No doubt many people in the audience for Goodspeed Musicals' triumphant new production of the Cy Coleman (music), David Zippel (lyrics) and Larry Gelbart (book) musical, "City of Angels" were unfamiliar with this Tony-Award winning show. Following its Broadway engagement ended in 1991 and its national tour wrapped in 1992, it has been seldom revived, except in a few concert versions, and has hardly been a staple of the regional theater or high school musical scene.
After all, it's not the easiest musical to stage. In its story about the writing of a "film noir" potboiler in late 1940's Hollywood, the musical slides quickly between scenes in color, which relate the screenwriter's adventures within the film industry, and black and white, which depict the actions within the screenplay itself. Plus there are an unusual amount of scene changes, 21 in the first act and 19 in the second, not to mention Coleman's snazzy jazz-influenced score which requires musicians who are savvy in that genre.
But after getting the Cotton Blossom to dock on the Goodspeed Opera House stage earlier this season in their revelatory staging of "Show Boat," was there any doubt that the Goodspeed team could capture the sweep and cinematic feel of "City of Angels?"
And as is fitting for a theater dedicated to the preservation and development of the American musical, they don't miss a beat, conveying the excitement contained in the music and stressing the laugh-out-loud humor in Larry Gelbart's ("M*A*S*H," "Tootsie" "Oh God!" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum") genuinely funny book. If you've ever been curious about the definition of the term "merry making," then you couldn't get a better definition than this Goodspeed production.
At the helm of "City of Angels" is newly-minted Connecticut resident Darko Tresnjak, who this summer took over the reins at the Hartford Stage Company. Known for his inventive stagings of Shakespeare and for a number of wistfully serious musicals at Goodspeed ("Carnival," "A Little Night Music," and "Amour"), Tresnjak here reveals a gift for satire, irony and some carefully placed sight gags that wonderfully pay off. But his chief accomplishment has been to figure out how to accommodate the complex demands of the show to the confines of the Goodspeed stage.
In the original Broadway production, a show curtain was deployed across the front of the stage which could open and close like a camera shutter to focus on the various scenes as they were performed at multiple locations all across the large stage. Here, Tresnjak and set designer David P. Gordon have come up with an ingenious solution: their set is essentially a large triptych whose three panels divide the stage into three parts, with clean white vertical blinds going up and down to allow scenery to be introduced through each panel. For the script scenes, Gordon has created marvelous art deco looks in various shades of black and white, while deploying a bright and occasionally jarring color scheme for the Hollywood-based studio scenes. He has been aided significantly by John Lasiter's exquisite lighting, which can be brash and overly cheery for the color sections while understated and even sinister for the black and white parts. And just every so often, without spoiling too much of some nifty little surprises, he is called upon to allow a single set to serve both "worlds."
Tracy Christensen had the challenge of creating two sets of costumes, ones that would work in color and ones that would look good in a black and white environment. Thus we see a series of trenchcoats, dark hats, grey suits, white turbans and silver furs in some scenes, with bright green zoot suits, tan pants and slinky red dresses in others. It's clear that she had fun in creating these outfits, which never veer toward the outlandish, but often offer clever commentary on the character's actions and motives.
As his leading men, Tresnjak has cast two excellent singing actors who quickly develop characters that we can root for. D. B. Bonds is Stine, the first-time screenwriter who is trying to adapt his successful novel to meet the commercial demands of the studio. While he conveys Stine's intelligence and literacy with an assured masculinity, he also lets us see his naivete about the ways of Hollywood and his easy susceptibility to the industry's temptations. He's certainly not a flawless character, but despite his indiscretions, the limber Bonds makes him believable and attractive.
Burke Moses, who many remember from Goodspeed's "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" brings a natural stolidity to Stone, the detective character in Stine's book and screenplay, who balances the accustomed cynicism of a classic film noir detective with an endearing subtle wink. Moses allows us to see the patsy as well as the reluctant hero who recognizes that he should not be involved in this case, but what else is a hungry gumshoe to do? Although the songs are pretty much divided up between all of the cast, Moses and Bond score well together on the delicious first act closer "You're Nothing Without Me," one of the all-time great male duets in the Broadway musical, as the writer and his creation clash over just who is in control.
As per Gelbart's clever script, the other principals play corresponding roles in both plot lines. The effectively effervescent Nancy Anderson is at once Oolie, the wisecracking, long-suffering girl Friday to Stone's detective as well as Donna, the loyal yet ambitious assistant to studio boss Buddy Fidler who gets romantically and creatively involved with Stine. Anderson excels as playing such knowing, world-weary creatures and she does justice to both parts. Liz Pearce definitely knows how to be alluring as femme fatale Alura Kingsley whose tight white coat opens to reveal an even tighter white dress which helps to her lure Stone into agreeing to find her missing stepdaughter. Pearce also doubles as Buddy's wife who is not merely the typical trophy wife but a determined woman who knows how to maneuver the motion picture minefield.
Jay Russell is spot-on amusing as the exasperating, annoying and irritating studio boss, Buddy, who's used to steam rolling over everyone and everything in his path and as Irving S. Irving, an even more despotic Hollywood mogul who's ruthlessly killed off in Stine's novel . Laurie Wells exhibits a clear, strong voice as Gabby, Stine's neglected wife, and as Bobbi, Stone's long-lost love who has seen better days. Wells' Gabby and Anderson's Oolie deliver a great duet, "What You Don't Know About Women," in the first act, that as staged by Tresnjak enables the two characters, who are from different plot lines, to sing and inconspicuously interact. Wells' angry, knowing Gabby also gets a clever number, "It Needs Work," which is more about her relationship with her husband than the draft he wants her to review.
Jeffrey David Sears brings a fine tenor and boyish good looks to the disingenuous pop music sensation Jimmy Powers, who is backed by the exquiste harmonies of a quartet of 40's style singers, the Angel City Four, Mick Bleyer, Adam West Hemming, Vanessa Parvin, and Sierra Rein, who have previously performed together as part of MarqueeFive. Kathleen Rooney does double duty as an untrustworthy heiress who sets Stone up for a fall and as an ambitious starletIn a cast where virtually every member of the ensemble play a variety of specific roles, a few are memorable thanks to some clever staging by Tresnjak. The lurking Jerry Gallagher and the diminutive Spencer Rowe garner laughs as Big Six and Sonny, two thugs who are a lesson in contrasts. Michael Keyloun is amusing as the hapless Dr. Mandril, who even as a corpse provides essential service in a dance number.
While there was hardly any dancing in the Broadway production of "City of Angels," Tresnjak and choreographer Jennifer Paulson Lee enhance the show's opening prologue with a zoot-suited ensemble whose neatly slithering motions establish the time and place before the show begins. Some dancing has also been incorporated into some of the musical numbers as well--including that fun scene in the morgue--not to mention the carefully planned movement that keeps the action moving in key crowd scenes.
A great deal of credit must also go to Shawn Boyle who has devised an amazing array of projections that accompany virtually every scene in the show, adding atmosphere and motion to an evening that almost never seems to stop moving. The only misstep would be a glowing sunset-style image at the end of the first act that resembles the Japanese rising sun (this is right after World War II, remember).
"City of Angels" is an excellent cap to a Goodspeed Opera House season that has showcased the ingenuity of some of the finest artists working in musical theater today. And if this level of care and preparation are indicative of what director Tresnjak is capable of accomplishing, then that gives us all the more reason to anticipate great things from his artistic leadership at Hartford Stage.
"City of Angels" plays through November 27 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam. Curtain times are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (with select performances at 2:00 p.m.), Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m., with select performances at 6:30 p.m. Thanksgiving week performances are Monday, November 21 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Friday, November 25 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Saturday, November 26 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday, November 27 at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (final performance). For tickets, contact the Box Office at 860.873.8668 or visit the Goodspeed Musicals' website.
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