On Broadway with Patrick Honoré

Patrick Honoré has been giving his regards to Broadway…

Harmony – Barrymore Theatre ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The latest edition to the Broadway line-up is the first Broadway transfer of Barry Manilow’s Off-Broadway production of Harmony in 2022 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, delivering entertainment as well as opening up a page of history that never should have been forgotten: the story of the comedian harmonists during the rise of Nazi Germany. 

Brilliantly directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, it has a perfect cast, with the great Julie Benko and Sierra Boggess standing out in the only main female roles in an otherwise almost all-male cast. As the narrator, Broadway veteran Chip Zien excels, and the multi-talented comedian-harmonist sextet composed of Sean Bell, Danny Kornfield, Zal Owen, Eric Peters, Blake Roman and Steven Telsey is not only impressive vocally but quite competent in the dancing department as well. 

Bruce Sussman’s lyrics are both light and dramatic in Act II and his book is of the classic style. As for Manilow’s music, it’s tuneful and hummable, with the ballad ‘Every Single Day’ at times recalling ‘Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables. In today’s world of reimagined, revived and immersive productions, it is a thrill to have a new old-fashioned musical not based on a famous movie or featuring a pop score for a change, with a strong score composed and arranged by Manilow, whose only produced musical so far has been Copacabana in the West End in 1994 after debuting in Atlantic City. 

Spamalot – St James Theatre ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Back on Broadway for the first time in almost 20 years, the transfer of the Kennedy Center production of Spamalot, in sync with the French revival at the Théâtre de Paris, arrives as a polished surefire crowd-pleaser. A stellar cast includes James Monroe Iglehart as King Arthur, Leslie Rodriguez as the Lady of the Lake, the spectacular Taran Killam as Lancelot, and, in multiple roles, Christopher Fitzgerald, Ethan Slater and Broadway veteran Michael Urie. 

Impeccably choreographed and directed by Josh Rhodes, with associate choreographer Charlie Sutton, Spamalot might not be a masterpiece, but it is well-fitted for these grim times and still allows for good laughs away from today’s overbearing political correctness, especially in the hilariously number ‘You Won’t Succeed on Broadway’, the original lyrics of which are preserved unlike in many international productions.

Here Lies Love – Broadway Theatre ★ ★ ★ ★

Sadly already closed after 33 previews and only 149 performances, the transfer of the Off-Broadway hit at the Public in 2013, starring Ruthie Ann Miles and directed by Alex Timbers, and the sold-out London 2014 Olivier-nominated production at the National Theatre, Here Lies Love struggled to find an audience on Broadway. Placing a dance floor front and centre in the Broadway Theatre with the entire orchestra section removed and the first mezzanine becoming the first row, required a major overhaul, resulting in a quite unique and thrillingly immersive experience, and one which must have been quite an expensive endeavour. 

The entire Filippino cast, headed by the fantastic Arielle Jacobs as the wife of president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, played by the equally multi-talented Jose Llana, worked very hard to bring to life this Asian variation on Evita, though the score by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim may not have been quite on par with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s. The fact that it also glamorised a controversial political figure might have had something to do with its failure. For all its talent and production values, including that of the great Lea Salonga, serving as producer and playing Aurora Aquino before leaving for London to appear in Sondheim’s Old Friends, the show surely deserved a longer run. 

Pal Joey – New York City Center ★ ★ ★ ★

The New York City Encores! series seems to have shifted from re-creating lost musicals to reinventing classic musicals, which is a good thing and a bad thing, as their original aim was more to preserve and uphold than to reimagine. 

The original production of Pal Joey was in 1940 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, which was a stepping stone to Hollywood for the great Gene Kelly, choreographed by MGM’s Robert Alton and directed by veteran George Abbott. It also featured the real-life Baby June from Gypsy, June Havoc, with future director Stanley Donen and movie star Van Johnson in the chorus, and boosted a great score by Rodgers and Hart. It played for only 374 performances, perhaps because it was considered too risqué, with most of the songs banned from the radio until the early 1950s, notably the standard ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’. 

A more successful revival in 1952 already featured Bob Fosse as understudy to Harold Lang as Joey, a part he played 11 years later in the first City Center revival, which must have been something special at the time, considering his underrated dance abilities and similarity in personality with the character! 

The 1957 movie also had perfect casting in the person of Frank Sinatra in the role of Joey, Kim Novak as Linda English and the fabulous Rita Hayworth playing Vera Simpson. Just like this new Encores! revival, it used older standards from the Rodgers and Hart catalogue instead of some of those from the score, but its weakness lay in the almost total absence of dancing. 

The first Encores! in 1995 starred Peter Gallagher and Patti LuPone, with Bebe Neuwirth as the reporter. It didn’t take any liberties with the original, whereas this new edition had a new book by Richard LaGravenese and Daniel Beaty, even adding a new character, Lucille Wallace, created for Jennifer Holliday but eventually played by the no less charismatic Loretta Devine. The song ’Zip’ was performed as a comedy number by the always excellent Brooks Ashmanskas as Melvin Snyder.

As Joey, Ephraim Sykes was more confident in the singing and dancing departments but lacked necessary depth for the character. Aisha Jackson delivered the most spectacular vocals as Linda, but the evening belonged to Elizabeth Stanley, playing Vera with Rita Hayworth’s glamour, really acting the part and belting the songs out, especially in ‘Bewitched’ and ‘I Didn’t Know What Time It Was’. 

As always now, we were treated to a full production with scenic design by Derek McLane, costumes by Emilio Sosa and lighting by Jon Goldman, but these didn’t really make up for the pedestrian choreography by Savion Glover, also co-directing with Tony Goldwyn, who clearly did a better job with the Shuffle Along revival on Broadway. 

The arrangements and new orchestrations by Daryl Waters may have put off the purists but, apart from the fact that most verses such as those of ‘My Funny Valentine’ and ‘The Lady is a Tramp’ were sadly omitted, they did bring a new jazz vibe which fitted with the new book transposing the narrative into the jazz milieu, giving a new colour to the Rodgers and Hart catalogue. A cast recording would be more than welcome as a companion to this controversial but still pleasing and overall satisfying new take on Pal Joey.