[NEohioPAL] Anyone Can Whistle Reviews: Plain Dealer and Jewish News

[Martin Friedman]

Here is the link to Cleveland Plain Dealer review by Don Rosenberg
 
http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2012/02/lakeland_civic_theatre_gives_i.html
 
Here is the link to Cleveland Jewish News review by Fran Heller. 

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/leisure/arts/article_da81268e-5273-11e1-b180-001871e3ce6c.html

Subject is Sondheim in delightful production Anyone Can Whistle 
By Fran Heller
J. Bowden Hapgood (Dan Folino) and Fay Apple (Katherine DeBoer) find romance while trying to save a bankrupt town in “Anyone Can Whistle.” 
There are two ways of looking at "Anyone Can Whistle" by Stephen Sondheim: As a critical and commercial flop, which it certainly was, closing after nine performances on Broadway in 1964 and never revived again except in concert form and on college campuses. Or: as a bold, daring musical way ahead of its time when more conventional musicals such as "Hello Dolly," "Funny Girl," "Oliver!" and "Fiddler" were the norm.
After seeing a delightful production of this early Sondheim work at Lakeland Civic Theatre, I can say both are correct. Arthur Laurents's book about a bankrupt town in search of an economic miracle is convoluted and incomprehensible, a strange coupling of musical comedy and theater of the absurd that is diffuse and as dry as the drought that afflicts the town in question. But, the musical's strength lies in its original and robust score, a lush combination of melody and sardonic lyrics that would become the trademark of a Sondheim work. In "Anyone Can Whistle," Sondheim also introduces his idea of the "concept musical," a more cerebral type of musical theater that addresses the mores of the times.
In director Martin Friedman's innovative take, the show's principal weakness, a muddled plot, takes a back seat to the wonderful music, exceptional leads, an energetic and hardworking ensemble, and a phenomenal set that plays a key role in keeping the show rolling. Friedman deftly proves that the sum of the production is greater than its individual components. The Lakeland production, playing through Sunday, Feb. 19, is so pleasurable that it isn't long before the wacky storyline ceases to be as important.
The story centers on a small town on the skids. To avoid bankruptcy, the town's corrupt politicos launch a scheme to create a phony miracle - water flowing from a rock - that will become a mecca for tourists and a gold mine for the crooked mayor and her cronies.
Matters complicate when the head nurse at the local sanitarium called The Cookie Jar, which houses the "socially pressured" (i.e. insane), leads a group of patients (called Cookies) to drink from the well. Fearing that the crazies will prove the miracle a fake, the mayor and her henchmen seek to foil the nurse's intentions. The plot gets even
crazier from here on in.
The allure of this production begins with Trad A Burns's awesome set, one of the best I've seen on the Lakeland stage. The proscenium is framed on three sides by row houses with large windows that give it a distinctly urban feel. Boarded up doors and loose planks of wood suggest a metropolis on the verge of decay. A reversible stairwell fronting the buildings allows for nonstop movement and flowing crowd scenes that are an indispensable part of the success of this production. The constant ebb and flow of ensemble members cleverly makes the crowd scenes seem more crowded.
A Rube Goldberg-like contraption dominates the center of the town square, where the miracle takes place. Water spouting from this loony contraption ramps up the intrigue and interest, even when the story sags.
"Anyone Can Whistle" satirizes corrupt politicians, the commercialization of religion in the guise of miracles and conformity, punching holes in conventional notions of sanity and insanity.
Even in this early work, there are ample examples of Sondheim's genius in such rich and original vocal numbers as "There Won't Be Trumpets" and the titular song. My favorite is "Everybody Says Don't," a terrific song about living life bravely and taking risks.
The cast is stellar. A voluptuous Amiee Collier, dressed in Harold Crawford's fetching purple, shimmies and shakes as mayor Cora Hoover Hooper, who turns a blind eye to her lackeys' unethical scheme to make the town - oops, themselves - rich again. The mayor's henchmen are Comptroller Schub (the suitably smarmy Trey Gilpin), Treasurer Cooley (a fawning Thomas Hill) and the skirt-chasing Chief of Police Magruder (Aaron Elersich). Cora's song with her boys, "I've Got You to Lean On," choreographed by Jennifer Justice, is another eye-catching number.
Katherine DeBoer is dynamite as nurse Fay Apple, with a great voice to match. In the aforementioned "There Won't Be Trumpets," Fay fantasizes about a mythical hero she hopes will come and save the town from the scam. Help arrives in the form of J. Bowden Hapgood (the inimitable Dan Folino), a reluctant hero who falls in love with the heroine.
DeBoer and Folino beautifully convey the growing attraction between Fay and Hapgood. Their delightful duet "Come Play Wiz Me," a song of seduction in which Fay appears dressed as a Gallic soubrette (she can only let her hair down in disguise), is, as the French would say, charmant.
This is a first-rate show in which director Friedman, a Sondheim aficionado, takes a weak script and magically makes it work. Worth seeing for the production values alone.
WHAT: "Anyone Can Whistle"
WHERE: Lakeland Civic Theatre, Lakeland Community College, 7700 Clocktower Dr., Kirtland
WHEN: Through Feb. 19
TICKETS & INFO: 440-525-7526 (tix), 440-525-7034 (info)

 
 
Lakeland Civic Theatre gives its best voice to 'Anyone Can Whistle'
by Don Rosenberg 

Musicals that fall on their faces often possess scores to cherish. Think about Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Allegro" or Strouse and Schwartz's "Rags," among many others. 
High on this list is "Anyone Can Whistle," the first show with both music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim after "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." Working with book writer Arthur Laurents, his colleague from "West Side Story" and "Gypsy," Sondheim wrote a score of infectious pizazz and poetry. 
But the 1964 musical lasted only a week, its blend of the absurd and the farcical confusing audiences and critics. The work, though full of hot air, is worth consideration, if mostly to hear a young Sondheim flexing brilliant muscles. 
The enjoyable production of "Anyone Can Whistle" that Lakeland Civic Theatre is presenting this month reveals the show's strengths and weaknesses, while giving three stellar leads the chance to soar. 
REVIEW
Anyone Can Whistle 
What: Lakeland Civic Theatre presents the musical by Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, staged by Martin Friedman. 
When: Weekends through Sunday, Feb. 19.7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Where: Lakeland Com munity College, 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland. 
Tickets: $15; $12, seniors; $7, students. Call 440-525-7134. 
Martin Friedman, staging his 10th Sondheim show, has restored several songs cut from the 1964 production and placed the show in two acts, rather than the original three-act format. 
Little tinkering, alas, can rescue the scatterbrained narrative about a down-and-out town whose mayoress ("yes," as Sondheim's lyric insistently tells us) gives the green light for a phony miracle to lure tourists. 
When the visitors get mixed up with the denizens of the town's Cookie Jar -- i.e., asylum -- mayhem ensues. Joining the fray are an uptight nurse unable to commit (whistle) and the presumed psychiatrist with whom she has a fling. All the world's a mad stage, the show appears to be saying, but without sufficient point. 
The show has a crazy, quirky appeal whenever the Lakeland cast is merrily or tenderly immersed in Sondheim-land. There isn't enough room onstage for the chase dance to register, but Friedman keeps the story in forward motion on Trad A Burns' imposing town set. 
Kathy SandhamAmiee Collier, center, as the mayoress, and the citizens of her town celebrate the miracle in the Lakeland Civic Theatre production of "Anyone Can Whistle."
However uneven the material may be, the production's leads are impossible to resist. Amiee Collier savors the fine line between giddiness and hysteria that fuels the machinations of the buxom mayoress, Cora Hoover Hooper, and belts her numbers to the rafters. 
Katherine DeBoer, the marvelous Charlotte in Fairmount Center for the Arts' recent production of Sondheim's "A Little Night Music," does a mean impression of a French floozy, who's actually rigid nurse Fay Apple under the red wig. DeBoer makes every moment count, whether she's oozing Gallic sexiness or winning hearts in the wistful title song. 
The visitor who falls for Fay is J. Bowden Hapgood, a sort of Harold Hill of mental illness. Dan Folino plays the role for all its dapper and enterprising worth, investing Hapgood with enough charm to fool all of the people some of the time. 
The other cast members, including the mayoress's cronies, do high-energy work in a show that is frustrating and preachy, if also exploding with hints of greater Sondheim things to come. 
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