By Ron Fassler . . .
When Golden Rainbow opened in early 1968, this eleven-year-old future critic had only recently seen his first Broadway show, I Do! I Do!, which was playing two blocks away. Memories of walking through Shubert Alley and seeing the Golden Rainbow marquee remain fresh even after fifty-five years. Now, thanks to the York Theatre Company’s “Musicals in Mufti” series, that eleven-year-old is this sixty-six-year-old, and he has finally gotten his chance to see this dinosaur of a musical, which once starred Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé (by the way, I loved dinosaurs as a kid).
Golden Rainbow, set in late 1960s Las Vegas, with enough schmaltz for two musicals, parallels where Broadway was at the time. Old school songwriters were still clinging to the hopes that new money and an influx of tourists, both foreign and domestic, might find their light entertainments entertaining. But business was so poor in the 1967-68 season that the eventual Tony winner for Best Musical went to Hallelujah, Baby! (a show Mufti has produced twice, in 2000 and 2008), which had already closed, prior to the ceremony. Golden Rainbow’s music and lyrics are by Walter Marks, whose only previous book musical was 1964’s Bajour; and, frankly, he was no flash in the pan. His melodies have that bright sixties bounce, and some of his lyrics, when they veer away from the predictable, contain some clever bon mots. Still with us at age eighty-nine, Marks has done some work on both his score and elements of Ernest Kinoy’s book, so this constitutes more of a revisal than a revival. It’s been pared down as well since Mufti’s are done with a tiny ensemble and no scenery, the fun of which is the aim of getting to the heart of every musical. And Golden Rainbow, indeed, has plenty of heart.
Most of that is supplied by Ally, the young boy at the play’s center, a twelve-year-old who is growing up too quickly for his own good. The story is based on Arnold Schulman’s A Hole in the Head, a Broadway play in 1957 and a Frank Sinatra film in 1959, with overly familiar characters made more so by Herb Gardner’s hit play and film A Thousand Clowns, which came on its heels a couple of years later. Both are identical in depicting a child being raised without a mother by a single guy who’s doing a pretty poor job of it. But the kid idolizes his fun-loving dad and we’re not meant to think he’s in any real kind of danger. On the contrary, the boy takes better care of the parent than the parent takes care of himself.
What this Golden Rainbow has going for it is Benjamin Pajak, a child so mature in years that he makes Ally a fully three-dimensional character, even though he’s written in a stock fashion. What Pajak does, mostly with the script on a music stand, is a wonder. Having made his Broadway debut in 2022 as Winthrop in the recent Music Man revival, only to top that a year later with a beautiful turn as Oliver Twist in the limited run of Oliver! at City Centers Encores!, there is no doubt this young actor is destined for a career in the theater. Of course, his voice is going to change, but his musicality is intrinsic to who he is and won’t stand in his way moving forward. He feels things in a way that can’t be taught, and he listens better than half of many actors with twice the experience. His gestures are organic, he’s never cloying, and he’s got comic timing for days. I can’t say enough kind and supportive things about him—he is an absolute marvel.
This trimmed-down production, directed with a light touch by Stuart Ross, also has a major asset in the Larry of Max Von Essen. He plays the Steve Lawrence character with charm, but without being smarmy; handsome without vainglory; and a little bent by the full weight of everything he’s carrying on his shoulders. Von Essen goes a long way toward making some of the poorer aspects of the play’s plotting and dialogue palpable. Having seen him a year ago as Julian Marsh in 42nd Street at Goodspeed, and previously in 2015’s An American in Paris on Broadway, his velvet voice is always a welcome treat. He closes Act One with “I Gotta Be Me,” with just the right combination of intensity and commitment. If the song title is familiar, perhaps it’s because Steve Lawrence sang it for the bulk of his concert career, and it became a hit recording by Sammy Davis, Jr.
In the role of Judy, custom tailored for Eydie Gormé, Mara Davi is saddled with trying to convey Ally’s aunt and Larry’s sister-in-law as a real person. Her only real purpose in the play is to create an obstacle to the father and son’s happiness, but then (spoiler alert) winds up as the love interest, so they can all live together as one big happy family. You don’t believe it for a minute, and maybe you’re not supposed to. It’s as improbable as a “Golden Rainbow,” which the book takes pains to explain is a lousy metaphor that means nothing to begin with. Mission accomplished.
Able support as always from the supporting cast in a Mufti production, with Robert Cuccioli offering his professional best as a Mafioso, more Tony Bennett than Tony Soprano. And David Hancock Turner, once again, puts together a band that makes a big sound out of a few instruments. With no set to speak of, the projections from Peter Brucker and his clear sound design aided nicely, with Garett Pembrook’s lighting serving things well. Street clothes are always a part of a Mufti show, and everyone here looked appropriate, though perhaps the bare midriff that was Judy’s sole costume might have been rethought.
Sadly, this is the final installment of this year’s trio of revivals that showcase seldom-produced musicals (in minimal stagings) from what can only be described as a bygone era. In 2023, their 37th season—with this production, plus How to Steal an Election and The Lieutenant—the York has gone out super strong, three for three. Congrats to Producing Artistic Director James Morgan.
Golden Rainbow played its limited engagement from September 23 through October 1 at the Theatre at Saint Jeans (150 East 76th Street, between Third Avenue and Lexington). www.yorktheatre.org
Photos: Rider R. Foster
