Road
Show
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Brothers Up In Arms
With
no less than three former incarnations as Wise Guys, Gold and Bounce, it's based
on the true story of American Addison Mizner
and his brother Wilson,
entrepreneurs or crooks, dependent on your point of view, in the first half of
the 20th century.
It's
a "can't live with him, can't live without him" tale with the indissoluble
ties and irreparable rifts of the two men, artist and conman, at the centre of
the story, used as a reflection of American aspiration.
Urged
on by their dying politician father, "It's In Your Hands" and their
ambitious mother, the two men take to the road to make their fortunes.
Suffering the vicissitudes of won and lost riches as gold prospectors, in gambling
dens and various ill-fated business ventures, they finally make their mark with
over hyped Florida real estate - before
the property bubble bursts.
TLT
and sidekick are "we know what we like" audience members rather than
musical theatre experts. And drawing on their previous theatregoing, this
musical struck them as having some of the same assets and liabilities as Jerry
Herman's Mack and Mabel. The same
awkward uneasy see-saw between two protagonists with no consistent focus. A dark
true tale but at the same time a shoo-in
archetypal story in conflict, rather than integrated, with the accurate history.
Nevertheless
there's a lot to like in the Union production. Howard Jenkins takes on the role
of architect Addison, the fall guy compared to the opportunist rogue Wilson,
played with relish by André Refig, variously a gambler, prize fight promoter,
playwright and Hollywood screenwriter.
Jenkins
as Addison, who finally finds success as an architect of kitsch Spanish-style mansions for the wealthy, leads the audience through the story, even if he is more youthfully slimline than at
least one line of the lyrics suggests. Steve
Watts is suitably authoritative both as the older Addison and the Mizner
brothers' father. Meanwhile Cathryn Sherman makes the most of the role of spikey
Mama Mizner and Joshua LeClair brings an emotional power to the role of love
interest Hollis.
The
problems, like Mack and Mabel, seem to be mostly with the book. Maybe the key
lies with the original conception. According to internet sources,
Sondheim first came across the story of the Mizners in the 1950s in the New
Yorker magazine, but found the rights to
their biography already snapped up by Broadway producer David Merrick. Merrick
had Irving Berlin, who had known Addison, on board to write the songs when it
was mooted as a possible vehicle for comedian Bob Hope.
It
came to naught and Sondheim stepped in again in the 1990s intending to use the template of the popular wisecracking "Road" movies with Hope and
crooner Bing Crosby.
A kind of double act Rake's Progress,
scenes from lives and eras: the gold rush, to India and then Hawaii, Guatamala,
New York and finally Boca Raton, Florida.
If the Road movie framework had remained as more of an ironic commentary, maybe it would
have given Road Show a steelier structure and consistency of tone rather
than leaving the bare bones linear story of the two men. As it is, designer Nik
Corrall introduces a tarnished gilt mirror or picture frame in the background on the
ragged Union stage, which along with suitcases and a typewriter, gives a desolate riches to rags "Citizen Kane" feel
to the production.
Overall,
TLT and her own road companion enjoyed the show, even if at times the
choreography felt a little over egged and the story sometimes like a house with
ad hoc extensions.
But
it was a pleasure to hear unmiked singing in the intimate venue and
additionally individual cameos such as Damian Robinson's boxer ensured an engrossing
105 minutes without interval. So it's an amber light for an uneven but enjoyable show.
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