Billboard

May 24, 1997

Rodgers & Hart's 'Syracuse' Is Subject Of Latest 'Encores!'

By Irv Lichtman

 

ENCORES! ENCORES! After their return to Broadway from a disappointing stay in Hollywood--save for their brilliant "Love Me Tonight" and "Hallelujah I'm A Bum"--Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart perhaps signaled their relief at being back home by putting their best work forward. They created a series of musicals, starting with 1935's "Jumbo" and continuing with 1936's "On Your Toes," 1937's "I'd Rather Be Right" and "Babes In Arms," 1938's "I Married An Angel" and "The Boys From Syracuse," and 1940's "Pal Joey."

Maybe their muse was further stimulated by the fact that "The Boys From Syracuse" was based on Shakespeare's "Comedy Of Errors," for this score appears to be made of only show-stoppers, two of which --"This Can't Be Love" and "Falling In Love With Love"--are its most familiar legacy.

The richness of beauty and wit in "The Boys From Syracuse" requires performances with those attributes to define the work's. That good fortune--something we've come to expect from the source--arrived at New York City Center's last "Encores!" show of this season May 1-4.

Utilizing Hans Spialek's original orchestrations for the first time onstage since the original Broadway run, this production never lost the giddy momentum of its delightful opening exposition number, "He Had Twins," which has a Gilbert and Sullivan feel and Rodgers and Hart flair.

Of course, the common denominator at "Encores!" is music director Rob Fisher, who directed the Coffee Club Orchestra. He got his wish, as expressed to Words & Music last year, that "Encores!" revive "The Boys From Syracuse" with Spialek's sparkling handiwork, which, true to its time, joined musical theater scoring with the swing and Latin sounds that began sweeping the country in the late '30s.

The cast was superlative. "Falling In Love With Love" never sounded as entrancing as in Rebecca Luker's version, while other ballads and comic turns were in prime hands with Debbie Gravitte, Davis Gaines, Malcolm Gets, Julie Halston, Tom Aldredge, Sarah Uriarte Berry, and Mario Cantone.

As lovers of "Syracuse" have always known, two of its ballads, "The Shortest Day Of The Year" and "You Have Cast Your Shadow On The Sea," remain two of Rodgers and Hart's least-known works that rank among their most beautiful. They were magnificently sung by Gaines and Gets.

Luker, Gravitte, and Berry compose the merry trio assigned to do "Sing For Your Supper," Rodgers and Hart's wonderful parody of female singing groups.

Let's hope that the upcoming DRG Records' cast album bottles this "Syracuse" in all its digital delight.