From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Subject: Re: MY FAVORITE YEAR
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 21:38:17 GMT

Let me add another voice to the cautiously favorable advance word for MY
FAVORITE YEAR.  I saw last Saturday's matinee.  (Apparently they send
the very sidemost seats to TKTS for half-price sale.  Mine was quite ok
since I was in the balcony -- excuse me, "Loge" -- and though 3 seats
from the very end I wain line with, and looking directly at, the first
orchestra row in front of the thrust stage.  So I had the best of both
"front" and "side" views.)

For my taste, there are a few places where they need to reconsider their
"take" on the dramatic situation in song.  Too often, it seems to me,
they make the song too serious or sentimental, where a sharper, more
rhythmic choice would have fit the world of this show better.  For
instance, the first place I experienced as a Weak Spot was Lainie
Kazan's first song.  She's so immediately endearing to the audience in
her outrageousness, repeating her movie role, that it comes as a real
letdown when what she sings is a sentimental mostly-strings ditty about
how she first fell in love with her second husband (she's singing it as
a reproach to her son for not respecting his stepfather more).  Somehow
they could have kept her funny and still gotten the emotional point
across.  Some of Tim Curry's numbers also fall into this trap, I think.
(On the other hand, maybe this is a peculiarity of mine; I was the
person who, on hearing the A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC score for the first
time, found "Send In the Clowns" stylistically out of place.  So don't
place too much faith in me on this.)

I also find that the second act doesn't move in a clear enough line (I
hear they're rewriting it).  The weak first-act curtain (maybe they put
the intermission at the wrong point in the story?) may be related to
this.

On the other hand, Joseph Dougherty's book has some real virtues.  He
has managed to keep the plot of the movie intact while jettisoning the
irrelevant gangster subplot and beefing up another thread (father-child
reconcilations) to take its place.  He also gave Andrea Martin a role
worthy of her talents by combining the Anne de Salvo and Selma Diamond
roles from the movie, and throwing in the "teach KC how to tell a joke"
scene too.

And a lot is working well already.  The opening is great, the very end
even better, and a lot in between (the comic centerpieces especially) is
just right.  Though I hope they can improve it before opening, audiences
love it even now, and it could probably get by even as it is.

The score is pleasant and tuneful, and gets the job done every time.  As
mentioned, I don't think some numbers are after the right thing
dramatically, but that may not be Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens'
fault.  I'm not sure any of the score is really memorable, but judgement
on that score would have to await further hearings, as always.  I liked
the opening "20 Million People," "The Duck Joke," "Shut Up and Dance,"
and particularly the title song, which had to be a winner to live up to
its dramatic placing, and is.

The production is surprisingly lavish for a thrust stage, with sets
sliding on from 5 different backstage directions and lots of good
surprising effects.  Sets: Thomas Lynch.  Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt.
Lighting: Jules Fisher.  Directed, very well (except for that touch of
heaviness, if that was his choice) by Ron Lagomarsino.  (With him and
Dougherty on hand, it was old home week for a thirtysomething fan like
me; both contributed to many episodes though their first home was
theater.)  Choreography by Thommie Walsh, lots of movement but hardly
any real dancing; I couldn't even tell what genre of dancers he'd hired,
they always seemed about to take a step and then didn't.  Walsh
certainly learned, though, from his mentor Michael Bennett in the way he
moved blocs of people around as a unit in all the confusion scenes --
those worked very well.

I've saved the cast for last because it's flawless.  Tim Curry's
characterization may not be there all the way yet, but it's pretty damn
good even now, and he has the presence and "star"ness that's essential
to the conception of the role.  Best of all, in the protagonist role, is
Evan Pappas.  He definitely surpasses Mark Linn-Baker in the movie; he's
endearing, exasperating (without being annoying), smooth, funny, and has
just the kind of singing voice required.

Kazan, as mentioned, was marvelous in all she had to do.  Andrea Martin
was too, in her thankfully expanded role.  I'm not normally a huge fan
of physical "bits" designed to get laughs, but she has some slapstick
moments that she makes into true gems.  Whoever follows her in the role
has my sympathy.  As the other 2/3 of the writing staff, I was amazed
that the production could cast people of the caliber of Josh Mostel and
Ethan Phillips in such secondary roles.  They're leading actors in their
own right, but enormously welcome here.  That trio works wonders in
scene after scene (and Phillips without speaking).  Everyone else in the
cast is super too.

So.  I had a good time, I hope they'll continue to work out the last
kinks, but I'm pretty sure this one is going to run a while and give a
lot of people a good time.  It opens December 10 at the Vivian Beaumont
Theater.

Jon Alan Conrad