‘NEW YORK, NEW YORK’: Colton Ryan & Anna Uzele. Photo: Paul Kolnik.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Music & lyrics by John Kander & Fred Ebb
Additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Written by David Thompson
Co-written by Sharon Washington
Based on the MGM picture New York, New York
Direction & choreography by Susan Stroman
St. James Theatre
246 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), NewYorkNewYorkBroadway.com/

By David NouNou

Beowulf Borritt should win the Tony Award for Best Set Design in a Musical as well as Ken Billington for his lighting design. That’s the best I can say for the new musical New York, New York. If it wasn’t for their sets and lighting, the show wouldn’t have even merited one star.

It truly boggles the mind and is also very sad to see how the creators and songsmiths of Hamilton and Chicago could have concocted such a boring and needless musical for this or any other season as New York, New York. It’s a sad ending for the legendary Broadway duo of John Kander and Fred Ebb. You really don’t know whom to blame for the dreary, sappy and cliché-ridden book written by both David Thompson and Sharon Washington. It’s monumentally bad, very loosely based on the 1977 movie of the same name starring Robert DeNiro and Liza Minnelli. What they attempted to do was to combine the epic grandeur of the musical Ragtime with the pizzazz of On the Town, and they failed miserably in both cases. The characters of Ragtime were heroic people and the pizzazz of On the Town was genuine.

In a musical, the songs and the choreography have to be organic, they have to be fluid and come naturally, and no one would know that better than director/choreographer Susan Stroman. After all, Ms. Stroman was the force behind the legendary musicals The Producers and Crazy for You, both for which she won Tonys. Here the songs are squeezed in by force and the dancers come out from anywhere, at any time for no apparent reason other than the fact that this is a musical. It’s a sad, sad day when one has to write that Susan Stroman, a leading Broadway director/choreographer, has run out of original ideas.

As I stated earlier, it is loosely based on the movie, it is summer of 1946 in New York City, the troops are back and among them is Jimmy Doyle (Colton Ryan), a hot-tempered Irish singer and musician. Also coming to the city from Pennsylvania is singer, Francine Evans (Anna Uzele). The story centers around the ups and downs of their relationship and marriage which is fraught with problems because Francine in this version is African American, and they both know the problems that will ensue. There is a myriad of supporting players that comprise different ethnic backgrounds: Black, Cuban, Irish, Italian, Polish, etc. They are all here because America is the land of opportunity and they are all waiting for their big break. All of this isn’t germane to the plot, other than filler and to say the cast is culturally diverse.

Another problem that arises is the lack of chemistry between the two leads, especially from Colton Ryan. Instead of being a charismatic but flawed and broken anti-hero who has to mend himself, Mr. Ryan is a stereotype of the blustering, whiny, ambling aimlessly tortured soul with the emotions that run from A to B and contorting his face to express emotions. (Didn’t any of the creators or Ms. Stroman watch his performance?) Ms. Uzele fares slightly better because she gets to belt out “Let’s Hear It for Me” from Barbra Streisand’s 1975 movie Funny Lady, also by Kander and Ebb, and you’ll ask yourself why is it in this musical? She also gets a crack at Liza Minnelli’s “But the World Goes ‘Round.” I must admit both songs are legendary, thanks in part to their original singers. However, Ms. Uzele tries valiantly.

By the way, let me caution you that you will hear the first five notes of the song “New York, New York” endlessly as a teaser throughout the entire show. You will ultimately hear the entire song. That is saved for the rousing finale sung in a Big Band-era style that has the audience at its feet, forgetting the previous dismal two hours and 45 minutes. Also be prepared that every time NYC is mentioned in a flattering way, the audience cheers on cue.

Finally, I have to send my sincere apologies to Andrew Lloyd Webber and his musical Bad Cinderella for calling it “the worst musical of the year.”

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 29, 2023
Reviewed at April 28, 2023 press performance.

‘NEW YORK, NEW YORK’: Jim Borstelmann. Photo: Paul Kolnik.

‘NEW YORK, NEW YORK’: The cast. Photo: Paul Kolnik.

‘NEW YORK, NEW YORK’: The cast. Photo: Paul Kolnik.

‘NEW YORK, NEW YORK’: Colton Ryan & Anna Uzele. Photo: Paul Kolnik.

‘NEW YORK, NEW YORK’: The cast. Photo: Paul Kolnik.

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CHITA RIVERA, GIVING ONE OF HER BEST PERFORMANCES EVER: (left to right) Tom Nelis, Chita Rivera, Chris Newcomer & Matthew Deming in ‘The Visit.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

THE VISIT
Book by Terrence McNally
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Based on the play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Directed by John Doyle
Choreography by Graciela Daniele
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.thevisitmusical.com

By David NouNou

She enters from the rear of stage right in a beautiful white, fur clad-coat and cane in hand and the applause begins. She has a long, slow walk to center stage and halts and the ovation is genuine and rapturous and it doesn’t stop. Chita Rivera: Broadway legend and one of two remaining superstars who can command the stage and elicit an ovation upon an entrance. I promised myself that I wouldn’t start my review by gushing over her, but how can one not? After all, we have come to praise Chita. Her roles are indelible and immortal by now: Anita in West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, Anyanka in Bajour, Velma Kelly in Chicago. The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman earned her two Tony Awards, and she received Tony nominations in a recent revival of Nine and her one-woman show Chita Rivera: A Dancer’s Life; and she was in the 2012 revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She now adds to this roster Claire Zachanassian, which ranks among her greatest performances.

The play The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt is a compelling drama unto itself, and it is very difficult to musicalize. I know it is tempting for Kander and Ebb to reach for the dark subject matters in shows and try to make them more enthralling by adding a score; it certainly worked in Cabaret and Chicago, but there was also humor there that could be tapped into. However, in The Visit there is no room for musical numbers; they distract from the drama and weaken it. Sure, there are some melodies that are reminiscent of both musicals, but these don’t linger.

Set in the desolate and impoverished town of Bracken, somewhere in Europe after World War II, Claire returns to her hometown with her ominous black bags, and there are lots of them, and her valet and two eunuchs. Why is she back after many years of ostracism to this bleak, desolate wasteland? We learn that when she was young, she gave herself to Anton Schell (Roger Rees) who went on to marry Matilde Schell (Mary Beth Peil) because her father owned a store and he could better himself. In a mock trial, Claire was thrust out as a whore with a child. After leaving Bracken, Claire married many men who died on her and left her lots of money, making her the richest woman in the world.

She has not forgotten how badly she was treated by the citizens, but she is willing to strike a deal with them. She will pay 10 billion marks for the city to rebuild and each person in it gets an additional two million apiece for the life of Anton Schell. At first everyone is appalled by such an offer, but slowly greed and the taste of the finer things start creeping into the lives of Anton’s friends and even his family. One asks oneself how much is a person’s life actually worth when it comes to revenge and to what lengths would one go to get their pound of flesh?

Durrenmatt’s story is a gorgeous morality play. It’s a pity it hasn’t been revived since 1973. Terrence McNally has written a book that plays to Ms. Rivera’s strengths and the score tries to have a sentimental lilt about it. However, John Doyle’s gloomy direction sucks up everything. Even having young counterparts/shadows of the younger Claire and Anton (a device lifted from young counterparts in Follies) is not very original. John Riddle and Michelle Veintimilla are gorgeous together, and you can see the passion there, but they add very little to the story after a while. Roger Rees, as the older Anton, is a hollow shell of a man now and seems quite uncomfortable in his part and in his singing. One even wonders why Clare wastes all that money on him. Oh, venomous revenge is never sweet.

And so we are back to Chita Rivera. Her singing voice has gotten slower and raspier; she doesn’t do her immortal high kick steps anymore, but good God, can the woman act and still break our hearts. In truth, Ms. Rivera is now 82, and another magnificent role like Claire Zachanassian will be hard to come by. Any theatergoer who cherishes a great performance from a legend must go to the Lyceum Theatre and marvel at the beauty and craftsmanship of the diva La Rivera. In years to come, I know I will be thrilled to say that I was there to see her giving one of her finest performances ever.

VIEW OF ‘THE VISIT’: The superb Chita Rivera & the cast. Photo: Thom Kaine

DANCING WITH HERSELF: Chita Rivera dances with her younger self, Michelle Veintimilla, in ‘The Visit,.’ Photo: Thom Kaine

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Townspeople sing of their greed in ‘The Visit.’ Photo: Thom Kaine

TOWN WITHOUT PITY (left to right) Roger Rees, John Riddle, Michelle Veintimilla & Chita Rivera in ‘The Visit,’ about a woman seeking revenge on the man & town that ostracized her decades ago. Photo: Joan Marcus

KANDER & EBB’S LAST MUSICAL’: Michelle Veintimilla, Matthew Deming, Rogers Rees, Chita Rivera, Chris Newcomer & cast of ‘The Visit’. Photo: Thom Kaine

LA DIVA RIVERA &
‘THE EUNUCHS’: Chita Rivera & cast members in ‘The Visit.’ Photo: Thom Kaine

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 29, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 28, 2015

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