Smiling, The Boy Fell Dead

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 2:17pm

After two disappointing MUFTIs, I had a grand old time at Smiling, the Boy Fell Dead last evening.

The musical original played at The Cherry Lane in 1961 and is a spoof of Horatio Alger stories. I have never read one of Alger's stories and had no idea what the show was trying to poke fun at. What happens when your target of satire has become so esoteric that it has lost any cultural significance? Do you just play the material straight? Try to tell the story without the spoof? That's how I was forced to take it in, and (mostly) I found myself delighted with the results.

I think the credit has to go to the cast, all of whom really wonderful. Judy Kaye is a priceless treasure and Tony Roberts got thunderous applause from his act one solo, "Environment-Heredity." Rose Hemingway had such comic timing that she never was fully allowed to show off in How to Succeed and Matt Dengler, who played Harold in Harold and Maude at MUFTI, was the perfect lead.

The score was fun, with my favorite songs being "A World To Win," "The Wonderful Machine," "I've Got a Wonderful Future," "Dear Old Dad" and especially "Two By Two." With all the shows that have been recorded at The York this one really deserves to be preserved; I MUST hear "Two By Two" again!!

The book scenes were a little tedious, but I'm going to blame myself for not understanding what they were spoofing rather than blaming the show. Sometimes the episodes felt like dull SNL material, but whenever the score kicked back in I completely forgot the book scene before it.

So glad I went and I urge others to go as well.