BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller

Dateline: 5 December 2003

WONDERFUL TOWN

Three years after Donna Murphy's acclaimed performance in City Center's Encores! presentation of WONDERFUL TOWN, the two-time Tony-winner (PASSION and THE KING AND I) takes the stage of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in a delightful, zesty revival of the Leonard Bernstein/Adolph Green and Betty Comden musical. Staged similarly to the current revival of CHICAGO, another Encores! alumnus, WONDERFUL TOWN retains the concert format with the action performed before an orchestra onstage.

Based on the play MY SISTER EILEEN by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorow (who also wrote the book for the musical) and the stories of Ruth McKenney, WONDERFUL TOWN opened on Broadway in 1953 starring the irrepressible Rosalind Russell and took 5 Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Chronologically the middle panel in Bernstein's triptych to New York--flanked by ON THE TOWN, partnered again with Comden and Green, and WEST SIDE STORY with lyricist Stephen Sondheim--WONDERFUL TOWN explores the pitfalls of two sisters setting out on their own and pays loving tribute to the big city.

Half a century later, the story of a pair of Midwesterners trying to live their dream still rings true to a New York audience. Some things never change. What did change is the city's demographics and in the opening number, "Christopher Street," Director/Choreographer Kathleen Marshall recreates a Greenwich Village of yesteryear in all its Bohemian kookiness. Martin Pakledinaz adds nostalgia with his vividly colored, Depression-era style costumes.

Donna Murphy plays elder sister Ruth Sherwood, a quick-tongued, aspiring journalist who feels her writing has outgrown her native Columbus. Focused on her career, she has little time for the opposite sex. Her sister, Eileen, portrayed by Jennifer Westfeldt, dreams of making it in show business. Her greatest talent, however, is attracting men and she does so like a female magnet in a male-charged staples factory.

The savvy Ruth Sherwood may know "One Hundred Easy Ways" to lose a man, but as brought to life by Donna Murphy, she knows even more ways to win over a Broadway audience. Cavorting with a bunch of foreign sailors in the Brooklyn naval yard in "Conga," Murphy doles out laughs and lyrics in perfect time while being tossed from swabby to swabby like a hot potato. And, in the second act, "Swing," she jimmies and jives with a company of red-hot hoofers.

Jennifer Westfeldt, who hit the radar screen a couple of years ago as the star and co-writer of the film "Kissing Jessica Stein," makes a dazzling Broadway debut as the apple-eyed ingenue, Eileen. When the sisters pair up in the hometown lament "Ohio," Westfeldt's crisp voice solidly complements Murphy's resonant timber. And, in the closing "Wrong Note Rag," Westfeldt shows she, too, knows how to shake her stuff.

Supporting players include Gregg Edelman as the straight-talkin' magazine editor, Robert Baker. David Margulies is Appopolous, the kind-hearted landlord with an artistic bent of his own. Raymond Jaralillo McLeod plays Wreck, the once-was football player who's "shackin' up" down the hall with girlfriend Helen, Nancy Anderson. Peter Bensen as the syrupy soda-jerk and Michael McGrath as the hardened reporter are among Eileen's many besotted suitors.

WONDERFUL TOWN is one of those old-time musical comedies that offers carefree escapism. Donna Murphy is the ideal fit for this star-driven vehicle and Kathleen Marshall's direction provides plenty of gas. With Bernstein's stupendous score and Comden and Green's delightful lyrics, the rough-and-tumble of old New York is made to feel like a sunny day at the Rockaways.