I'm glad to see the discussion revolve around the show, and not just whether Murphy delivers. I love classics, well done, and wanted to love this one. I was startled by how creaky this book is -- not just because the jokes fail to land (and truly, it's almost zinger-free), but in the craft sense. For example: The Wreck is set up as a major player in act one, with two numbers, and then semi-disappears--with zero impact on the story, or the two sisters whose life he has entered. Or vice versa. His weighty participation without payoff is typical of the general sloppiness in integrating the supporting roles into a coherent through-line. And it's not like they're all so damned funny that just having them pop up brings the house down. This initial post is EXACTLY how the show played at a Sunday matinee I saw before Christmas. The orchestra was the star.
The show's 2nd act is just more of the same, "madcap" misadventures that do not build to on-stage catharsis for any of the characters. The sisters do a finale that is an old number they used to do -- not even a new song in their new NYC lives, born of the unique circumstances they find themselves in. They just "decide to sing it." And then the tiresome Gregg E. character shows up and kisses Ruth, in a spotlight. I'm sorry, but WONDERFUL TOWN's story is ostensibly Ruth's, yet she doesn't take action to bring about any of the significant turns in the plot, including the pivitol one -- getting the Gregg. E. character to finally fall for her.
All of that arbitrary plotting and strain to shoe-horn in musical numbers takes the focus off the leading lady. I guess it worked with Roz, because she was a galvinizing comic presence, whose sheer force of personality turned the show into Ruth's "story." Murphy is a gifted singing actress, but no matter what Brantley says, to me she alone cannot turn "WT" into "blissfull perfection."
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 1/25/04 at 03:59 PM
