On the Town

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ON THE TOWN

Photo: Joan Marcus

Cititour.com Review
Three exuberant sailors ready for a day of frolicking in New York City hop off a ship at the beginning of this buoyant, boisterous Broadway revival of On the Town. So it seems appropriate that the actor-singer-dancers playing this trio aren’t your typical Broadway headliners. They’re not past Tony winners, nor are they familiar names from films or TV. In fact, Tony Yazbeck, Clyde Alves and Jay Armstrong Johnson most likely wouldn’t be playing leads on Broadway had this production of the 1944 musical not originated at Massachusetts’ Barrington Stage Company last summer.

It’s exciting to see the show make such a leap with most of its principal cast intact, including Elizabeth Stanley and Alysha Umphress as two of the women the young men encounter on their escapades. Although the story is just plain silly at times, and the songs, except the title tune, not among the more memorable standards of the era, John Rando’s production has an infectiously playful quality, and the musical numbers really shine.

But the festive atmosphere of this tuner, from composer Leonard Bernstein, librettist-lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and choreographer Jerome Robbins, disguises the precarious undercurrents of a country at war. Gabey (Yazbeck), Ozzie (Alves) and Chip (Johnson) don’t know what awaits them once they hit international waters (and they might come back in such solid mental and physical condition, if they come back at all), so they need to pack as much life experience as possible into their day.

Initially that means seeing the sights, but when they get to the subway, Gabey falls for a photo of that month’s Miss Turnstiles, Ivy Smith (Megan Fairchild), and soon Ozzie and and Chip are helping him try to track her down. That leads to some canoodling of their own — with a pair of female characters that are refreshingly far from dainty. Chip winds up in the cab — and arms — of Hildy (Umphress), who races through town so that she can get him back to her apartment, pronto! Ozzie, meanwhile, arouses the curiosity and amorous interest of Claire, an anthropologist (with a fiance) he meets at the natural history museum.

The show was originally conceived by legendary choreographer Robbins, inspired by his ballet Fancy Free, so dance — in particular, the dream ballet — is the dominant force. Joshua Bergasse, the Emmy-winning choreographer of the late NBC series Smash, creates a fleet-footed feast in a variety of dance styles, from sexy, searing pas de deux for Yazbeck and ballerina Fairchild, new to the cast of the Broadway production, to lively, comedy-rich numbers like “Carried Away” and “I Can Cook Too,” which bring together the other two pairs.

On the Town may be 70 years old, but spiritually (and with additional material by Robert Cary and Jonathan Tolins), this production has the enthusiasm and excitement of its vigorous, youthful characters. Let’s hope that will be enough to fill a 1,900-seat Broadway house for eight performances a week.

By Diane Snyder


Visit the Site
http://www.onthetownbroadway.com

Cast
Clyde Alves, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Tony Yazbeck, Jackie Hoffman, Megan Fairchild, Alysha Umphress, Elizabeth Stanley

Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/16/2014
Closing 9/6/2015

Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 9/20/2014
Closing Open-ended

Box Office
877-250-2929

Theatre Info
Lyric Theatre
213 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
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