ON THE TOWN (at Lyric Stage through June 8th)
is essentially the familiar MGM movie musical which showcased stars Gene Kelly
and Frank Sinatra as sailors out to conquer New York City in just twenty four hours. (MGM
smartly financed the Broadway musical in return for the movie rights. Both the
show and the film were hits—and their creators, Leonard Bernstein, Jerome
Robbins and the songwriters, Comden and Green became Broadway royalty.)
It’s an impossible task to duplicate the
exuberance of the movie but the Lyric Stage production has its moments, namely
when the women in the story are on the hunt. Back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, ladies (so
they say) would swoon over “a man in uniform.” These women not only swoon, they
swoop in on their targets with military precision. Poor Phil Tayler (in the
Sinatra role) doesn’t stand a chance when Michele A. DeLuca (as the cab driving
dynamo) wages a no holds barred romantic assault. She’s a force of nature.
She’s delightful and she “Can Cook Too!”
Aimee Doherty, as well, gets “Carried Away”
with Zachary Eisenstat in her sights. Director Spiro Veloudos knows how to
stage a romp so when the third sailor (John Ambrosino) decides to track down
the gorgeous girl (Lauren Gemelli) on a subway poster, they all join in on the
naval exercise. Along the way they meet Sara deLima, who specializes in “dilly”
roles (and this one has the name on it!) and J.T. Turner as Doherty’s extremely
(but not always) patient fiancé. Ilyse Robbins does double duty as DeLuca’s
dowdy roommate and as choreographer (not an easy task on a stage as small as
Lyric’s).
Jonathan Goldberg’s orchestra swings and
Seaghan McKay’s New York projections do the trick to get us in a ‘40s mood but
it’s the subway sounds and moving train “lights” (Scott Clyve, lighting
designer) which impressed me the most. A simple rapid passage of rectangular
blocks of light and you’re instantly transported to the “hole in the ground.” I
never tire of theatrical magic.