My thoughts on PAL JOEY

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 9:24am

I’ve never heard so many jokes land with such a thud as those in Joe Mantello’s old hat staging of Rodgers and Hart’s PAL JOEY. The jokes belong to Richard Greenberg, who crafted the new script for Roundabout’s production based on John O’Hara’s original which, in turn, was based on his stories about a cad named Joey Evans that ran in the New Yorker.

Joey is played by Matthew Risch, a glorified chorus boy. He can neither act nor sing, but he’s charming and can dance up a storm. Stockard Channing plays his cougar sugar mama Mrs. Vera Simpson. She can’t sing either (and to hear her butcher one of the best musical theater songs ever written is a shonda), but she acts it very well. Still, she’s saddled with awful, stale zingers like “You seem to be trying to save my soul and take my money… I didn’t expect this to be so much like church.”

Martha Plimpton, as nightclub performer Gladys Bumps, wipes the floor with both of them. She’s the greatest part of the production. I think the biggest surprise of 2008 was that she can sing and dance! Martha Plimpton is a true, bonafide triple threat and it wouldn’t surprise me if this earns her that long-deserved, much overdue Tony Award.

The sweet-voiced Jenny Fellner (Linda English) is a great discovery.

Unfortunately, the staging itself is entirely lethargic. Joe Mantello should take a vacation. Graciela Daniele's choreography is reliable and sufficient. I enjoyed the design elements a great deal. Yet, the whole thing provides a decent amount of entertainment with only a moderate amount of boredom. I'll credit that to the score.

The score is as much of a highlight as Plimpton. Under the baton of Paul Gemignani, the traditionally small Roundabout orchestra sounds remarkably full and robust. It’s too bad all of the funny jokes and wordplay – contained in Larry Hart’s GENIUS lyrics – were too intellectual for the audience (there was a collective WOOSH sound during "Zip!"). Much of the incidental music and underscoring sound like traditional Rodgers and bear a striking resemblance to SOUTH PACIFIC and OKLAHOMA!.

To close, a note to Paul Gemignani.

Mr. Gemignani, please refrain from checking your email on your iTouch during the show. The ghastly bright light is incredibly distracting in a darkened auditorium.

[kissmeimirish]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 11:47am

I agree that Martha Plimpton deserves a tony for this. As far as long overdue goes, didn't she win for 'Coast of Utopia' or am i dreaming?

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 12:48pm

I think Joe Mantello's prodigious nature is really starting to effect his work.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 1:03pm

lol, only Mr. Gemignani. I'll forgive him because of who he is.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 2:08pm

Jennifer Ehle won the Tony, not Plimpton.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 4:53pm

I agree that Martha Plimpton was a sheer delight, and while Zip didn't get as much laughter as I thought it would, and should, I don't think it landed with nearly that kind of thud the night that I saw it as the one described in this review.

Depending on where certain actresses end up in the nominations (i.e. Haydn Gwynn, best actress or featured actress) this could be a very tight race. I definitely think Martha's name is going to be up there.

I think the biggest surprise for me was how deep and husky Martha's singing voice was, especially since on the subway ride there that night her mother's version of Frank Mills came up on my iPod, so it was quite a contrast.

[kissmeimirish]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 4:56pm

then i was dreaming and in my dream martha won instead of Ehle :)

[mc1227]

Posted: 1/1/09 at 4:57pm

Joe Mantello is the most overrated director of our time. He manages to take good performers and proven material and manages to mess it up every time.

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 1/4/09 at 6:51pm

I don't know why everybody ganged up on this production. Matthew Risch sings, dances and acts well. I thought he and Stockard burned up the stage with their chemistry. Stockard may not be a great singer but I thought her speak-singing worked beautifully. As for Joe Mantello's direction, I thought it was well paced, crsip and suitably dark. The book, while not a masterpiece, is a definite improvement over the original. The new reduced orchestrations are jazzy, brassy and sound quite full.

I am getting the feeling that this revival of Pal Joey will have the same status of other maligned productions that years later will be celebrated and appreciated. The Matthew Warchus Follies revival and the Broadway production of "Sweet Smell of Success" were reviled by everybody but now are remembered fondly with nostalgia...

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/4/09 at 7:28pm

I doubt that. Follies and Sweet Smell were not huge success in their initial runs and probably deserved a second look (well, Follies, anyway) but Pal Joey is desecrating a great show (which actually became a hit with a faithful revival in the 50s - they didn't need to tinker with the book).

This is not a successfuul revival.

On another note, "ZIP" would probably have gone over much funnier if the director actually did something funny with all that name-dropping, maybe a 30s version of Wikipaedia in the bg or film footage or something that acknowledges the amazing lyrical soup that Hart cooked up.

Catherine's impressive blog www.paljoeyblog.com annotates the song wonderfully.

Updated On: 1/4/09 at 07:28 PM