh Cliff Lewis ... Alan Bates Alison Porter ... Mary Ure Helena Charles.Vivienne Drummond Col. Redfern . Jack Livesey American show biz has been hearing increasingly the la$t year or so about Britain’s “angry young men,” and in particular their lead¬ ing spokesman, playwright-actor John Osborne. Now at hand is the London dramatic success, “Look Back in Anger,” with its vehement¬ ly bitter, brilliantly articulate: young mouthpiece-hero, Jimmy i Porter. | There’ll be arguments about the! her playing of the highly charged final scenes is intensely touching. Alan Bates, the * third original player, gives an eloquent, deftly shaded portrayal of the sympa¬ thetic friend and Vivienne Drum¬ mond. a replacement during the original Loudon run, is impressive in the difficult role of the wife’s successor as a scarcely tolerated, reviled bed-mate. Jack Livesey is credible as a disapproving but little-heeded father. British director Tony Richardson has recreated his original London staging expertly and the setting by Alan Tagg and costumes by Motley are valuable contributions to the most dynamic British import in ready memory. There’s probably not much for films in this high-pressure talkfest, but there’s lots of theatre. Kobe. Miss Lonelyhearts Lester Osterman A Alfred R. Glancy rvn Rrnadwav too and audi-! Jr- tin association with Diana Jlreen) play onii r oa GW ay, i a uvia u u I re ut|on of two . act drama by Howard -,n,i i £ eichmanm from the NathanieS West ences will be just as irritated and engrossed by Jimmy as were the more reserved English. But say what else they will about Jimmy his painful restlessness and caus¬ tic opinions, he’s alive and vital, arresting and passionately theat¬ rical. | “Anger” is about as pleasant as| a raw nerve—and about as easy to ignore. It's a powerful, enthrall¬ ing, frequently exasperating and undeniably stirring show, and it’s a cinch to be a hit. Since Ameri- can*audiences are probably more inured to tough play$ ^ than the English are, this dramatic diatribe may be an even bigger boxoffice click here than in the West End. Jimmy Porter is a sort of slight¬ ly older, less gregarious and vastly more articulate counterpart of the adolescent mobsters of the new Bi’oadway musical, “West Side Story.” Hating a world in which he feels out of place, he vents his hostility and loneliness, not in bat¬ tling a rival gang, but in blindly and indiscriminately inflicting pain on those around him, particularly those near and dear to him. The play tends to be something *>f a monolog at times as Jimmy heaps insults and abuse on his pa¬ tient wife, ostensibly from resent¬ ment of the fact that she's his so¬ cial superior, but basically as an outlet for his own sense of outrage and rebellion against an existence he cannot appreciate or cope with. Thus, while Jimmy is the immedi¬ ate spokesman for the author, he is in a general way the counterpart of all of today’s generation of angry young man who feel that life has betrayed them. The scene of the play is Jimmy’s grubby lodgings in a midland Eng¬ lish town and the other characters are the loving but exhausted wife, their understanding and devoted friend, the wife’s old chum of un¬ complicated girlhood days and, in a single-scene appearance, the wife’s Victorian-outlook father. When the wife is finally driven to leave, her friend -almost com¬ pulsively becomes his mistress. Finally, having lost the baby she avoided telling Jimmy she was about to have, the wife comes crawling and groveling (literally) back, a sadder and. the author ap¬ parently feels, a wiser woman. The dialog crackles with vivid lines. “Don’t take his suffering awav from him,” the wife says of Jimmy, “he’d have nothing left.” Riffling through the Sunday news¬ paper, the hero sarcastically re¬ marks, “This is full of reviews of: English books, and half of them in French.” And, expressing his sense of disillusionment, he observes, “The age of chivalry is dead. There i . are no good causes anymore.” In one of his infrequent moments j of self-deceiving self-dramatizing Jimmy announces, “The strongest people in this world seem to be the loneliest,” and later, when even, his best friend says he’s going to go away, the hero says, "I seem to spend my life saying goodbye.” But perhaps the most revealing line is novel of the same name. Stars Fat O'Brien: features Fritz Weaver, Buth Warwick, Pippa Scott. Janet Ward. Staged by Alan Schneider;, lighting and setting, Jo Mielzinerj costumes. Patricia Zipprodt. At Music Box Theatre. N.Y.. Oct 3, '57; $5.75 tap weeknights, $6:90 Friday and Saturday nights and opening. Ned Gates .......... Henderson Forsythe Goldsmith ... William Hickey William Spain . Pat O'Brien A Boy ..Fritz Weaver Sick-oMt-All . Anne Meara Gladys H.Marian Reardon Desperate.. Jo Anna March Betty ..... Pippa %ott Claude .... Maurice. Ellis Adele Farnum . Irene Dailey Mary Spain.Ruth Warwick Fay Doyle ... Janet Ward: Peter Doyle . Dan Morgan It would be hard to imagine 'a more complete reversal of mood than Howard Telchmann has made in this new play taken from the Nathaniel West novel, “Miss Lone- lyhearts.” For his last time out, Teichmann collaborated with George S. Kaufman on a farce, “The Solid Gold Cadillac,” which made a boxoffice cleanup. In “Miss Lonelyhearts” the tone is deadly serious and the effect unpleasant. This is no boxoffice item, therefore, although it could conceivably be a prospect for film adaptation. Any popularization will have to be in the treatment, how¬ ever, as the story itself is anything but an evening’s diversion. The show has two strikes on it from the start. For one thing, it amounts to a sort of morality fable of despair, a defeatist yarn with a let-downish quality. Secondly,, the hero, if not a fool, at least behaves like one, so he forfeits the sym¬ pathy of an audience that, wants to root for him. The hero is an idealistic young reporter assigned to write an ad- vice-to-the-lovelorn column. He ap¬ proaches it as a joke, hut quickly takes it to heart, is assailed by self-doubts, tries to escape in booze and sex, but finally finds self-un¬ derstanding and peace in spiritual love. The trouble is, he’s so im¬ practical that he brings disappoint¬ ment to those who believe in him, unhappiness to the girl who loves him and trouble to those he tries to comfort. He ends by losing his own life uselessly. Pat O’Brien, returning to the stage" after 25 years in pictures, gives a direct, forceful and. pro¬ pulsive performance as the dia¬ bolic newspaper editor who cynic¬ ally gives the decent young report¬ er the heartthrob column job and then sees that he’s disillusioned and driven to an emotional crack- up. There’s a baffling final switch to the role, presumably also in the original novel, in which the evil editor confesses that he really feels protective toward the youth, whom he regards as the son he’s been denied in a barren marriage. Per¬ haps that’s intended as some sort of underlying motivation, or pos¬ sibly a subtle moral parable, or maybe it’s just supposed to be sugar-coating to send the audience out on a positive note. Whatever the idea, it seems contrived and: unbelievable, and it’s too much for Show Oat of Town Rumple Boston, Octi 5. Paula Stone and Mike Sloan production of musical in two acts (10 scenes). 12 musical numbers. Stars Eddie Foy, Gretchen Wyler, Stephen Douglass; fea¬ tures Jerome Cowan, Lois O'Brien, Bar¬ bara ■ Perry. Milo Boulton. Book, Irving Philips: music, Ernest C. Schwelkert; lyrics. Frank Reardon; ehoreography. Bob Hamilton; light-setting. George Jen¬ kins; costumes. Alvin Holt; orchestrations, Ted Royal; musical director* Frederick Dvonch; dance music arrangements, Robert Atwood; staged by Jack Donohue. At Colonial, Boston, Oct. 5, '57; $625 top. Case includes: Kenneth Harvey, Vir¬ ginia Perlowin, Jackie Warner, BQl Carter, Eddie Weston,» George Martin. Bonnie West, Larry Howard, Janyce Wagner, Sally Wile, Roy Palmer. Elliott Gould, Larry Stevens, Gail Kuhr, Sari Ciymus, Bill Milie. Lila Popper. Doris Lorenz Claire Gunderman, Eddie Weston, Pat White. the wife’s plaintive reference to; the star’s uncomplicated approach, “people who couldn't stand the t As the title player who takes the pain of being human beings any i lonelyhearts letters seriously and longer.” [thereby wrecks his own romance. The show is superbly presented, j messes UP the lives of the corre- Kenneth Haiffh, repeating his orig- j spondents with whom he becomes inal characterization, makes Jim- • involved, has a confused fling at my a vibrantly, agonizingly’ alive | drink and dames and is finally person of varying moods. The per- > murdered by a jealous husband he fonnance is irresistibly believable,. has tried to help, top-featured a stunning revelation. If Broadway; Fritz Weaver gives a fervent per- and Hollywood and television had j formance that’s probably about as already been alerted, they can now : much as can he done with a char- awake to the arrival of an electri-; acter who’s- so impractical he fying talent and personality. [seems downright silly*. Mary Ure. also repeating her; Pippa Scott gives a plausible, original London role of the wife, i moving performance as the hero’s projects quiet intensity. Wearing : attractive and understandably puz- a dead white makeup, she moves l zled fiance, Janet Ward is convinc- vith a telling suggestion of spirit-[ ingly animalistic a floozie who ual exhaustion, and although she j just about rapes the scribe, and occasionally stems a trifle posey, t (Continued on page fi 8 ) ’Rumple” is loaded with zingy, bouncy tunes, a plenitude of femme pulchritude and torrid, sexy dances designed to make the jaded sit up. Low budgeted at $200,000, it has earmarks of. a hit. It en¬ thused the first night Boston try¬ out aud though not uniformly the critics. Eddie Foy is terrifico as a comic strip character come to life, visible to his creator only, roaming the stage with asides and quips. His foil is platinum topped, well stacked, scantily clad Barbara Perry, also invisible to "cast, but much visible to aud. Together they have a rollicking ball in song and dance to aud delight. But it’s tall stemmed Gretchen Wyler, as a man-eating tigress, who sets the stage on fire. She roars the house down with num¬ ber on a psychiatrist’s couch, “Coax Me," which out-Lolas, the Lola hit from “Damn Yankees.” Seeking re¬ lief for Rumple’s creator, who has lost his drawing skill, she tussles with the psychiatrist, skillfully por¬ trayed by Jerome Cowan, and . in the struggle her dress peels off. Miss Wyler has four songs, a fluet with Foy and one with Cowan plus heavy dialog in her comedienne role. This keeps her well occupied. A run through Friday night (4) helped to set the show on its orbit. Stephen Douglass, as the “Rumple” creator who can’t hold a crayon any more, is slick with effective piping, and Lois O’Brien, ash blonde eyeful, handles the sincere love interest and songs with quiet ease and nice restraint. Both are especially effective with “It's You For Me,” ballad, which looks in the hit song class. Novelty tune* “In Times Like These,” looks to have strong potential, also, “Peculiar State of Affairs.” “Wish,” sung by Foy and Miss O’Brien could be up there too. Milo Boulton is properly pom¬ pous and windbaggy as the car¬ toonist’s newspaper publisher. Jackie Warner has an effective bit the bartender. Alvin Colt’s femme costuming is colorful and eyepleasing. George Jenkins’ sets are neat, modern and skillfully de¬ signed with studio apartment, bar, park bench and psychiatrist's of¬ fice, Bob Hamilton’s choreography rates kudos. Jack Donohue’s , stag¬ ing is ultra. Guy. Shows Abroad Seimle Her Dlktatorei (SCHOOL OF THE DICTATORS) Berlin, Sept 30. Berlin Festival presentatipn of Munich Kammerspiele production. Tragicomedy in nine acts by Erich Kaestner. Staged by Hans Schwelkart. Settings, .Joerg Zlmmermann; technical supervision, Hanns Zlmmermaim. Guest’ performances at Hebbel Theatre, Berlin. $3 top. War Minister.E. F. Fuerbtinger Premier Minister.. ...Werner Hessen land Medico. HansMagel Professor ................. Peter Luehr Inspector ................. Heini Goebel President .... Kurt Meisel His Wife ............. Trude Hesterberg His Son .. Michael Degen- Major .. Wolfgang Kieling City Commander ..Wolfgang Wahl The Fourth One .Robert Michal The Ffith One ..Wilhelm Haber The Sixth One .Anton Reimer The Seventh One .. Kurt Meisel The Eighth" One..... .Hans Poessenbacher Pauline ..Heliane Bel Doris . Pamela Wedekind Stella ................... Christa Keller Landlady .. Ruth Drexel Sailor . Mario Adorf Stock Review Saint’s Day Westport, Sept. 22. Final production of the season at Lucille Lortel’s White Barn Theatre is the American premiere of John 'Whiting’s drama-fable, “Saint’s Day,” winner of the Fes¬ tival of Britain Prize. It is an absorbing, if. extremely verbose; work that offers fine opportunity for excellent characterizations. The script paints a basically, dreary picture of decadence in a oncer-prominent family. * Patriarch of the clan had been a famous writer who went into exile after a blast at society in general. Younger generation of an artist, who never developed his early promise, and his wife who yearns for the real love she has never known, com¬ plete the" trio around Whbm a web of despair and tragedy is woven. Dialog runs to excellent passages and roles present a variety of in¬ teresting characters. . Among lat¬ ter, Olive Deering. is first-rate as the wife and she gets equal support from Donald Hotton as her husband and Sydney Walker ] as the quondam literary great. Other good performances are added by,Ken Renard as a family servant. ifcgrl Light as a publisher’s assistant, and Stephen Franken, Frank London and Frank. Ford as soldier-convicts. Play is capably staged by Terese Hayden and designed by Jonah Kingstein. Bone. Erich. Kaestner, author of many children’s books, presents himself in this work as a bitter cynic and satirist. “School of Dictators.”' is not only a heavy attack against any kind of dictatorship but also a rather pessimistic gesture of,resig¬ nation: Piece shows that brute force is merely substituted* by brute force. Action of play takes place in an imaginary state whose dictator has just died. Since the functionaries, however, keep on ruling with ex¬ changeable doubles, the population sees always the “same” dictator. One of the puppets (doubles) fi¬ nally is a decent character. He ar¬ ranges a revolution and succeeds in overthrowing the vulture gov¬ ernment. However, the good man Is overthrown himself and a new , dictator takes over, There is sharp wit and many fine bon mots. But script is too- “constructed,” less a theatrical pres¬ entation than an “extended politi¬ cal cabaret.” So considered, it’s imaginative and amusing. More pretentiously, as a tragicomedy, the characters appear too wooden and their dialog emerges as slogan- type lines. Hans Schweikart handled staging job with, remarkable skill. He even led some of the actors to impres¬ sive performances. That primarily concerns Peter Luehr in the role of the professor who trains the various puppet-dictators. Fine per¬ formance is also turned in by Kurt Meisel who portrays the president who dies and also doubling as the one who later overthrows the gov¬ ernment. First rate and imagina¬ tive are the settings by Joerg Zim¬ mermans Hans. . La Pretentaiae (ADVENTURE SEEKER) Paris, Sept, 27. Gilbert® Refoule production of comedy in two acts (six scenes) by Jacques Deval. Stars Francoise Christophe and Philippe Nlcaud. Directed by Robert Manuel. Set by Raymond D« shay as. Gowns by Carven. At Ambassadeurs-Henri Bernstein Thea¬ tre. Paris. Sept. 26, '37. Martin* Belx_... Francoise Christophe Barbara Shadwell,.. Sybil Maas Nicole-Massoubre .. Claude Emy Yvonne...Yvonne-Hebert Aline . France Farnel Raoul Carnoy ........... Philippe Nicaud David S. Ogden ... Jess Hahn Ferbolse ... Marcel Charvey Pivier . Robert Rollis Bardou ..Jean Sylvere Ivan ... Jacques EchantiHon Porter. .....".Rene Martin “Jacques Deval, who panned gold with such world-wide.- elides ar Tovarich” and “Mademoiselle.’ continues to be one of France’s most conscientious stage Scribes. He has had a new play on the boards every season since ?1945 and his “Tonight in Samarkand” (which ran three years ih Paris but only six weeks-In Manhattan) and his rewrite of “Her Cardboard Lover” (original version, 1925) did smash hiz here. His latest is the- ante¬ bellum vein of the boulevard com¬ edy. Parisian critics have given it green-light and it should stay the season for a clean-up. In both execution and attitude script recalls palmy- pre-war era. Comedy has a-sophisticated setting, some smart dialog and two knowing and pleasing popular players to put it across. Charices for Broadway production seem slim as plot has no unique twist and once situation is set, tempo slows. Funny lines are too infrequent. Biggest yak of eve¬ ning is when boisterous Yankee babbitt spies French cutie in bath¬ ing-suit and exclaims, “Vive La France.” Ambitious French' girl, having saved up her * pennies, embarks on U.S.-bound. He de France, deter¬ mined to find herself an American millionaire. In her .luxurious first- class cabin she discovers a male stowaway who, like herself, is for¬ tune-hunting. Regarding his pres-, ence as good omen, she permits him to stay. Soon, after they sail a laud-mouth Texas tycoon begins to woo her and proposes immediate marriage, while her roommate becomes en¬ gaged t6 a well-heeled but nit¬ witted American miss. But before ship pulls into harbor fast-talking tycoon is revealed as. an eccentric lunatic travelling with his doctor, and stowaway’s fiancee loses him •at cards to her aunt. French couple then decide to'make the best of the worst and are set to go back to their homeland to live on love rather than money. Francoise-Christophe plays hero¬ ine in easy, breezy style and Philippe Nicaud a*. imaginative stowaway registers as excellent comedy performer, having pres¬ ence, charm and humor. American Jess Hahn is hilarious, in broad role of mad American and Sybil Maas does well as dumb little rich girL There is good bit, too, by Marcel Charvey as lie de France officer. .7 Robert Manuel of Comedie- Francaisehas done neat directorial !-chore and keeps things on the move when plays runs down a bit in sec¬ ond of its two acts and Raymond Deshays has. constructed inviting first-class cabin in which all action takes place. Curt. little Or eke* tr a, IV. Y. Rain explained some empties at Town Hall Monday (7) when the Little Orchestra took, aim at its second decade. The evening forced more strongly than before the sense of careful selection of musi¬ cians and repertory, pins the col¬ lective enterprise of conductor- founder Tom Scherman, Thea. Dis- peker and William Weissel in cre¬ ating such a unique artistic estab¬ lishment. This does credit to New York and the culture of America:— fact which the timid subsidy sources will no doubt awaken to after a further lapse of time. This season, the Little Orchestra will be divided between a four- event series at Town Half and a number of ambitious concert mountings of opera at Carnegie. It remains, of course, steady on the beam of its dedication to little played, or not played at all, musi¬ cal works. For this it collects much merited appreciation. Its repertory enriches the town, as it* knack for finding young musicians (without that being its purpose) enriches the larger orchestras, and simplifies thefr recruitment prob¬ lems. Call it luck, showmanship or happy possibility—the Little Or* chestra was able to open its 11 th season with a master of song, George London. Here was a sub- - strtution, making substitution an end devoutly to be desired. The unfortunate foreigner who could not come because of surgery pro¬ vided the chance of having London who will, later this month, be the opening, night baritone at the Met* London flew in from Vienna to take over. And he was better than paratroopers in removing all Vagueness. London wowed ’em with Hie first N. Y. rendering of Modest Mussorgsky’s 1872 “Sons of Death,” managing to be power¬ ful, tender and musically com¬ manding. To which, our Russian language expert adds that his dic¬ tion in the Moscovy tongue was stupefying in an, American born ifl Montreal. Land. SCHEDULED, N.Y. OPENINGS BROADWAY ‘ (Theatres. Set) Under’ Milk Weed, Miller 00-15-57). Nature's Way, Coronet 00-16-57). Capper mi* Brass, Beck 00-JL7-37). Cave Dwellers, Bijou 00-19-57). Cemputsleh, Ambassador (10-21*37). Mental** Golden dO-2*$7). ta. Reef of Wonderful, Nat'l dO-30-37). Jamaica,. Imperial d0-31-37). Fair' Dame, Lencacre (11-2-57). Rumple, Alvin, 01-5-37). Carefree Heart, ANT A dl-7-57). Time Remembered, Morosco <11-12-37), Nude Wit* Violin, Belasco (11-14-57), Rape Dencera.- Cort 01-20-57). Kukla, Fran A Ollie (11-21-57) Country Wife, Adelphi (11-27-57). Leek Homeward, Barrymore (11-28-57). Dark Tap Weirs, Music Bex 02-5-57), - Music Man, Majestic <12-10-37). v Mist Isabel, Royale 02-26-37). Seesaw, Boodt (1-15-58). Body Reevtlfei, B'way 0-23-57). Captain's Paradtse, Alvin 0-28-57). Goldilocks, Globe (3-6-57). (Theatres Not Set) Soft Tpueh 01-6-57)1 One Foot In Door 02-2-57). Genius A Goddess 02-11-57). Shadow of My Enemy (12-11-57). Brass Section 0*15-58). Salt AIT (wk. 1-27-58). Rivalry 0-27-58). Sunrise at Campobelle Q-3*-58>. Portoflne (wk. 2-3-58). Love Me Little (2-6-58). OFF-BROADWAY Truce of the Bear, Blackfriajs 06-23-57), J, Caesar, Shakespeare Club (10-23-57). Bivebac at Lucca, Royal (1Q-29-57). Girl G o l den West) Anderson (11+57), Clerembard, Rooftop 01-6-57). ^ Palm Tree, Cricket (wk. 11-1747). Conversation Piece, Bar bitoe U1-18-37), Makrepptue Barret, Phoeplx