Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Theater Review: The Will Rogers Follies

By John Garcia of The Column

You know, as I sat in the audience watching this "life in revue" musical on comic/corn poke philosopher Will Rogers, it occurred to me. Do younger generations even know who this man is anymore? Mass media today is a bloated beast that saturates the public nonstop. So you have to wonder if a celebrity from the golden age of entertainment still rings any memory bells to those under the age of 30 (like me. No comment from the peanut gallery).

Garland Summer Musicals is mounting for the third time this musical tale about the life and career of this Cowboy with a rope who is an Oklahoma native. The Will Rogers Follies opened on Broadway at the Palace Theater in May of 1991. This Comden & Green musical would run for 991 performances, closing in September 1993.

The production received 11 Tony nominations, winning six awards, including Best Score and Best Musical. The nominees that year were Miss Saigon, Once on This Island and The Secret Garden. Fun fact here, guess who originated the role of the naked Indian who danced on the massive drum? That was none other than future Broadway choreographer/Director Jerry Mitchell. Recent credits for him include Legally Blonde, Hairspray, and Never Gonna Dance.

It was during his run of Follies that the idea of Broadway Bares was born as well! That idea for BC/EFA has now become one of the nation's biggest charity events for this cause. All because the idea of dancing for cash naked popped into Mitchell's head one night as he danced in a leather thong in front of tourists at the Palace Theater.

Sadly, this would be the last musical created by Texas native Tommy Tune for Broadway. Tune directed and choreographed WRF, winning Tonys for his Choreography and direction in the process. Tune in fact opened Follies while his other critical hit, Grand Hotel was playing at the Martin Beck Theater (later transferring to the Gershwin). He attempted to bring Buskers Alley (which I saw during its out of town tryout) to Broadway, but sadly he broke his foot. It was to open at the St. James, where they painted a massive poster of the show's logo on the side of its building, only to never open there.

I saw the original production of WRF on Broadway in 1991, then just a year later the first national tour with Keith Carradine (who originated the lead role on Broadway, earning a Tony nod); then a second national tour with Country singer Mac Davis. I have also seen the second mounting by GSM back a few years ago. After viewing this show that many times now, the musical has lost a little of its spark and glow.

Peter Stone's book struggles at times to keep hold of the audience's interest. It is a clever idea to have Rogers's life told as a big, glitzy Ziegfeld extravaganza. Complete with leggy showgirls, huge headdresses and even a specialty act thrown in. But it has no major conflict or dramatic arc. Everything that is painful and dark is turned into a "Disney" moment. Such as the struggles within the Rogers's marriage, the death of the youngest child, and so on. It is only when the great depression hits America is when the piece shows organic reality.

Comden & Green's score contains some terrific numbers, especially when it comes to the big company numbers. I still enjoy hearing such numbers as "Will-a-mania"; "Our Favorite Son"; "Presents for Mrs. Rogers"; and "Powder Puff Ballet". But as time has trekked on by, some songs have become a little lifeless and unmemorable, such as "Give a Man Enough Rope"; and the family song "The Big Time". Too sugar coated for my tastes.

Garland Summer Musicals once again has duplicated a lot of the Broadway's original concepts onto their stage, and the majority of the time they got it right on the nose. Kelly Cox has designed the same towering staircase that was used in the original. They are trimmed in rows of sparkling lights and has this iridescent paper or material on each staircase that reflects beautifully under the lights. Julie Simmons has sparkling fun with her splashy, colorful lighting design. There are special gobos that add pizzazz onto the stage.

Once again Chris Robinson has brought his multimedia talents to create magic on the stage. For the opening, he designed a moving starburst that creates the show's logo all in sync with the overture. For the finale he created a film montage of the real Rogers and his career that helps tie the whole evening into a nice bow. But my favorite creation by Robinson was during the solo "Look Around". The backdrop is vast, barren wasteland, but as the song's lyrics talk about trees, forests, greenery, the backdrop soon becomes a gorgeous land full of lush grass and trees, topped off with a purple hued sundown.

The majority of the choreography is taken from the original Broadway production, which was recreated here by Eddie Floresca & Robinson. Now don't get me wrong, I am a big, big Tommy Tune fan when it comes to his dazzling, unique, and eye-popping choreography. But now that I have seen this musical several times, it would have been fun to tackle the choreography with fresh new eyes and dance. The choreography here is still visually fun to watch, it's just that I would have preferred to see something new, fresh, and original. Nonetheless, the big company numbers that have Tune stamped on them earned loud applause from the audience Saturday night.

Kudos to Director Buff Shurr who created his staging and blocking wonderfully around that never-ending staircase. His use of the entire stage is used to sturdy effect here, and it shows. The staging and blocking is clean and purposeful. Anyone who can keep clean lines, no sight problems, etc. on a big ole staircase and still create terrific picture windows earns a gold star in my book!

The large orchestra sounds marvelous (though they did overpower the soloists a couple of times) under the direction of Maestro Jeff Crouse. The score comes truly alive and vigorous, sounding a lot of the time like the actual cast recording. Crouse was completely in sync with the cast, directing his orchestra with pristine musicianship. There were a couple of times when the soloist on stage jumped ahead or got behind tempo, but Crouse easily and softly directed his talented orchestra to catch up and put the performer and music back on track. That's a real pro in that orchestra pit!

This is such a rare experience in musical theater around the metroplex, which is why I am such a dedicated fan of GSM. They will put 15 to 20 musicians in their orchestra. That doesn't happen that much around town folks. Now most theater companies use a small, tiny combo band of 4 to 5 musicians. Alas though, the expenses are why theater companies cannot afford to buy for large orchestras.

On the GSM stage it is a large company that is in this production; suffice to say the ensemble of talented ladies who make up the "Ziegfeld girls" do a divine job of dancing and singing. They all look quite fetching on stage.

I was particularly impressed with Alex Mancha as the Indian warrior on the large drum. He held his body with an aura of respect and dignity, and danced beautifully on the large set piece. I just wished he wore a more reflective and appropriate costume than the leather pants contraption. It looked too big for him and seemed to confine some of his movement. Nonetheless, Mancha did a terrific job as this dance soloist.

Maurice Johnson, Todd Aragon, Toph McRae, Keith Warren, and Mr. Mancham portray the wranglers who back up Rogers. They all did fine, but special mention does go to Aragon who shined in the dancing & Johnson who belted those crystal clean tenor notes.

Also providing performances that the audience responded to enthusiastically include John Willis as "Clem Rogers"; Nicole Granville as "Zigfeld's favorite" (loved her sequined boots!); and Hamp Holcomb as "Wiley Post".

Patti Granville has portrayed "Betty Blake" in all three incarnations of GSM's WRF. Her co-star Jim Green grasps the lasso for a second spin as "Rogers". This time around I noticed some marvelous chemistry between both performers. They were relaxed and displayed honest affection for each other.

Ms. Granville provides this sunny disposition to the character that you can't help put a smile that grows on your face when she is on stage. Her best musical moment comes in the torch song, "No Man Left For Me". She gives the song the right amount of sass, but also the song hits right in her vocal range. Thereby giving her a solid number that was met with loud applause when she finished.

As "Will Rogers", Jim Green did seem to struggle with lines in the first Act. Unfortunately due to line flubs and trips (nerves maybe?), some of the jokes in the first long monologue fell flat. But in his defense he had a tough audience that took a long while to warm up to the show. That tends to happen to Saturday night audiences.

But the second act is when Mr. Green shined brightly and carried the show with such authority and bravado. His finest musical song was the soft, quiet ballad "Look Around". It was simple, melodic, and Green poured heartfelt emotion into the lyrics. Green also achieved resounding success with the final monologue. It takes place when he has to follow President Hoover at a radio address to the nation on the day that wall street crashed and the depression was born.

As "Rogers", Green digs deeply into the lines and outpours compassion and confusion about our country and its problems. But so much of what he says in this final monologue is so reflective today. It does make you think twice -- as Green so vividly displays in his acting -- that our nation and politicians have not learned a damn thing after all these years on fixing our crisis. Talk about art imitating life!

This splashy, glitzy, glittery bauble that Garland Summer Musicals has created only has one more weekend to perform, so grab those tickets now! I've said this once, and I'll say it again. For a local theater company to mount and produce such big musicals like this in the way that they need to be done is rare. Big sets, lots of lights, lots of sequins and feathers, lines of dancing girls, and a huge orchestra. That hardly is done locally anymore, which again I salute GSM! As a fanatic of musical theater, I relish GSM within our artistic theatrical community!

GRADE: B+

The Will Rogers Follies runs through August 3 and you can call the Box Office at 972-205-2790 for tickets.

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