"I was miserably bored the whole time. I seriously considered leaving at intermission. There is no doubt that Chenoweth is very talented (I enjoyed the audition scene) but her performance didn't hold a candle to the deep and rich performances of Chita and Kelli. I guess it's not my kind of show. It wasn't funny and the story was too flimsy and fluffy for my taste. I guess some people just want to be entertained for a few hours."
Geez, it's looking like the people that really liked this production are extremely shallow and probably find The Three Stooges to be sophisticated. As the show is going away, I'll try to defend the dullards that really enjoyed it with a look back at the reviews.
Brantley:
In the theater, there is overacting, which is common and painful to watch. Then there’s over-the-moon acting, which is rare and occupies its own special cloud land in heaven. I am delighted to report that this latter art is being practiced in altitudinous-high style at the American Airlines Theater, where Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher are surfing the stratosphere in "On the Twentieth Century."
Scott Ellis’s ripping, lavishly appointed revival of this 1978 musical about dueling giant egos on a train between Chicago and New York — which opened on Sunday night in a Roundabout Theater Company production — knows that when it comes to being hyperbolic, there’s no people like show people. No, not even excitable reviewers like me on the morning after a show like this one. There are so many reasons to celebrate this "On the Twentieth Century," which features a score by Cy Coleman, with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Brantley's brain has become addled, you say. He loved Honeymoon in Vegas - twice!
What comes after the New York Times? According to Billy Joel, The Daily News:
Next stop, Broadway musical bliss.
That’s where the Roundabout revival of "On the Twentieth Century," directed with verve by Scott Ellis, takes you.
The setting for this fast-paced, flab-free screwball operetta by Cy Coleman, Betty Comden and Adolph Green is a luxury coach en route from Chicago to New York in the 1930s. The stylish state-of-the-art locomotive by David Rockwell gleams in brilliant Art Deco glory.
But that’s nothing compared to the practically nuclear glow that comes off Kristin Chenoweth, whose singular talent and skills are tailor-made for a role originated on Broadway in 1978 by Madeline Kahn.
Throw in a short one from the Post:
“They don’t write dialogue like this anymore,” a producer says, leafing through the Bible in “On the Twentieth Century.” And they don’t write musical comedies like this anymore, either. Gloriously revived by the Roundabout Theatre Company, this 1978 musical — now with sparkling turns by Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher — is a fast-paced romp.
Set entirely on the 20th Century Limited train from Chicago to New York, the show — music by Cy Coleman, book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green — barrels down the tracks to theatrical bliss.
And the not-easy-to-please Linda Winer, theater critic at Newsday for around thirty years. Her favorite musical, or at least one of her very favorite musicals, is Sunday in the Park with George.
Where has "On the Twentieth Century" been for the last 37 years? If, indeed, the 1978 musical-comedy has been saving itself for just the right mad screwball alchemy, then, all right, this was worth the wait.
Ego, love and the lovingly egomaniacal theatricality of theater people are the subjects of the Roundabout Theatre Company's breathlessly charming revival of a show about which, I admit, I never before have felt the slightest bit bonkers.
But the real subject of director Scott Ellis' production is expertise. From the virtuosic, wildly endearing Peter Gallagher as fading Broadway director Oscar Jaffe and the equally dazzling Kristin Chenoweth as movie queen Lily Garland through every supporting cast member, the show builds respect -- showstopper by showstopper -- for Cy Coleman's terrifically demanding operetta-and-jazz-inspired music and for some of the most clever lyrics ever written by that cleverness machine, Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
That's the four local newspapers. I'll give you a break and stop here.
