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Musical comedy recalls TV’s golden age in ‘My Favorite Year’
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Reviewed by: FRAN HELLER Contributing Writer
A little nostalgia goes a long way in “My Favorite Year,” the 1992 musical comedy that hearkens back to the golden age of live television, circa 1950s, an era when comedy was king. It’s at The Beck Center for the Arts through June 8.
Written by Joseph Dougherty (book), Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics), initial reviews were mixed to negative, and the show closed after 36 performances.
With good reason. The score is monotonous, its melodies more derivative than original, its plot a patchwork, and the laughs as sparse as a desert oasis.
Based on the 1982 movie of the same name and starring Peter O’Toole, the musical has none of the outlandish farcical hilarity of the film. The flick was fast-paced and funny; the stage version, slow-moving and dull.
William Roudebush, who scored a triumph directing last season’s “Equus,” seems at sea with a show whose material lacks a compass. Not even veteran music director Larry Goodpaster and orchestra can lift the somnolent tunes out of the doldrums.
The problem of adapting this zany comedy to the stage is underscored by Richard Gould’s schizoid set. Flanked by a ladies’ room on one side and the writers’ office on the other, the stage in between is cluttered with many moveable parts, from television studio to swank hotel suite; from an apartment in Brooklyn to a statue in Central Park; and so on. The nonstop, actor-driven set changes have a decidedly amateurish ring and take the viewer out of the moment.
Much of the action takes place behind the scenes of “King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade,” the hit comedy show (inspired by Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows”) that has taken the nation by storm. Offstage, the tyrannical King torments his team of writers to churn out the jokes that keep 20 million viewers laughing.
One of those writers is newcomer Benjy Stone, who also serves as narrator. The action begins with Benjy looking back on 1954, his favorite year. As Benjy recalls his first job on the set, the stage is transformed into a television studio in the kicky ensemble opener “20 Million People.”
This catchy number promises much but fails to deliver throughout the rest of the show.
The scene fades into Monday morning, when producer Leo Silver (Bob Abelman) breaks the news that guest star Martha Raye won’t be appearing on the show. Her replacement is swashbuckling movie matinee idol Alan Swann. Despite everyone’s trepidation about the over-the-hill, frequently pickled Swann, Benjy is thrilled at the prospect of meeting his childhood hero in the flesh.
A subplot centers on Benjy’s absentee father who left to buy some cigarettes when Benjy was a young boy and never came back. As Benjy comes to grips with a disappearing dad, he helps Swann reconcile with his own lost daughter.
Flaunting boyish good lucks and ingenuous charm, Shawn Galligan is utterly believable as the star-struck Benjy Stone. While Benjy imagines himself as the 7-year-old boy watching old movies of his idol in the song “Larger Than Life,” Jeremy K. Benjamin’s flickering lights and Richard B. Ingraham’s sound and projection design create the appropriate effect.
Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the dashing Peter O’ Toole, a mustachioed, tousle-haired Matthew Wright makes a grandiose entrance as the sloshed Alan Swann. Swann tries to explain the difference between illusion and real life in one of the show’s more sophisticated numbers, “If the World Was Like the Movies.”
John J. Polk is true to form as the maniacal King Kaiser, TV’s #1 funnyman and behind-the-scenes bully. Imogene Coca-look-alike Rachel Spence delivers a high-octane performance as the wisecracking writer and standup comic wannabe Alice Miller. (Rachel is Beck artistic director Scott Spence’s wife in real life). Woodie Anderson is writer Herb Lee, a self-imposed mute who communicates with arch-enemy senior writer Sy Benson (blustery Jim McCormack) by whispering in Alice’s ear.
With a voice like a boom box and a body to match, zaftig stage pro Jean Zarzour adds a strong whiff of professionalism as Benjy’s meddling Jewish mother from Brooklyn, Belle May Steinberg Carroca. Joey Cayabyab’s understated comic portrait as Belle’s Philippine husband and former bantam-weight boxer Rookie Carroca is quite funny.
At his mother’s insistence, Benjy brings Swann home to Brooklyn for a family meal. When a swarm of Jewish neighbors come to gawk at Belle’s famous dinner guest, choreographer Martín Céspedes throws in a hora for good measure in this over-seasoned theatrical stew. Geoffrey Darling and Rhoda Rosen are true to type as Benjy’s embarrassing relatives, Uncle Morty and Aunt Sadie.
Theresa Kloos has a nice singing voice as Bengy’s love interest, K.C. Downing. Though her part is brief, Tricia O’Toole’s drop-dead good looks as Swann’s estranged daughter Tess warrant mentioning.
Costumer Alison Garrigan recreates the era with an argyle vest, bow-tie and saddle shoes for Benjy, bullet bras for Alice and K.C., and a cream-colored suit for the suave Swann. I liked the dancing cups and saucers in “Maxford House,” which brought back memories of television’s early days when even the commercials were produced live.
“My Favorite Year” is a huge undertaking. The 32-member cast includes 19 company members, each portraying multiple roles with an equal number of costume changes. Regrettably, the end product falls woefully short of such earnest effort.
A little nostalgia goes a long way in “My Favorite Year,” the 1992 musical comedy that hearkens back to the golden age of live television, circa 1950s, an era when comedy was king. It’s at The Beck Center for the Arts through June 8.
Written by Joseph Dougherty (book), Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics), initial reviews were mixed to negative, and the show closed after 36 performances.
With good reason. The score is monotonous, its melodies more derivative than original, its plot a patchwork, and the laughs as sparse as a desert oasis.
Based on the 1982 movie of the same name and starring Peter O’Toole, the musical has none of the outlandish farcical hilarity of the film. The flick was fast-paced and funny; the stage version, slow-moving and dull.
William Roudebush, who scored a triumph directing last season’s “Equus,” seems at sea with a show whose material lacks a compass. Not even veteran music director Larry Goodpaster and orchestra can lift the somnolent tunes out of the doldrums.
The problem of adapting this zany comedy to the stage is underscored by Richard Gould’s schizoid set. Flanked by a ladies’ room on one side and the writers’ office on the other, the stage in between is cluttered with many moveable parts, from television studio to swank hotel suite; from an apartment in Brooklyn to a statue in Central Park; and so on. The nonstop, actor-driven set changes have a decidedly amateurish ring and take the viewer out of the moment.
Much of the action takes place behind the scenes of “King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade,” the hit comedy show (inspired by Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows”) that has taken the nation by storm. Offstage, the tyrannical King torments his team of writers to churn out the jokes that keep 20 million viewers laughing.
One of those writers is newcomer Benjy Stone, who also serves as narrator. The action begins with Benjy looking back on 1954, his favorite year. As Benjy recalls his first job on the set, the stage is transformed into a television studio in the kicky ensemble opener “20 Million People.”
This catchy number promises much but fails to deliver throughout the rest of the show.
The scene fades into Monday morning, when producer Leo Silver (Bob Abelman) breaks the news that guest star Martha Raye won’t be appearing on the show. Her replacement is swashbuckling movie matinee idol Alan Swann. Despite everyone’s trepidation about the over-the-hill, frequently pickled Swann, Benjy is thrilled at the prospect of meeting his childhood hero in the flesh.
A subplot centers on Benjy’s absentee father who left to buy some cigarettes when Benjy was a young boy and never came back. As Benjy comes to grips with a disappearing dad, he helps Swann reconcile with his own lost daughter.
Flaunting boyish good lucks and ingenuous charm, Shawn Galligan is utterly believable as the star-struck Benjy Stone. While Benjy imagines himself as the 7-year-old boy watching old movies of his idol in the song “Larger Than Life,” Jeremy K. Benjamin’s flickering lights and Richard B. Ingraham’s sound and projection design create the appropriate effect.
Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the dashing Peter O’ Toole, a mustachioed, tousle-haired Matthew Wright makes a grandiose entrance as the sloshed Alan Swann. Swann tries to explain the difference between illusion and real life in one of the show’s more sophisticated numbers, “If the World Was Like the Movies.”
John J. Polk is true to form as the maniacal King Kaiser, TV’s #1 funnyman and behind-the-scenes bully. Imogene Coca-look-alike Rachel Spence delivers a high-octane performance as the wisecracking writer and standup comic wannabe Alice Miller. (Rachel is Beck artistic director Scott Spence’s wife in real life). Woodie Anderson is writer Herb Lee, a self-imposed mute who communicates with arch-enemy senior writer Sy Benson (blustery Jim McCormack) by whispering in Alice’s ear.
With a voice like a boom box and a body to match, zaftig stage pro Jean Zarzour adds a strong whiff of professionalism as Benjy’s meddling Jewish mother from Brooklyn, Belle May Steinberg Carroca. Joey Cayabyab’s understated comic portrait as Belle’s Philippine husband and former bantam-weight boxer Rookie Carroca is quite funny.
At his mother’s insistence, Benjy brings Swann home to Brooklyn for a family meal. When a swarm of Jewish neighbors come to gawk at Belle’s famous dinner guest, choreographer Martín Céspedes throws in a hora for good measure in this over-seasoned theatrical stew. Geoffrey Darling and Rhoda Rosen are true to type as Benjy’s embarrassing relatives, Uncle Morty and Aunt Sadie.
Theresa Kloos has a nice singing voice as Bengy’s love interest, K.C. Downing. Though her part is brief, Tricia O’Toole’s drop-dead good looks as Swann’s estranged daughter Tess warrant mentioning.
Costumer Alison Garrigan recreates the era with an argyle vest, bow-tie and saddle shoes for Benjy, bullet bras for Alice and K.C., and a cream-colored suit for the suave Swann. I liked the dancing cups and saucers in “Maxford House,” which brought back memories of television’s early days when even the commercials were produced live.
“My Favorite Year” is a huge undertaking. The 32-member cast includes 19 company members, each portraying multiple roles with an equal number of costume changes. Regrettably, the end product falls woefully short of such earnest effort.
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