The
By Jayne
Blanchard
Published April 20, 2007
MetroStage's peppy production of
"The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)," Eric Rockwell and Joanne
Bogart's melodic and pun-filled parody of Broadway titans, is an unabashed joy
for devotees of musical theater -- not only will you get most of the aural and
visual jokes, but you'll also want to return a few times to catch the stuff you
might have missed from laughing too hard.
Yet, Broadway neophytes will also warm to the show's
terrifically talented cast and broad comedy.
Directed with tongue-in-cheek razzle-dazzle by Larry
Kaye, "Musical of Musicals" is reminiscent of the "Forbidden
Broadway" series, Monty Python's "Spamalot"
and "The Producers" in its loving purloining of Broadway conventions
and song stylings.
Mr. Rockwell and Miss Bogart take the basic story line
from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "
The sole musical accompaniment is provided by the
excellent Dan Kazemi, who steps from behind the piano
from time to time to deliver droll commentaries, not to mention star in the
show's rousing closing number "Done," a takeoff of the song
"One" from "A Chorus Line."
The composers are daffily
on-target with the opening ode to Rodgers and Hammerstein, which is a corn-fed
tribute to "
Rodgers and Hammerstein's penchant for sentimental
duets and profound "tell a story in a song" lyrics is skewered in the
hilarious love song "I Don't Love You" and other ditties. There's
even the requisite dream ballet, here, a pas de deux
with corn, executed with mock Agnes de Mille solemnity by Miss Gulisano-Sunday and Mr. Sunday.
Sondheim mavens can forget their troubles, come on, get happy basking in the angst-riddled satire of "A
Little Complex," which is essentially "Company" and
"Follies" by way of "Into the Woods" and "Sweeney
Todd." This playlet features a deliciously
tortured artist (Mr. Smith) who turns murderous once he finds out one of the
tenants threw his art out in the trash and muses, "What would be the
matter with the murder of a model?"
Mr. Smith, a veteran song-and-dance man with an
amusingly wicked touch, is all of Mr. Sondheim's artfully tormented heroes
rolled into one. Miss Migliaccio has a deliciously
deadpan turn delivering one of Mr. Sondheim's trademark "been there, done
that" songs with Elaine Stritch-like panache.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's reputation for maddening
repetition and ripping off other composers is skewered in "Aspects of Junita," in which an Evita-like
figure (Miss Gulisano-Sunday) is chastized
by a character not unlike Che (Mr. Sunday) and also
wooed by the mysterious Phantom (Mr. Smith), who pulls off his mask to reveal
he's really a Jellicle cat.
Mr. Smith, who is once again a stitch here, also
contributes a suave, Noel Coward-esque performance as
a gay boulevardier in the Jerry Herman parody, "Dear Abby," in which
Miss Migliaccio out-dames both Mame
and Dolly.
Perhaps the highlight in an evening of showstoppers is
"Speakeasy," in the style of Kander and
Ebb's "Cabaret," "
The corn is higher than an elephant's eye in "The
Musical of Musicals," but so what? The show is more fun than the umpteenth
revival of "Grease" and, sadly, more clever and tuneful than most of
what passes for Broadway moxie these days.