By Pat Craig
God, I wanted this to be good.
John Kander, Fred Ebb and Rupert Holmes are theatrical giants and three of my favorite theater types. "Curtains" was the last collaboration for Kander and Ebb before Ebb's death in 2004 (Holmes was brought in to complete the script with Kander).
So I wanted it to be good; a final, fitting and wonderful homage to the composers of "Chicago," "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Cabaret."
But it isn't, old, chum. The scenes in "Curtains," currently being produced by Diablo Theatre Company at Walnut Creek's Lesher Center, play like outtakes from a half dozen different musicals. The tunes seem tired, the comedy is telegraphed, and what could have been a delightful backstage whodunit is flatter than French pancakes.
This could explain why the show is only now having its Northern California premiere, and why it didn't tour while running on Broadway. Indeed, there is a production featuring David Hyde Pierce, star of the Broadway original, as Boston police detective Lt. Frank Cioffi, who is played in the Walnut Creek production by Tom Reardon; he channels the personality of a "Yankee Doodle Dandy"-era James Cagney.
Cioffi is the most interesting character in the piece — a tough cop who loves musical comedy. He comes in to investigate when leading lady Jessica Cranshaw (Julie Wall) is stricken during the Boston opening night curtain call and later dies of poisoning in the hospital.
Not only is Cioffi bent on solving the crime, but he is intent on having the show go on — to the point where he is even making suggestions on improving the musical as bodies start dropping like expectations for "Robbin' Hood," "Curtains" play-within-a-play.
Director Christopher Belling (a delightfully deranged and manic Paul Plain) tries to hold the whole thing together as Cioffi gathers clues and the cast grows increasingly disenchanted with being held prisoners by the detective while they try to rehearse for the second big opening night after the original star's demise.
The show is filled with sly jokes at early musical comedy ("Curtains" is, after all, set in 1959), but none of the gags seem to catch fire. And that really is the problem faced by the play as a whole; it never seems to work despite what appears to be an excellent comedy bone structure and all the possibilities in the world.
Perhaps the most touching part of the show is a tune called "I Miss the Music," sung by composer Aaron Fox (Derrick Silva) as a lament to his lost partner, ex-wife and collaborator Georgia Hendricks (Amy Nielson), who is tapped to replace the late lead. In light of what happened in real life, the song plays very much like a tribute from Kander to Ebb.
Contact Pat Craig at pjcraig495@yahoo.com.
# Theater review WHAT: Diablo Theatre Company presents "Curtains," by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Rupert Holmes
# WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 28
# WHERE: Lesher Center for the Arts, Civic Drive at Locust, Walnut Creek
# RUNNING TIME: 2 hours, 40 minutes
# TICKETS: $29-$42, 925-943-7469, www.lesherartscenter.org |
