WPCNR IN THE BALCONY. Review by Broadway Johnny. May 12, 2006:
Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, step right up and get your tickets for a three ring circus of glorious non-stop, frantic, win-you-over-send-you-home-happy fun, featuring daring acrobats high above, jugglers, bands, tight-rope walkers, Jumbo the Elephant, George Washington’s Nurse, and the world’s smallest man, General Tom Thumb brought to you by the one, the only master of humbug, P.T. Barnum (“Barnum’s my name, and miracles are my game.”) Under the canopy of the improvised “big top” of Westchester Broadway Theatre Director Ray Roderick delivers the spectacle and hyperbole of the greatest show on earth with a spectacle starring the one and only Phineas T. Barnum.
Joining the Circus: Tony Lawson as PT Barnum (center) with the energetic, daring ensemble at the finale of Barnum at the Westchester Broadway Theatre last night. Photo,Courtesy Westchester Broadway Theatre, By John Vecchiola
Tony Lawson (in the orginal role played by Jim Dale) as the Prince of Humbug, has you from his first song, There’s a Sucker Every Minute, when he decides to build his American Museum in Bridgeport, rather than join a clock factory. Lawson is the debonair quintessential bigger than life leading man, with bombast and charisma stirring memories of Robert Preston in The Music Man.
|
|
Mr. Lawson is complimented flawlessly by the enthralling contralto, Ann Van Cleave as his completely believable and practical inspiration, Chairy Barnum. (The Chairy role was played originally by Glenn Close.) Photo, Courtesy Westchester Broadway Theatre, By John Vecchiola.
Mr. Barnum’s world-famous attraction: the golden Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind is played with ethereal glow by the mesmerizing soprano, Allison Spratt. The comely Ms. Spratt has guile, pluck, earthiness and displays a well-timed Swedish accent. She creates a dazzling “Swedish” delight and distraction for the Master of Humbug himself. Her soprano soars operatically to the top of the Big Top.
Mr. Barnum is so smitten with Ms. Lind, he takes on a new specialty as an actor in this show towards the end of the first act that will be an adventure for the audience and Mr. Lawson every night. It’s very high. Very daring. He has no script, and well, you will just have to see how Mr. Lawson makes out the night you go see the show. It involves a patient Ms. Spratt as a pining Ms. Lind waiting and waiting and improvisation by Mr. Lawson as he attempts to join her – well, you just have to see him to see if he executes the bit. The audience really gets their moneys’ worth from Mr. Lawson in this stunt.
Scene-Setters
The calliope music piping the audience in to enjoy dinner for the show sets a circusy mood. The ceilings of the theatre are festooned with drapes of scarlet swales to give a big top tent atmosphere to the amphitheatre. The extra touch to the interior puts you in a circus mood, so when the “Ed McMahon of Westchester Broadway Theatre,” Steve Callaran welcomes you with his gifted way of pattering the announcements, you’re ready.
A mime appears and performs a talented balcony walk on the wooden ballustrade of the third row. Ken Lundie the musical director and John Daniels seat themselves at twin upright pianos and race into ragtime. The nonstop entertainment that “ “the circus” is known for begins.
Terri White gets the good times started with a comic turn and dance as Joice Heath, “The Oldest Woman,” whom Mr. Barnum turns into “George Washington’s Nurse” to turn a buck as an attraction. Ms.White’s pratfalls and scat singing of Thank God I’m Old follows up Lawson’s sucker number and just floors the audience.
Highlights of act one include the inspiring One Brick at a Time, where you have the plucky ensemble tossing bricks at each other. The duet between Lawson and Van Cleave, I Like Your Style, and The Colors of My Life get you comfortable with the characters and make you feel good about spousal appreciation.
Most amusing bit is Mr. Barnum’s negotiations with Tom Thumb the famous midget. How Mr. Thumb agrees to Mr. Barnum’s offer gets the biggest laugh of the night. Children will enjoy the Bigger Isn’t Better number by the hard-working Courter Simmons playing Tom Thumb, as he cavorts about the stage with men on stilts and thoroughly inspires the audience. He is reminiscent of Bobby the Old Mousketeer. (Man, Mr. and Mrs. White Plains, I am getting old.)
The spectacular entrance of Allison Spratt as Jenny Lind the opera beauty whom Barnum introduces to America, is sold totally by Ms. Spratt’s cool shocking beauty and not-so-innocent innocence that steals Mr. Barnum’s heart. Casting of both distaff leads in this show got the chemistry right. Photo, Courtesy WBT, By John Vecchiola.
Ms. Spratt’s timing and comedic Swedish accent when Barnum teaches her to greet American audiences with a Swedish “Ladies and Gentlemen” is smoothly done and stirs the audience with laughter. Then Ms. Spratt surprises all by hitting high notes worthy of Maria Callas. Ms. Spratt’s singing high opera while swinging on a swing of silken rope spun cleverly out of the back of her costume suspended by two of the ensemble is astonishing.
Ms. Spratt balances “no-hands” on just her svelte and shapely posterior 30 feet above the stage while belting out the real highs — a remarkable feat, as she sings her great show-stopper, Love Makes Such Fools of Us All.
Don’t try that at home, kids.
In Act II, the show rushes to a rousing finale after the tasteful departure of Ms. Lind and the equally uplifting manner in which the show treats Mr. Barnum’s loss of his wife during his brief fling at politics.
Blockbuster Finale
The show closes with one of the most crowded, frantic loudest finales befitting the circus as Mr. Barnum meets Mr. Bailey (James) and forms you know what. (Barnum & Bailey Circus.) The finale is dazzling, with acrobatic ensemblists descending from the rafters and catwalks into the audience; high wire specialists climbing and spinning to the top of the WBT big tent. The ensemble had to work out to do this show, because many perform acts requiring great strength and stamina. Try singing while suspending yourself from a rope sometime.
The set design by George Puello and Steve Loftus has created a lovely circus atmosphere by rendering a calliope backdrop to the set where the 9-person music ensemble sits in the open – a rarity for the WBT. The ropes and swings actors swoop down and in and out on appear quickly and flawlessly. Small props and starscapes denote slight changes of scene – but the audience is not bothered by it because after all they’re getting a circus here. The show needs to achieve a balance between the big sound of the ensemble and the microphones of the actors. Sometimes it was hard to make out the fast-talking lyrics, but that is a problem with every musical I have ever seen. Andrew Gosmer’s lighting design lent great exuberant atmosphere to the show, especially on Colors of My Life.
I have to laud the Ringmaster, Jonathan Brody, who keeps things moving with just the right “John Sterling”(Remember WCBS-TV’s The Big Top on Saturdays in the 1950s), voice, and heightens the expectations of the audience just like the circus does.
Barnum was a hit in 1982 and now it is a hit all over again. That is the charm of the WBT. When you go, you will never see a bad show. Plus you get the show, the dinner, all for the price of $70.
Part of the swank lobby of WBT is decorated for this show with circus memorabilia and posters to get you into the atmosphere of the circus. The management has created an historical showcase of pictures of the original P.T. Barnum and his wife, and Tom Thumb and family. It’s the kind of atmospheric touch – a homage — no other professional theatre I have been to takes the effort to create.
Barnum is playing the WBT “Big Top” nightly except Mondays, through July 8. The box office may be reached at 914-592-2222 or go to the WBT website, www.broadwaytheatre.com.
Like a circus, WBT’s Barnum is big, loud, unabashedly good natured. It tumbles engagingly out at you like a gang of puppy dogs and mischievous kittens. You gotta love it. The cast has such a good time (or appears to), that you’ll have a great time too. If your children have never seen a circus or a Broadway show, this is one to introduce them to a little bit of both. They’re not going to get antsy. The staid audience of Mr. and Mrs. Who’s Who of Westchester on Press Night applauded for a minute and a half.
Barnum, Westchester Broadway Theatre’s revival of the 10-Tony-nominated hit Cy Coleman musical of 26 years ago is a family show and brings to life the feel of the circus. There is no number you can ignore. The ensemble and characters trooping, flipping, balancing climbing into the spotlights and balancing on the rails of the tables, and energizing the stage hold your attention. (The ensemble is also very brave considering the stunts this show demands of them.)
If you bring children to see Barnum, they’ll want to join the theatre, the actors and actresses look like they are having so much fun. You’ll laugh at the sight gags, be amused at Ms. Van Cleave’s way to settle arguments with Mr. Lawson, and the show soars from beginning to the glorious jumping, cartwheeling, rope-climbing finale.
Now, if the show only had a live elephant. Beware of flying batons. Step right up ladies and gentlemen!
It’s a three-ring circus!
