Evening star., 1948-07-07


his midwifery, but quite WlthouO''
hope; a small, formless thing with
q kind of melancholy innocence. Ii
it has passing moments OF being re-
deemed from its pre-ordained doom,
II owes them to Viola Roche and
Ienore Lonergan, who give it some
thing of their own ebullient strength
as performers.
The wan premise of the words and
music of Hand in Hand" Is that
there is something incorrputloly
bright and spirited about young love.
This is lamentably not true. On the
basis OF the case being made Tor II
at the Olney this week, young love
should be abolished. This particular
version of it unquestionably will be.
Perhaps not this week, but while II
still is in its so-called prlor-to-
Broadway condition.
Leonard Gershe, book and lyrics,
and Dean Fuller, music, find aoso-
lutelv nothing fresh to bring 10 one
theater in Hand in Hand Grant
Ing them far more elaborate pro-
duction and far less casual casting
in regular theater season version
of their work, everything about II
would look derivative. The book still
would be worn out. the dialogue
nstnfully straining for spirit OF
lest. the music and lyrics small ana
monotonous.
As a matter of fact, on the sub
iect of production, the Olney's reg
ular man Syrjala has done hlmsei1
and the customers a better 1on
than might be expected from sucn
urinspired material. He at least got
more out of Junior Miss" Allegro
and the numerous other more ex-
pensive models of which Hand IN
Hand" resembles homemade copy.
To classify Hand in Hand prop
erlv-again for the recoro-lt is
more a play with music than any
thing else. It's small shred OF a
story calls for few words on the
theme of adolescent emotions, IN
all their conventional complexlty'
after which the word exchangers
fall into a song amplifying just
how they feel about things. or, 10
keep the monotony from being
worse. they spin into dance. Ihls
does not work any better.
Miss Ionergan as star OF HAND
in Hand" is a grownup Fully. the
girl she played in latter chlldnooo
in Junior Miss" She represents
aggressive young femalehood, a girl
who has flunked four years IN the
senior class OF South Grape. N. j.,
high school. but has picked up con-
siderable basic knowledge. The lat
ter gives her a place in the junior
community OF South Grape, in
which she acts as lovelorn ADVISER
to a. pair Of dewv classmates VINO
are rushing headlong into frustra-
tion.
Miss Ionergan has virtually moth
ing tn work on. just the tired sug-
eestion that the kids get them
selves compromised, but she man
ages sometimes to jerk laugh out
Of the most unpromising material.
The same is true OF Miss Roche
ss another one Of those grand
mothers whose romantic ideas have
remained liberal from a girlhood
that might we'll have been the same.
X X
It takes a number Of songs to
get Hand in Hand" through its
two standard acts, but none OF them
has a chance of ever increasing the
dividends to jukebox stockholders.
Best song in the show is one called
What Must I Be to Be Yours"
uuizzically suggestive ballad that
Miss Lonergan sings to all promls-
ing males.
Runner-up, thanks to the sweet
way Beverly Janis sings it, Is The
Happiest Day of My Life" which
explains how nice girl feels about
her wedding day. The same thing,
of course, has been explained many
times before, and better.
Despite their negligible intelli-
gence quotients. musicals impose
more of burden upon their casts
than summer theater performers