Theater Review by Ron Fassler . . . .
The brave folks at J2 Spotlight, which produces musicals that usually haven’t seen the light of day in some time, are offering two shows this spring (Do Re Mi and Lucky Stiff) as opposed to their usual three (times, they are tough). Jim Jimirro (Executive Producer and Co-Founder) and Robert W. Schneider (Artistic Director and Co-Founder) have their hearts in the right place and manage to do things on a shoestring that honor the dictum of necessity being the mother of invention. Grateful regulars, like me, who attend these productions, are thrilled to be anywhere lesser-seen musicals can be seen.
The musical comedy Do Re Mi first opened the day after Christmas in 1960 at the St. James Theatre. It was the show directly after Bells Are Ringing by composer Jule Styne and lyricists Betty Comden & Adolph Green. That show was co-directed by Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse with a book by Comden and Green who really knew a thing or two about crafting original material. Do Re Mi, on the other hand, was authored and directed by Garson Kanin, whose record on Broadway was very hit-and-miss (mostly miss). Though he can always claim the classic comedy Born Yesterday as writer and director, he probably would have been a lot better off had Comden and Green written Do Re Mi. Since it was based on a slim novella he had written in 1955, this was his baby. I can only report he didn’t do a good job of parenting.
Kanin had to build the show entirely around the personality of Phil Silvers—the “Top Banana” himself—who, in 1960, was hot off his four-year (1955–59), Emmy-winning television run as Sgt. Bilko. Paired with Nancy Walker, a musical comedy natural who never quite got the starring vehicle she deserved (Once Upon a Mattress had actually been conceived with her in mind, originally), her role in Do Re Mi is relegated to that of a somewhat abused wife. That’s one of the biggest problems with doing the musical anymore—we’ve become a bit too sensitive (and too smart) to think that a story about a husband and wife who constantly fight (until the final curtain, that is) can entertain the way it once did. There’s a secondary love story, as these musicals once upon a time always felt necessary for support, but they are really given short shrift. It’s a problem in this production that, as played by Tyler Okunski and Caitlin Belcik, they fail to register, even though they get to sing the one song in the score that became a standard, “Make Someone Happy.” They’re also up against how underwritten John and Tilda are, as characters who meet and fall in love upon laying eyes on one another. Maybe this was a spoof on West Side Story, which had opened a few years earlier, but probably not. What it feels like is no one caring to build it believably.
The story mainly concerns Hubie Cram (Ian Lowe, delightful) and his wife Kay (Rebecca Spigelman, funny and with a great voice), who can never manage to scrape two nickels together. He’s always waiting for a scheme to pay off (shades of Ralph and Alice Kramden) and thinks he’s hit the jackpot by going into the jukebox business. To get rich quick he brings in some shady characters he knew from “the good ol’ days,” a trio direct from Central Casting: Fatso (Eric Michael Gillett), Brains (Richard Rowan), and Skin (John Leone), gangsters by way of Damon Runyon . . . only the material they’re given could never be mistaken for anything out of Guys and Dolls.
The original Do Re Mi had a cast of forty-six. Yes, you read that right. The chorus for the J2 Spotlight production has three people. So credit where credit is due, Mallory Nolting, Caleb Funk, and Kaylee Verble do a great job of selling it. What little choreography there is on the postage-stamp-size stage of the AMT Theater has been nicely done by Andrew Winans; and Miles Plant is nothing short of amazing as the sole musician, playing piano somewhere backstage. Robert W. Schneider, who directed many of these shows over the past few seasons, does his usual fine job of keeping things moving, honest, and charming.
If you have any curiosity about a classic Golden Age musical, even if it isn’t top tier, you shouldn’t miss Do Re Mi, especially to hear songs by Styne, Comden, and Green put forth by actors committed to their legacy.
Do Re Mi. Through April 28 at AMT Theater (354 West 45th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). www.j2spotlightnyc.com
Lucky Stiff—written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Once on This Island, Ragtime) runs May 3-12.
Photos: Russ Roland
Cover photo: Richard Rowan, Eric Michael Gillett, John Leone and Ian Lowe
