Marin Theatre Company
, working with Allegro Theatre Company, is doing its audiences a big favor by staging "Wonderful Town," a wonderful musical that relates the adventures of two Ohio sisters who land in Greenwich Village in 1935. With music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, it's a funny, bright show that wears well even though it's a bit dated.The show has its origin in "My Sister Eileen," a collection of true sketches that Ruth McKenney wrote for New Yorker magazine. Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov adapted her book for a 1940 play of the same name and subsequently wrote the book for "Wonderful Town," which opened on Broadway in 1953 with Rosalind Russell as Ruth and Edith (Edie) Adams as Eileen.
Lee Sankowich directs the MTC version with choreography by Richard Gibbs and musical direction by David Lohman. The cast is somewhat pared down with several performers playing multiple roles, but they differentiate so well that there's no distraction. A poised Julie James plays Ruth, the older, wisecracking sister, a writer. Ruth is used to being in the shadow of Eileen (the vivacious Virginia Wilcox), an aspiring actress whose good looks are irresistible to men. The sisters move into a funky basement apartment in Greenwich Village and meet up with a parade of characters as they try to survive and find jobs.
Chief among the characters are Wreck (Michael Levesque), a former football player neighbor; Frank Lippencott (Mark Farrell), the Walgreen's manager who courts Eileen; Robert Baker (Rob Hatzenbeller), the associate magazine editor who encourages Ruth to write what she knows; and Chick Clark (Colin Thompson), the wiseacre reporter who pursues Eileen. Except for Thompson, who showcases his tenor in a cops' quintet, "My Darlin' Eileen," no one is a terrific singer, but everyone does well enough and is so personable and energetic that the songs carry. Besides, it's hard to miss with Bernstein tunes like "Ohio," sung by the sisters; "100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man," Ruth's rueful reflection on her lack of success with men; "A Little Bit in Love," sung by Eileen; "It's Love," sung by Eileen, Baker and the ensemble; and "The Wrong Note Rag," sung by the sisters and ensemble.
Choreographer Gibbs and the cast capture the excitement of Bernstein's music in dances for "Christopher Street," "Conga!" "Ballet at the Village Vortex" and "The Wrong Note Rag." Jamie Greenleaf's set with its painted backdrop and flexible set pieces (additional design and execution by Andy Scrimger), along with Kurt Landisman's lighting, Laura Hazlett's colorful costumes and Norman Kern's sound, captures the spirit of New York and the show. However, the six-member band, seated onstage and directed by Lohman at the piano, is a bit ragged. The piano, drums and bass are augmented by three musicians on various reed instruments that aren't in perfect tune.
Despite that drawback and a relatively thin plot, the music and lyrics are so much fun and the MTC-Allegro cast so likable that the show readily draws the audience in and delivers an enjoyable evening of musical entertainment.