The kid playing the Robert Morse role in York's "Enter Laughing" Mufti thing

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 12:26am

Some guy named Josh Grisetti, no credits to speak of, and AN ABSOLUTE STAR. This kid's got to be seen to be believed.

And what a hell of a lot of fun this show is! I've had the CD for years and loved it for being so un-PC, and the score is delish, but I wasn't prepared to be absolutely unhinged with laughter. Richard Kind is a pisser. One wonders what went wrong with the original, other than Morse being about thirty years too old. Anyone see it?

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 9:58am

So Long 174th Street/Enter Laughing was okay, but had no reason to exist. As entertainment it pleased without being memorable. The play was not enhanced with the addition of song and dance. (Find the movie with Elaine May and Jose Ferrer among many others. Its a hoot.) The cast was splendid and the work was very good, but it refused to soar.

"The Butler's Song" also known as "He's Screwing Dolores Del Rio..." works better as a stand alone song than a show song. It was dropped in as a fantasy number. George S. Irving made the most of it.

In a busy spring for high profile flops (Rex & 1600 Penna Ave) the show had no advance and no must-see factor either.

I know the show. I worked backstage.

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 11:51am

Interesting. . .

You know, it looked so good in a bare bones production up there on the York's minuscule stage, a lot like the unpretentious straight play version I remembered seeing at The Henry Millers with Adam Arkin (who was also years too old, but no one cared) when I was a teenager. The musical numbers were also done less bombastically than on the album. Stuff like "He Touched Her Breast" and "Men" were slyly delightful without knocking you over the head.

And, as I said, that kid, Josh Grisetti, was so charismatic, it was just nuts.

I was laying in bed this morning, trying to figure out how old Morse must have been when he did the show. Near forty, no?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 12:58pm

It was Alan Arkin, not Adam. Adam would have been about 7 or 8 when Enter Laughing played on Broadway.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 1:37pm

Bobby Morse was looking into the jaws of fifty when 174th St happened. He may have already been on the dark side of fifty.

That is why the show is told in flashback so it sets Bobby's real age at the start and at the curtain, and then lets the audience adjust to him as an 18 year old for the actual story. At least that was the premise and it basically worked.

Is the show now told in flashback?

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 2:23pm

Josh Grisetti is a force of nature on stage. I was blown away by him.

This score is SO underappreciated, and sounds unbelievable at the York.

[GladysBumps]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 4:50pm

ALAN Arken, of course, MY senior moment. In fact, since Adam's mother, Barbara Dana, played Wanda in the play, maybe Adam was but a gleam in Alan's eye at the time.

As for the flashback thing: No, not really. There was a music stand on stage at the beginning with an Enter Laughing scrip on it, which the divine Josh crossed to, and peeked into, thereby setting the whole show in motion. But he was age appropriate, totally believable as a kid just out of high school, so there was no need.

I wonder why they did this Mufti a second time. Do you suppose there is a chance of an Off B'way life. God knows, Josh is ready, he was completely off script.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/14/07 at 6:39pm

I throughly enjoyed the original. The theater however was absolutely hideous.

The score is very underappreciated & did not deserve the crap that was heaped on it. The CD is a very good one to listen to.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 8:47am

Grisetti and Kind were fabulous. And the songs were hysterical, extremely well crafted with brilliant lyrics.

Yet the show itself seemed oddly insubstantial and thin. And David Kooplowitz isn't all that interesting a character. I had fun, but even with less good comic songs, THE BODY BEAUTIFUL was far more memorable.