42nd Street Moon's production of Do I Hear a Waltz? — which has a very short run in the Eureka Theater, closing on Oct. 19 — has some delightful surprises, beginning with a personal one.
Seeing the rarely performed musical for the first time refuted my belief that I have seen or heard everything Stephen Sondheim has written. His 1965 lyrics to Richard Rodgers' fair-to-middling music have flashes of brilliance that would be fully realized in a few years, with Company (1970), Follies (1971), and A Little Night Music (1973).
Not quite with the depth of the latter works, Sondheim was already clever and amusing in Waltz, as shown in his ode to airline food:
The shiny stuff is tomatoes,
The salad lies in a group,
The curly stuff is potatoes,
The stuff that moves is soup.
Anything that is white is sweet,
Anything that is brown is meat,
Anything that is gray — don't eat.
But what do we do? We fly!
The lighthearted lyrics clash with the darker mood of Arthur Laurents' book — from his The Time of the Cuckoo, on which the film Summertime is based, about a lonely American's thwarted romance on an Italian holiday — even when Sondheim turns more realistic/caustic why unattained wedded bliss may not be all it's advertised:
Honey Bunch, sad to say but I have a hunch
Screen romances went out-to-lunch — that's no reason to pout.
Don't look bleak — happy endings can spring a leak,
'Ever after can mean one week.
Surprise No. 2 is that unlike the usual hype when a small theater company features a "famous Broadway star," artistic and stage director Greg MacKellan's company really hit the jackpot with Emily Skinner in the "Katharine Hepburn role" of Leona Samish. Skinner's exceptional musical performance and winning stage presence drives the show, which — unsurprisingly for 42nd Street Moon — has an all-around fine cast, and Dave Dobrusky's solid musical direction and piano accompaniment.
Tyler McKenna is the exotic Venetian dreamboat-to-be, who turns out to lack such essential requirements for Leona's fantasy as being single. McKenna is a convincing suitor and manages to be both cool under pressure and warm to the demanding American, "who thinks too much." He uses an actor's voice better than many singers in musical numbers.
Dogs, ponies, and children always pose an unfair competition to anyone on stage, but fifth-grader Jonah Broscow, in the role of the juvenile hustler guiding and exploiting tourists, is more than merely cute: he is quite terrific.
Company producing director Stephanie Rhoads is perfect in every way, except for an Italian accent that comes and goes, as the manager and resident seducer of the penzione where the action takes place.
Lucinda Hitchcock Cone (a cheeful American tourist) and Taylor Bartolucci (the sole, wacky staff of the hotel) are comic delights. Nikita Burshteyn, David Naughton, Michael Rhone, and Abby Sammons all do great in the tight ensemble performance director MacKellan has created.
Why is Waltz part of Forgotten/Neglected Broadway? The conflict between original author, composer, and lyricist left the structure and "message" of the musical that seems uncertain, incomplete. Perhaps an even bigger problem is that in Rodgers' breathtaking oeuvre of 43 Broadway musicals and 900 songs, this one does not occupy a special place.
Still, the music is pleasant, the production and lyrics are excellent, and there is only the rest of this week to do what I am glad to have done and cross it off your musical bucket list.