On the Twentieth Century – Roundabout Theatre Company – American Airlines Theatre, New York

Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of On the Twentieth Century at the American Airlines Theatre, New York. Picture: Joan Marcus

On the Twentieth Century continues at Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre, New York until 5 July.

Star rating: 5 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Roundabout Theatre Company has made its revival of On the Twentieth Century quite a luxe journey. From the smashing sets and glamorous costumes to the perfect casting headed by the diminutive Broadway goddess Kristin Chenoweth and heartthrob-cum-comic Peter Gallagher, the production smacks of nothing is too good… or too expensive. It seems to cry out: ‘Let me entertain you,’ and it succeeds beautifully.

This is the first Broadway revival of this musical, which originally opened in 1978 to run for 449 performances. It was adapted from a 1932 play, Twentieth Century, by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, which a couple of years later became a classic movie comedy and still later saw revivals on both Broadway and television. The Hecht-MacArthur play itself was a rewrite of an earlier piece by a fellow named Charles Bruce Millholland. That probably falls under the category of ‘too much information’. What’s pertinent to the musical is that it has a determinedly frothy book and top-drawer smart-alec lyrics by the masterful team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green and lots of gleaming operetta-style music by Cy Coleman.

The Twentieth Century of the title, as I’m sure you know, does not refer to a recent 100-year period of time. Rather it’s the name of a real-life train that went at crack speeds from Chicago to New York in the heyday of railroad travel. It was often loaded with red-carpet celebrities making the last leg of their journey to the Big Apple from Los Angeles.

On the trip depicted in the show, the passengers include the legendary theatrical producer Oscar Jaffee, enacted with non-stop vaingloriousness by Gallagher, and his severely estranged one-time love and star Lily Garland nee Mildred Plotka, now a favourite of the silver screen, portrayed with irresistible comic effervescence by Chenoweth.

Jaffee is on his way back to New York, having just closed in Chicago his latest in a series of career-wrecking flops. Learning that Garland is also on the train, he sets in motion a scheme to get her name on a contract as a lure to win financing for a new production. It won’t be easy. In addition to her long-standing aversion to Jaffee, Garland is involved with her empty-headed but persistent and muscle-bound movie co-star by the name of Bruce Granit. Andy Karl – apparently recovered from whatever disappointment he felt with the abrupt closing of Rocky, in which he played the title role – rips into the role of Granit with relish, embroidering it with great physical hijinks.

Adding to the plot is an eccentric evangelistic lady who is busy surreptitiously posting stickers proclaiming ‘Repent’ all over the train, while also declaring herself as the possessor of great wealth which she will use to back Jaffee’s next venture. (Don’t look for plausibility here; just sit back and enjoy.) The character is played with delectable antique darlingness by Mary Louise Wilson, and could be a show-stealer if it weren’t for the high-wattage of the other players inhabiting the stage.

Also adding to that wattage are Mark Linn-Baker and Michael McGrath as Jaffee’s wise-cracking sidekicks. And finally, there are the four all-dancing, all-singing train porters: Rick Faugno, Richard Riaz Yoder, Phillip Attmore and Drew King. They open both the first and second acts with galvanising tap routines and weave in an out of the action as a connecting thread.

They are all directed by Scott Ellis with an ‘anything – and everything – for a laugh’ attitude that manages to stay bubbly throughout. Warren Carlyle’s clever choreography adds immeasurably to the frivolity, both in several big production numbers and in intricate movement designed for the smaller musical passages.

The show’s score, played lushly by a 13-piece pit orchestra, boasts no breakout songs, but it’s an ear-tickling delight. Coleman’s operetta-like infusions give Chenoweth numerous opportunities to let loose with her battery of high notes, always astounding coming from her curvaceous but pixie-like stature. Those notes fill the theatre gloriously in her solos and glisten gorgeously in duets against Gallagher’s stentorian yet romantic baritone. She also has a grand time attacking the comic possibilities in the Garland role with an emphatically non-pixie-like ferocity.

On the Twentieth Century is scheduled for a limited engagement ending 5 July, but Roundabout’s obvious investment in this show might well belie that date. In particular, there are David Rockwell’s sumptuous sets and the seemingly endless array of swanky 1930s period clothes for the ensemble and glitter garb for Chenoweth, designed by William Ivey Long.

I wouldn’t be surprised if On the Twentieth Century kept running well into this 21^st century, the Roundabout’s production of Cabaret, now wrapping up its second successful run on Broadway.

Ron Cohen

www.roundabouttheatre.org

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