Thoughts on NANETTE — Page 2

Loved it.

Highlights: Rosie and her vacuum, Beth and her blues.

People were actually whistling "Tea for Two" all the way to the subway.

I saw this yesterday afternoon as well and loved it. I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually wished that Rosie had more lines! To me, the highlight was the final tap dance number, it was hilarious. The entire show was just adorable though.

---

I think my favorite line might be, "No decent woman has two hundred dollars!"

Except that the BlueGobo clip is missing about half of the dancers. One of the most stunning moments in Donald Saddler's original choreography is when dozens of dancers came racing from all directions of the house to join in the group tap.

---

Slight spoiler, in case anyone is seeing tomorrow's performance.

There used to be a line in the script after the vacuum cleaner explodes. When she sees Pauline surrounded by smoke, Sue had a line that was something like, "Pauline, i thought you had given up smoking." Not sure if I have the line worded correctly, but that was the general idea. Also, the vacuum cleaner used to return to cozy up lovingly to Pauline in "Take a Little One Step" until she banishes it to the wings. I wish they had kept that.

---

The book of The Making of No No Nanette is so absolutely accurate about the feeling in the audience when Ruby Keeler came onstage. They were so clever to keep her tap dancing held back until later in the show and I still remember the electric flash that ran through the house when she came out in what were clearly tap shoes.

It's interesting to see how utterly basic her tapping is by standards after we've had decades of Tommy Tune and Greggory Hines and Sutton Foster et al, but now that I think about it, she was the only real, visceral link I ever had with the 1930s. Seeing her live on stage (because I never saw Ginger Rogers dance) is the only authentic memory of tht golden age I have.

It's alsoi a shame, BTW that Bobby Van isn't preserved on that Tony tape. He was wonderful.

---

Look, I hsve no idea how Charles Kimbrough did, 'cause I can't see the show, but I do take a little umbrage at the 'stunt casting' remark. The man started out on Broadway, doing the original companies of COMPANY and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, plus a number of other shows. He's not Scary Spice - he has some street cred. Maybe he was having a bad night.

Quiet, please. There's a gentleman on stage.

---

Charles Kimbrough is a sweetheart.

---

Thanks, alterego, that's it. "I wish you wouldn't smoke on the job" is the gag line. At Encores, Rosie just said "It's one of those days" and Sue's line was cut. I was wondering why they would go to all of the trouble to have the vacuum explode, but cut the joke. Weird.

Yes, the "You Can Dance With Any Girl" Tony performance includes most of the number, with Van and Gallagher in very good form.

---

I definitely thought it was cute, and the cast did a great job with it (especially loved Beth Leavel and Rosie) but for me there was just something lacking that I can't put my finger on.

I definitely enjoyed it, but I would have no desire to see it again.

Problems that I think kept the lid on this Nanette: the performance style needs to heightened, which is something that Burt Shevelove must have brought to his original direction. You can hear some of the style of it in the dialogue bits on the Original Broadway Cast Recording, in the Finalettos. It's nonsense played like everything is a matter of life or death. Listen to Roger Rathburn's slightly stilted delivery of "That's a LIE! I mean that's NOT a lie!" or Ruby Keeler's melodramatic, "Why should you get an anonymous letter, or... overhear it in a powder room?" While it wasn't played straight at Encores, if the performance doesn't have a "can you believe this?" wink to it, it sits like lead.

Second thing is that while the orchestra technically played well and the orchestrations sounded as great as ever, I think the orchestra never went over the top to pure abandon. The playing was a bit reserved.

As I indicated above, I still enjoyed myself, but believe the show can make an even stronger impression when everything about it is set to 11.

---