Newsday
May 3, 1997
All Hits And No Errors: A Quickie Boys From Syracuse Emphasizes The Songs
By Aileen Jacobson
THEATER REVIEW THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE. Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, book by George Abbott, based on Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors." Directed by Susan H. Schulman, musical direction by Rob Fisher, choreography by Kathleen Marshall, set by John Lee Beatty, lighting by Peter Kaczorowski, costumes by Toni-Leslie James. Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert, at City Center, West 55th Street, through Sunday. Seen at Thursday opening. THE AUDIENCE for "The Boys From Syracuse" can be divided into two groups: Those who already know the score and leave the show delighted; those who don't and leave astonished and delighted.
Nearly everyone recognizes the 1938 musical's greatest hits, "Falling in Love with Love" (here sung by the incomparable Rebecca Luker) and "This Can't Be Love," though not necessarily as coming from this Shakespearean romp by Rodgers and Hart.
Its more closely guarded treasures include a jaunty invitation to jail, "Come with Me," and an even livelier song about searching for an honest man, "Oh, Diogenes!" (with which Debbie Gravitte brings down the house), featuring some of Lorenz Hart's cleverest lyrics. And then there are the lovely ballads, including "The Shortest Day of the Year." It's hard to decide what to hum as you exit City Center.
And then, of course, there's the wonderfully chirpy "Sing for Your Supper," a trio for trilling females (Luker, Gravitte and Sarah Uriarte Berry) who sound like the songbirds they admire, birds who "always eat, if the song is sweet . .. so sing and you'll be fed."
It's a shock, though, to discover that, in the context of the musical's book, this delightful ditty is about pleasing your man, no matter how rotten he acts. If I ever knew this, I'd blocked it out.
But it made me especially grateful that "Boys" is being presented at the Encores! concert series, where story lines are truncated to emphasize the music, as always niftily played by musical director Rob Fisher and the Coffee Club Orchestra. George Abbott's book, still funny in parts, has been adapted by David Ives.
The musical is based on "The Comedy of Errors," itself based on plays by the Roman dramatist Plautus, who probably cribbed the story from the Greeks. It concerns two sets of twins who were separated as babies and now find themselves in the same city, Ephesus. Townspeople and relations continuously confuse them, much to their bewilderment. To make matter worse, the two masters are both named Antipholus, while their two slaves are both Dromio. The strangers in town, who hail from Syracuse, can't figure out why everyone knows their names. Or why they're being hauled to bed by wives they've never met.
Susan H. Schulman directs an all-star cast with great verve, while Encores! artistic director Kathleen Marshall's snappy choreography, from happily tripping couples to a dream "twins ballet," enhances the numbers. The Antipholuses, Davis Gaines (who has played the title role in "Phantom of the Opera" more than anyone else) and Malcolm Gets, are both commanding leading men. They even look vaguely alike. As the Dromios, Michael McGrath and Mario Cantone are accomplished clowns (though Cantone's mugging is a bit much). Patrick Quinn's police sergeant adds gusto.
The women are terrific, especially the kittenish Luker and lusty Gravitte. But this cast is loaded with surprises: Comedian Julie Halston shows up as a courtesan wearing a sundial around her neck ("Time is drachmas") and the distinguished Marian Seldes ("Three Tall Women") appears toward the end as a Seeress - and sings with the chorus. Who wouldn't want to?