'Lady' is better than good
By: Janos Gereben
Special to The Examiner
April 5, 2010
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Andrew Boyer plays crooked lawyer Watty Watkins, who tries to enlist performer Susie Trevor (the dynamic Rena Wilson), in his latest scheme in 42nd Street Moon’s “Lady Be Good!” (Courtesy photo)
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SAN FRANCISCO — 42nd Street Moon doesn't know its place. How dare a small, impecunious company in pursuit of “forgotten Broadway,” performing in tiny Eureka Theatre with only a few Equity members, put on a better-than-Broadway production of the Gershwin Brothers' 1924 “Lady Be Good!”?
It does. The Greg MacKellan/Stephanie Rhoads company opened with a dynamite first night on Saturday, to a wildly applauding, tickled-pink full house.
Under direction of Chris Smith, formerly of the Magic Theatre (acting), Dave Dobrusky (music), and Zack Thomas Wilde (choreography), the production’s better-than-Broadway quality comes from its sheer joy and vitality.
Overall, the music is bewitching. The piece's big tune, "Fascinating Rhythm,” gets a Hollywood-spectacular dance number.
The text and lyrics are hilarious, with some songs reminiscent of early-Sondheim in their intricacy and sophistication.
In this production of the Roaring ’20s musical – which was written for Fred and Adele Astaire and gave George and Ira Gershwin their first Broadway hit – the setting has been moved to San Francisco and Napa.
It's five years before the beginning of the Great Depression, but Susie and Dick Trevor wouldn't know the difference. Evicted and on the street, what are a brother and sister to do but sing and dance?
Rena Wilson plays Susie, the smart sister to Ian Simpson's Fred Astaire-charming Dick Trevor, and she is a comic delight, the star of the show.
Wilson's singing, acting and dancing dominate the stage, especially when she appears in a cockamamie disguise as a Carmen-Miranda widow from Mexico in search of an inheritance that doesn't belong to her.
The scheme is created by a crooked attorney Watty Watkins, the irrepressible comic relief, played by Andrew Boyer. All over the stage, he sings (rather than the romantic lead, he introduces the great title tune), cracks terrible jokes and even improvises. He’s a human dynamo having fun.
There are no weak links in the large cast, but some are more equal than others, with Lillian Askew Everdell's Daisy Parker first among them. A miniature Bernadette Peters, Everdell is a standout even though she gets only one number of her own, "We're Here Because" (with Ben Knoll as Bertie).
With smiles, laughs and many hummable tunes, "Lady Be Good!" is just what the doctor ordered, regardless of what ails you.
THEATER REVIEW
Lady, Be Good!
Presented by 42nd Street Moon
Where: Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson St., San Francisco
When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 6 p.m. Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays; plus 1 p.m. April 10; closes April 18
Tickets: $38 to $44
Contact: (415) 255-8207, www.42ndstmoon.org
