Ok, so maybe this MUFTI is the closest we'll ever get to a Broadway revival of GOLDEN RAINBOW.
The new book is a mess, and I gather the old one was too. Larry (Max Von Essen) is a conman who owns a crappy motel in Vegas, and his wife has died, leaving him to run it alongside his 10 year old son, Ally (Benjamin Pajak). He cons his successful sister-in-law into coming out to Vegas from NY (Mara Davi) because he needs money. There's also Jill (Danielle Greaves), a woman who owns a diner nearby, who's also sort of a surrogate parent to Ally...except she's Black, which isn't addressed, but there's certainly an undertone of racism & classism from Judy. And then there's a stereotypical Mob boss opening a hotel next door and Larry wants to get into business with him (Robert Cuccioli). In the end, Judy & Larry fall for each other, but the show ends with all FOUR of our main characters singing "We Got Us" after they've decided to rescue Jill's business (a sudden problem in the final moments of the show). The title song also serves an identical purpose to LUCK BE A LADY, a reminder of a superior show about gamblers.
Composer Walter Marks has rewritten the score and book, cutting some faves (It's You Again), rewriting others (For Once In Your Life, Taking Care of You, Taste, Mom/Kid, the Casino show sequences), and adding new-to-me songs (Same Old Song & Dance, Matter of Time, You Put In Good, Suddenly You).
It's no longer a duo for a man & woman: It's the Larry show, with Ally, Jill, and Judy pulling equal weight in supporting roles. Tone is all over the place. Larry's an unlikeable ****heel who might be endangering his son, but Judy's an ice-queen trying to insert herself into her nephew's life and take him away from his legal guardian. So you're left to root for the kid and hope he's ok with these grownups having no-stakes fights around him.
It's nicely sung (even if Max Von Essen isn't right vocally), and expertly played by a 4-piece band including a real grand piano. It sounds better than some shows with larger ensembles because it's played passionately by people who know the style.
Maybe a real bookwriter, director, and stars could have made sense of it, but the show is probably a lost cause. If it doesn't get rained out this weekend (the theatre is in an attractive church basement), this might be your only moment to see GOLDEN RAINBOW on a New York stage.
