‘The Front Page’ star-studded but dated

THE FRONT PAGE
Written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Through January 29, 2017
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), http://thefrontpagebroadway.com/

By David NouNou

When you have a cast that includes Nathan Lane, John Slattery, John Goodman, Jefferson Mays, Robert Morse, Holland Taylor and Sherie Rene Scott, it hardly matters what the play is about. The people are paying to see the cast, not necessarily the show. Hence the capacity business.

Written in 1931 and set in 1928 in a press room of the Criminal Courts Building, in Chicago, Ben Hecht writing The Front Page in collaboration with his partner, Charles MacArthur, is writing of his early days as a journalist. He wrote for the Chicago Daily Journal, among others. The story centers on journalists trying to find the latest dirt or gossip that is going on around town. On this particular day they are trying to get a scoop on Earl Williams (John Magaro), a white man and supposed Communist revolutionary convicted on charges of killing a black policeman. While Williams is being given a psychological test, he shoots the examiner and flees jail.

Walter Burns (Nathan Lane), head of the Herald Examiner, is looking for his head writer, Hildy Johnson, (John Slattery) to get the scoop on the escape. Hildy has quit the paper and is off to New York with his fiancée, Peggy Grant (Halley Feiffer) and her mother, Mrs. Grant (Holland Taylor). He has come back to say good-bye to his cronies for the last time and get his money from Walter and take off. Complications arise that hold him back from leaving, especially the escape of Earl Williams from prison. What a final scoop?

The storyline is interesting enough, but is verbose and way too long. The show runs almost three hours (has two intermissions) and a lot of things are repeated. Shows of the 1930s and 1940s were usually three hours and not the 90 minutes we are used to today. Although The Front Page is a comedy, it lacks a lot of humor. The humor arises in Mr. Lane’s antics. The subject matter was considered serious, so the humor is at a minimum and what there is of the humor seems dated and the journalists are stereotypes. All sorts of journalistic lingo of the day is flying around, journalists running in and out, giving their scoops to their editors over the phone. Yes, those were the days when they phoned in their story; no emails, texts, none of today’s conveniences.

The story moves along and the performances are all fine and genuine. However, the main reason to see the show, Nathan Lane, doesn’t even enter until near the end of Act II. When he finally enters, the speed of the show picks up from 35 miles an hour to 65. Mr. Lane entertains us with his high-strung mercurial speeches and manners–and we have come to love and appreciate each and every one of them, of his utterances, nuances and movements–and once he arrives, the play finally picks up speed and becomes enjoyable. The performance that Lane is giving is wonderful as usual, but he has done this performance hundreds of times, yet who cares? It moves the play along. The rest of the cast are all fine and they all give exact (if not stereotypical) performances.

Unfortunately for this play, journalism has taken such a turn; it was revered once and held as gospel. Look at journalism today and the mockery that is going on in the elections; it has hit a new low. Instead of interesting subject matters or viable candidates, networks and journalists select a candidate who gets ratings. Although it is a good revival, it is hard to get involved in the storyline, as something is missing: Salaciousness.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 20, 2016

‘THE FRONT PAGE”: John Goodman. Photo: © Julieta Cervantes