Eric March

By: Paulanne Simmons

British cabaret dynamo Barb Jungr grew up in Rochdale, Lancashire, just a few miles from Liverpool. So it’s not surprising she has a special attraction to the Beatles. In fact, she told the audience at Don’t Tell Mama on Jan. 9 that growing up in the 1960s, she was convinced her country had produced no modern popular icon. Then the Beatles came along and Great Britain was back on the map.

Jungr’s show, which ran Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, celebrated not only her personal connection with the Beatles but also the release of her latest CD, “Come Together,” an exciting collaboration between Jungr and arranger and pianist John McDaniel. But much more important, it introduced even the most avid Beatle fan to a whole new way of looking at the Fab Four.

When Jungr sings “Ah look at all the lonely people,” she expresses all the isolation and misery of loneliness in a way that might have surprised even the song’s creators. The beautiful and tender “In My Life” is given a similarly intense treatment.

But Jungr also knows how to inject an impish merriment into every performance. Often she engaged in playful banter with McDaniel. It’s obvious the two like each other both professionally and personally. Several times Jungr ceded the stage to McDaniel, who sang a few songs in his own style.

Although the Beatles have been lauded for their lyrics in the group’s more mature years, it’s hard to make too much of lyrics such as “I give her all my love/That’s all I do/And if you saw my love/You’d love her to/I love her.” But Jungr, with her exquisite phrasing and deep emotional commitment to every song she adopts and adapts, can turn even the most banal of lyrics into a revelation.

With that said, Jungr has a keen sense of which songs the audience wants to hear and she wants to sing. This is especially true in her medleys, when she combines the insolence of “Getting Better” with the lyricism of “Here There Everywhere” or strings together simple messages of love in “And I Love Her,” “All My Loving” and “All You Need Is Love.”

When Barb Jungr sings she has a unique ability to convince everyone in the audience she’s sharing a very special secret with very special people. Sometimes that secret is funny, sometimes it’s sad and sometimes it’s subversive. But it always tickles the imagination and soothes the soul.

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By: Paulanne Simmons

In1957 Edith Piaf gave her second and last concert at Carnegie Hall. The concert included “La vie en rose,” “Padam Padam,” and “L’Accordéoniste.” Sixty years later, on Jan. 6, Anne Carrere dazzled the audience at Carnegie Hall with her brilliant performance in Piaf! The Show. She sang many of those songs the audience longed to hear again.

Backed by a videoscape of Piaf, Paris and Parisians, Carrere took the audience on a musical journey tracing Piaf’s rise to prominence from a penniless street singer to an international icon. Carrere first appeared dressed in scrubby pants and sweater, and ended up in Piaf’s classic black dress, while her band (Philippe Villa on piano, Guy Giuliano on acordion, Laurent Sarrien on percussion and Daniel Fabricant on double bass) likewise upgraded dress ending up in elegant tuxedos.

Although Carrere occasionally interacted with members of the band, sharing a drink and a joke, most of the evening was devoted to song. She has a powerful, emotion-laden voice that is uncannily like Piaf’s. She’s also adept at reproducing Piaf’s Parisian pronunciation, making full use of all those sexy, throaty r’s.

The first half of the concert, composed primarily of lesser known songs that have not been much translated, was certainly appreciated, but was not as successful as the second half. Even Carrere’s magnificent voice could not completely overcome the language barrier.

However, the second half, with mostly Piaf’s signature songs, “Hymne à L’amour,” “La Vie en Rose,” “Non, Je ne Regrette Rien,” “Milord,” was a total triumph. With impish delight Carerre chose one man as her dance partner for “La Vie en Rose” and another to play the rich gentleman addressed in “Milord.”

Curiously, Carrere is at her very best when she is not Edith Piaf, but Anne Carrere. One is hard pressed to imagine Piaf as buoyant and carefree as this young lady.

At the end of the show Carrere, who has performed Piaf! The Show
internality for the last year, tearfully told the audience that she was once a
French girl from a little town singing in southern France. I’m still that same French girl, she said, “But look where I am now!”

Indeed!

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By: David Sheward
If the recent presidential election has taught us anything, it’s that racism and stereotyping are still prevalent despite polite wrist-slapping by the media elite. A spate of new productions address prejudice in various forms with varying degrees of creativity and imagination. It should come as no surprise that the Broadway entry in this round-up is the softest and least dangerous of the three while the Off-Broadway shows are edgier and more honest.

A Bronx Tale, the Broadway show and the safest production under consideration here, is the latest iteration of Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical solo play about his boyhood attachment to a local mob figure and its affect on his hard-working father. After successful 1989 runs in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway with Palminteri playing his younger self and all the other characters, Robert De Niro made his directorial debut with the 1993 filversion, and played Lorenzo, the father, with Palminteri as Sonny, the neighborhood boss. The movie’s success launched Palminteri’s film acting career, usually limning tough guys, most notably in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway. The author-star returned to Tale in a 2007 Broadway revival directed by Jerry Zaks.

In this age of recycling material, a musical version was inevitable. Many of the personnel associated with earlier editions are associated with the new product. Palminteri   wrote the book and Zaks and De Niro co-direct. Sonny is played by Nick Cordero who starred in the Palminteri role in the so-so stage musical version of Bullets.

The show is slick, professional, and enjoyable, with smart staging from Zaks and De Niro (though I suspect Zaks is largely responsible for the musical’s zip, along with Sergio Trujillo’s street-savvy choreography). Palminteri attempts to retain the grittiness and depth of his original script, but it gets drowned in nostalgic musical suds. The score by composer Alan Menken  and lyricist Glenn Slater employs the 1960s sounds of the settings and has some grabby high spots but feels mostly derivative.

In the original, Sonny and Lorenzo emerges as complex figures. The mobster is a brutal killer but also compassionate when young Chazz (his full name is Calogero) reveals he wants to date an African-American girl. The dad is a role model of honesty, rejecting Sonny’s easy money and loose morals, but he intolerantly rejects his son’s reaching across racial lines. In this musical, these rough edges are smoothed over with everybody singing about finding their “heart.”

Despite Cordero’s charismatic performance, or maybe because of it, Sonny’s darkness is totally eclipsed by a sunny—no pun intended—demeanor. This Sonny is a great guy, a romantic crooner, and a “cute”
gangster we root for even as he smashes rivals with a baseball bat. It’s the latest example of stereotyping mob figures in a rosy, admiring aura.

This qualm does not lessen my admiration for Bobby Conte Thornton who as Calogero carries the show on his shoulders with style, sturdy Richard H. Blake as Lorenzo, and spunky Hudson Loverro as the child version of the hero.

While Bronx Tale offers cuddly criminals serving sweet tiramisu, The Band’s Visit at Atlantic Theatre Company is a spicier slice of falafel. Derived from a 2007 Israeli film, this small-scale tuner is intimate and authentic while Bronx Tale is big and broad like a tourist version of reality. When an Egyptian policeman’s band is stranded in an isolated Israeli town for a night, the musicians must rely on the hospitality of the residents. Unexpected connections form as cultures clash and stereotyping breaks down. David Yazbek’s moving songs incorporate an exotic blend of influences rarely heard on or Off-Broadway and David Cromer’s direction has a refreshing verisimilitude. There are dozens of tiny, evocative moments such as an exhausted wife angrily simmering as her husband and father entertain their visitors; two men awaiting calls from their distant sweethearts battling over a pay phone; the band’s romeo offering romantic advice at a rollerskating rink; and the autocratic conductor letting his guard down as the lonely cafe owner sings of her attraction for him.

Tony Shalhoub is pricelessly stiff as the proper bandleader and Katrina Lenk convincingly conveys both the brittle sheen and soft center of Dina, his sarcastic hostess. Daniel David Stewart, Ari’el Stachel, John Cariani, Kristen Sieh, and Erik Liberman also provide endearingly real portraits.

In the final look at theatrical response to cultural stereotyping, we move from desert realism to abstract symbolism. Suzan-Lori Parks’ singularly titled The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World aka The Negro Book of the Dead (1990), at Signature Theatre,takes on the most brutal aspects of prejudice in a nightmarish tone poem populated by race-based figures. Black Man with Watermelon (an intense Daniel J. Watts) dies over and over, by lynching and the electric chair, as his wife Black Woman with Fried Drumstick (a magnificent Roslyn Ruff) perpetually says goodbye and goes into mourning. Their narrative
of sorrow is augmented by a chorus of mythical stock characters with names like Old Man River Jordan, Queen-Then-Pharoah Hatshepsut, and Lots of Grease and Lots of Pork. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz makes this satiric parody into a lively dance-meditation on race and Roslyn Ruff’s emotive acting transforms a symbol into a living, breathing person. In this era of Black Lives Matter and the triumph of Trump, Parks’ angry, mysterious, and challenging work is especially relevant—and dangerously real.

A Bronx Tale: Opened Dec. 1 for an open run. Longer Theatre, 220 W.
48th St., NYC. Tue—Thu, 7pm; Fri—Sat, 8 pm; Wed, Sat, 2 pm, Sun, 3 pm. Running time: two hours including one intermission. $45—$162. (212) 239-6200. www.telecharge.com. Photo: Joan Marcus

The Band’s Visit: Dec. 8—Jan. 1. Atlantic Theatre Company, 336 W. 20th St., NYC. Tue, Sun, 7 pm; Wed—Sat, 8 pm; Wed, Sat, Sun, 2 pm. Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission. $91.50—$111.50. (866) 811-4111. www.ovationtix.com. Photo: Ahron R. Foster

The Band’s Visit 

The Death of the Last Black Man in Whole Entire World aka The Negro Book of the Dead: Nov. 13—Dec. 18. Signature Theatre Company, 480 W. 42nd St.NYC St., NYC. Tue-Thu, Sun, 7:30 pm; Sat, 8 pm; Wed, Sat, Sun, 2 pm. Running time: 75 minutes with no intermission. $25. (212) 244-7529. www.signaturetheatre.org. Photo: Joan Marcus

By: David Sheward
The moment you enter New York Theatre Workshop for Sam Gold’s searing production of Othello, you know it will be a startlingly different interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy of the noble Moor. Set designer Andrew Lieberman has reconfigured the normally spacious playing area into a tight, claustrophobic army barracks.

Mattresses and macho gear like nudie magazines, snack food bags, and electric guitars are strewn everywhere. (There’s even an actor’s actual artificial limb by his bedside.) Audience members are crammed like sardines into uncomfortable wooden bleachers to view this tense drama of jealousy, manipulation and power. Jane Cox’s striking lighting employs head-set flashlights and floodlights to create an eerie, battle-torn atmosphere.

In Gold’s unsparing staging, Othello and his followers are modern American and English soldiers occupying a Middle Eastern territory. Parallels are drawn between the Bard’s themes of racism and misogyny and contemporary issues of the same conflicts along with imperialism and cultural oppression as the self-hating, Cockney, Caucasian Iago (a brilliantly devious Daniel Craig) is driven to distraction by the merits and advancement of the foreign, dark-skinned Othello (David Oyelowo in a powerhouse, career-defining performance). You could infer similarities to Trump and Obama, but that’s up to you.

Regardless of the political implications, the production has the impact of a gut punch. Iago and Othello are engaged in a wrestling match to the death which sometimes becomes literal (kudos to fight director Thomas Schall). Craig captures the broiling rage of lago and his insidious drive to spread lies and “fake news” about Desdemona’ fidelity. This is an Iago akin to Richard III in his quest to destroy anyone who has what he doesn’t. His envy of Othello’s happiness in marriage and career inspires him to infect the Moor with the same disease. Many only know Craig as James Bond, but his performance here—and in Broadway productions of A Steady Rain and Betrayal—display a subtle craft unseen in the 007 franchise.

Oyelowo matches Craig in intensity and masterfully calibrates Othello’s descent into uncontrolled madness. He begins as the assured general, confident in his military ability and his love for Desdemona (a charming and spirited Rachel Brosnahan) despite the heated disapproval of her bigoted father Brabantio (an appropriately indignant Glenn Fitzgerald). His doubts, fed by Iago’s lies, gradually take over Oyelowo’s noble visage, twisting it with fury and turning him into an inhuman monster. His humanity returns with devastating force at the final denouement when the truth of his wife’s faithfulness and his ensign’s deceit trigger a howl of despair which seems to come from the pit of hell.

Even the supporting roles are fully fleshed out. Marsha Stephanie Blake is a flinty Emilia,  Finn Wintrock is a valiant but flawed Cassio, and Nikki Massoud makes for a heartbreaking Bianca, a role usually thrown away. Special mention to Matthew Maher whose comic timing and honest limning give depth to the normally buffoonish Roderigo. At one point he crawls out of a foot-locker. I’m not sure how this was accomplished, but it was just one arresting moment in a landmark production.

Dec. 12—Jan. 18. New York Theatre  Workshop, 79 E. 4th St., NYC. Running time: three hours and 10 mins. including intermission. Schedule varies. $125. (212)460-5475. www.nytw.org.
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David Oyelowo, Daniel Craig

By: Isa Goldberg

“Smash everything.” “Be ruthless,” opines the central character in Richard Greenberg’s new play, set in an adult creative writing class. Indeed, It’s of no great surprise to find that Richard Greenberg’s The Babylon Line, currently at The Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, is all about writing. Metatheater being Greenberg’s forte, his works thrive on esoteric wordplay, windy narratives, and literary metaphor.

Here, Josh Radnor plays Aaron Port, the novelist/teacher, who is hurdling his way through writer’s block, while teaching creative writing to adults. When the play opens it’s 1967 in Levittown, Long Island and his students, primarily women, are novices at self-expression. This was, after all, an era of conformity, and not one that prided itself in individuation.

As Frieda Cohen, the neighbor with a scrutinizing nose in everyone;s business, and the dominant social force in the community, Randy Graff is as comic as she is tragic. Regardless of the outcome, Frieda is narcissistically attached to the privileges of marriage and motherhood, although clearly under performing at both.

Typically outré, Julie Halston shows us the good, bad, and the ugly of the bored suburban wife, Midge Braverman. Evolving into a firecracker of a character, Midge undergoes an eye opening transformation.

The whiny wife, Anna Cantor played by Maddie Corman, writes a story about her peak experience. “Venice is a city of opposites”, she writes, a truly banal takeoff on Dickens’ famous city of contrasts (A Tale of Two Cities).

Rebellion festers throughout the first Act, most significantly in Elizabeth Reaser’s Joan Dellamond, (Joan of the world). Portrayed as a Southern girl, turned New York bohemian, she is portrayed with the classic despair with which Tennessee WIlliams’ imbued his women. Greenberg’s Joan is only free when she can discover herself in the world of literature, or in the arms of a man, who unlike her husband, radiates the air of danger, intellect, and drive, to which she is drawn.

In addition, there are a couple of men in the class. Tony Award-winning Frank Wood, characteristically, appears to be “on the spectrum” in a variety of roles, including that of Joan’s husband. Marc Adams, on the other hand, portrays a series of characters, each of whom blusters with fame.

While Act I is a lengthy prologue, setting the stage for some kind of liberation, Act II takes a delirious route from literature to life, from fiction to reality, from repression to freedom, that is deliciously Greenberg. That his play comes to such a positive outcome, demonstrates the enduring fragility of those who remain faithful to themselves.

Directed by Terry Kinney with a firm, but generous hand, The Bablyon Line, literally the train ride from Greenwich Village to Levittown on the Long Island Railroad, takes us on an adventure with these women, who are drawn with insight and sensitivity.

Babylon Line
Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
212 239-6200
Running Time: 2 hours with one intermission
Photo: Jermy Daniel
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By: David Sheward

Transportation plays a part in two new stage productions in NYC and while they both have a few pleasant stops along the way, the ride is over familiar territory. In Transit has taken the long route to Broadway. After Off-Off-Broadway iterations in 2004 and 2008 and a Drama Desk Award-winning Off-Broadway run in 2010, this mildly entertaining, but cliched musical has pulled into the Circle in the Square. The chief attraction here is a novelty gimmick of being Broadway’s first a cappella tuner. This has caused some theatre pundits to wonder if consumers will be willing to play Main Stem prices for a show with no orchestra. But Deke Sharon’s arrangements and the scintillating vocalizing of the 11-member cast create a dazzling illusion of one.

The problem is the book, credited to Oscar winner Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen), James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan, and Sara Wordsworth who also wrote the score. Sidenote: When you have four people—with another two, Karla Lant and Gregory T. Christopher—collaborating on a musical, it’s bound to be uneven. The story follows a group of interconnected New Yorkers (fired Wall Street-er, aspiring actress, gay coping coping with the closet, transplanted West Coast young woman getting over a break-up) as they attempt move on romantically and career-wise while negotiating the city’s subway system. A beatbox artist (played at alternate performances by Chesney Snow and Steven “Heaven” Cantor) provides commentary and sound effects. At the performance attended, Snow offered startlingly whimsical beeps, clicks, and buzzes. While Snow and the tunes are upbeat and inventive, we’ve heard these people’s stories and the humor before. The jokes reference subway inconveniences (indecipherable announcements, delays, broken turnstiles and fare machines) and ads (the dermatologist Dr. Zizmor, lessons in Chinese) we’ve been putting up with for decades.

From what I recall of the 2010 production at the 59E59 Theater, Kathleen Marshall’s new staging is tighter and cleaner — Donyale Werle’s flexible set with a moving walkway helps keep the transitions swift and smooth —plus the book has been streamlined. The hard-working cast is enjoyable, particularly Erin Mackey as the dejected love refugee desperately and  hilariously trying not to stalk her ex on social media and strong-voiced Moya Angela in a variety of roles including the personification of the underground train system (Kudos to costumer Clint Ramos for the fabulous frock made of Metrocards she wears.) But In Transit remains a forgettable trip as soon as you step off. Watch the closing doors.

Richard Greenberg’s The Babylon Line, at Lincoln Center’s Off-Broadway Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, also uses a train system as a central metaphor and has familiar situations and characters
but not as shopworn and shallow as those in Transit. The main conceit has struggling Greenwich Village-based author Aaron Port (a solid Josh Radnor) taking the titular reverse commute to 1967 Levittown, Long Island to teach a creative writing course to bored housewives (funny and moving Randy Graff, Julie Halston, and Maddie Corman) and assorted misfits (intriguing Frank Wood and Michael Oberholtzer). Of course there is a stunningly talented student (valiant Elizabeth Reaser) who just happens to be pretty and sports a Southern accent and eccentric past right out of a Flannery O’Connor short story. The teacher and pupil’s electric connection is the juice of the play along with Greenberg’s pointed observations on nonconformism and literature. In his previous works such as Take Me Out, The Violet Hour, and Three Days of Rain, the playwright can get too wordy with the characters just sounding like they swallowed dictionaries. Even though the theme is literary aspiration, Greenberg wisely avoids verbosity and celebrates the power of stories to transform and inform.

Terry Kinney’s subtle staging, with the aide of David Weiner’s versatile lighting and Richard Hoover’s pliable set, keeps this train moving with few bumps.

The voyage of Kaija Saariaho’s modern opera L’Amour De Loin was not as smooth at the performance attended at the Metropolitan. As he did with his famous Ring Cycle, director Robert LePage has installed a gigantic machine at the center of his staging. This time it’s a sort of moving staircase which looks like an oil derrick. This monster malfunctioned and caused a delay between scenes (similar mishaps with machinery occurred the Ring). Despite the slight technical snafu, LePage’s gorgeous production of this shimmeringly beautiful meditation on love from afar (a translation of the title) hypnotizes. Michael Currey’s glittery seascape of a set becomes a living, breathing entity thanks to “lightscape image designer”(that’s a new credit) Lionel Arnould.

Saariaho’s 2000 work has been criticized for its lack of action. The only things that happens is a troubadour falls in love with a distant noblewoman, travels across the sea to meet her, and promptly dies when he arrives. Yet the magnificently rich vocals of Eric Owens as the pining musician, Susanna Phillips as the object of his affection, and Tamara Mumford as the seafaring pilgrim who brings them together make this an operatic journey worth savoring.

In Transit: Opened Dec. 11 for an open run. Circle in the Square,
1633 Broadway, NYC. Tue, Thu, 7 pm; Wed, Fri-Sat, 8 pm; Wed, Sat, 2 pm; Sun, 3 pm. Running time: one hour and 45 mins. with no intermission. $89-$159. (212) 239-6200. www.telecharge.com. Photo: Joan Marcus

The Babylon Line: Dec. 5—Jan. 22. Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, Lincoln Center, 150 W. 65th St., NYC. Tue-Sat, 8 pm; Wed, Sat, 2 pm; Sun, 3 pm. Running time: two hours and 20 mins. including intermission. $77-$87. (212) 239-6200. www.telecharge.com. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

The Babylon Line

 L’Amour De Loin:  Dec. 1—29.
Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, 66th St. and Broadway, NYC. Repertory schedule. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. $27—$460. (212) 362-6000 or www.metopera.org. Photo Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

L’Amour deLoin

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 A captivating solo concert, “My Love Letter to Broadway,” at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre through Nov. 13 is an eclectic selection of songs and personal reminiscences.

By: Patrick Christiano

Tony and Emmy award winner Kristin Chenoweth is a Broadway star from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, an adorable mashup of contradictions, a bubbly blond with a powerhouse voice in a diminutive 4’11” frame, a glamorous diva and a hilarious self-deprecating comedian, who happens to be a staunch LGBTQ activist and a devout Christian. She’s got a bright legit opera voice and a deliriously entertaining down to earth style. And she commanded the stage at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre with the ease and intimacy of a veteran performer having a great time living large. The evening she said was a dream come true, and those in attendance were blessed as well.

The show blends showtunes, standards, pop, country and gospel into a uniquely captivating evening that is as original as the Star herself.  Dressed in glamorous yet edgy Christian Sirian outfits in shades of fuchsia that accented the Star’s sexy petite figure and legs Chenoweth owned the stage with her playful style and amazing powerhouse pipes.

Elegantly directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, who has directed Chenoweth’s touring appearances in recent years, the show begins with the Star in a pink bathrobe writing a letter to producer James L. Nederlander, giving us her history about being a girl from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, who dreams of Broadway, while singing “You Made Me Love You.” The robe comes off to reveal the Star in a secquined fuchsia hot-pants romper in which she struts her stuff to “Let Me Entertain You,” from Gypsy. Without hardly skipping a beat she moved effortlessly into a stunning rendition of “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady impressively showing off her celebrated operatic high notes.

She’s accompanied by five terrific musicians led by music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell. A program note from the Star said the show will be different every night. The third performance, which I attended, was indeed different from reports of opening night. Each evening she is joined by a different guest star, and 12 different choirs will share the stage each night as well. Alan Cumming, a dear friend who co-hosted the Tony Awards with her last season, joined her from the audience for some witty banter recalling moments from their friendship over the years, before launching into a spirited “Easy Street.” At Friday’s show the choir from Pace University joined her on two songs. First up was a stirring Jesus song “Upon this Rock,” which the Star quipped “If you’re an atheist this will be over in four minutes.” And her signature song, “Popular” from Wicked was part of the show. This time,  however, the song was turned into a funny parody on The Donald calling the Star for advice.

Chenoweth’s voice is remarkable, supple an controlled. One of the many highlights of the evening was a medley of Willie Nelson’s “You Are Always on My Mind” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind,” which demonstrated her superb skill. Her rendition of “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables, one of the Star’s favorite shows, soared with haunting authenticity. The selections from her new album, “The Art of Elegance,” were beautiful as well. They included “I Get Along Without You Very Well” and the Burt Bacharach-Hal David standard, “A House is Not a Home,” along with “Smile,” performed as an encore with a depth of feeling that was moving and fresh. Chenoweth enchants with effervescent ease, a soaring soprano with a unique blend of contradictions that keeps you smiling throughout two plus hours of entertainment.

“My Love Letter to Broadway” runs through November 13, 2017 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46^th Street. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes. For tickets  call 800-745-3000 or ticketmaster.com

Sgt. Stubby, The Great American War Dog Musical

By: Patrick Christiano

The best thing about Sgt. Stubby, The Great American War Dog Musical is that the show sheds light on a remarkable canine and his heroic efforts during World War I. Stubby, the official mascot of the 102nd Infantry, was a stray that served in the military for 18 months participating in 17 battles on the Western Front, while ultimately becoming a decorated war hero and being promoted to the rank of Sergeant in the process. At home his feats were front-page news documenting how he saved his regiment from a surprise mustard gas attack, rescued the wounded, and once even caught a German soldier by the seat of his pants holding him prisoner until American soldiers found him.

Returning home after the war, Stubby was a celebrity leading parades and meeting with Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Warren G. Harding. For nearly a decade after the war Stubby was the most famous animal in the United States. When he died in 1926 the “New York Times” honored him with an obituary that was half a page long.

Many of Stubby’s adventures are included in the musical, written and directed by Jack Dyville, with pleasant tunes by Lawrence Wankel. The two men share credit for co-writing the lyrics, which are serviceable in moving the story along, while doing little to develop the characters.

The heartwarming tale follows Stubby’s journey from a stray hanging out with his cronies, Penelope, Marvin, and Ralphie, to being adopted by the 102nd infantry chronicling his heroics while winning over their reluctant Captain, and finally his triumphant return to the states and reunion with his fellow strays. The story is a sure-fire crowd pleaser for dog lovers and history buffs, but unfortunately the sound design is a challenge the production fails to rise above. The quality of the pre-recorded music is consistently poor.

The likeable cast, apparently chosen for their dancing skills, turn in earnest work under Mr. Dyville’s guidance, however their performances are broadly one dimensional, and their singing voices are difficult to hear without mics. There is little delineation between the humans and the dogs, except face paint on the animals. Adding short tails or stubs for tails and more fur to the costumes would have gone a long way in establishing the canines, and possibly given the actors something to play with while attempting to embody the dogs. As staged, the actors come across as people playing a quality with only Meghan Miller successfully transforming herself into a believable dog.

Stubby will also be memorialized on film in Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero, an upcoming animated film scheduled for release in Spring 2018, featuring the voices of Gérard Depardieu and Helena Bonham Carter directed by former Disney and DreamWorks animator Daniel St. Pierre, with music by Academy Award nominee Patrick Doyle.

Sgt. Stubby, the Great American War Dog Musical opened on Saturday,  December 3, 2016 at St Luke’s Theater, 308 West 46^th Street, and is now playing an open-ended run with performances on Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at 2PM. For tickets call 212-2396200 or in person at the box office.

Photos: Lynn Manuell & Barry Gordin

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