'Honeymoon in Vegas' is season's surprise hit

HUNKA HUNKS OF BURNING LOVE: David Josefsberg (center) & a chorus of Elvis impersonators in ‘Honeymoon in Vegas.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

HONEYMOON IN VEGAS
Book by Andrew Bergman
Music & lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Directed by Gary Griffin
Nederlander Theatre, 208 West 41st Street
(877-250-2929), www.honeymoonbroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

Old-school Las Vegas is always portrayed with shameless romanticism. Although the glittering city of slot machines, showgirls and mobsters in the 1960s has been mined in countless movies and books, it has never been depicted quite like anything in this entertaining musical stage adaptation of the 1992 Nicholas Cage/Sarah Jessica Parker movie Honeymoon in Vegas, now on Broadway after a successful stint at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. As a musical, the show works, with plot-propelling songs and the razzle-dazzle production numbers and glittery costumes one would expect from a story set in Vegas.

Rob McClure (best known to Broadway audiences for his role in the tepid, ill-fated Chaplin back in 2012) is merely serviceable as Jack Singer, the proverbial putz who has been dating sexy Betsy (the beautiful and winsome Brynn O’Malley) for five years. As a leading man, Mr. McClure has all the appeal of a stale old piece of toast.

Jack is haunted by the deathbed declaration of his late mother, Bea (Nancy Opel), a cartoonish, nagging Jewish mama. She tells him he must show he only loves her in the song “Never Get Married.” However, Jack defies his dead mama’s wishes and takes Betsy to Las Vegas and plans to marry her.

Honeymoon in Vegas is mired in stereotypes, of course, but what story about Vegas isn’t? Tony Danza’s Tommy Korman, the aging “boss” of the Strip, is still mourning the loss of his beloved wife, a big-haired bimbo whose penchant for reading trashy Sidney Sheldon novels while lying in the sun slathered in coconut oil resulted in an early death from skin cancer. Betsy just happens to be a dead ringer for Tommy’s late wife, so one can guess what eventually happens when he meets her.

Danza’s Tommy is the villain here—Jack faces a tough choice after losing Betsy in a poker game to the guy—but we root for him far more than Jack. With his heavy New York accent and debonair gangster stage presence, Tommy is equal parts Tony Banta from his iconic role on “Taxi,” with many shades of Sinatra. Mr. Danza is total smarmy charm throughout the show, from a winning tap-dance number to such cheesy solo ballads as “Come to An Agreement.”

The story travels from Vegas to Hawaii as Jack tries to win back Betsy and the narrative becomes even more preposterous. Is it a problem when one finds the antagonist in a musical more fascinating than the hero? Does it matter? After all, this a show based on a film perhaps most famous for a scene showing a group of Elvis impersonators skydiving out of a plane. That scene is reproduced with hilarious results here, complete with the number “Airport Song,” and lyrics about how every plane that isn’t nonstop always has to connect through Atlanta.

Don’t come to Honeymoon in Vegas expecting high art or great choreography (the dance moves by Denis Jones are energetic but pedestrian). However, there is a lot to love if you’re a fan of the movie. Even if you’re not, it is rare to find a show like this, with a full orchestra, a gorgeous overture (complete with musicians jamming onstage), a catchy score and glitzy costumes. The musical is colorful and high-spirited enough to lift almost anyone out of the midwinter doldrums.