KVOA

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 5:34 PM
Updated: Nov 20, 2009 5:35 PM

NEW YORK (AP) Let's salute one of the least appreciated conventions of musical theater the entr'acte.

That's French, folks, for the mini-overture before the beginning of a show's second act. And the one that pops up after intermission at "Girl Crazy," the 1930 Gershwin musical, is a humdinger indeed. In fact, it's the highlight of the mild concert version of the show that "Encores!" is staging at New York City Center.

The original orchestrations are by Robert Russell Bennett, one of Broadway's masters, and you can hear why. Right in the middle of the show's entr'acte there is a coronet riff on "I Got Rhythm" guaranteed to set heads bobbing and toes tapping. A definite spirit-lifter.

If only the rest of the show were as much fun as the sounds produced by its accomplished on-stage orchestra, which is under the direction of guest conductor Rob Fisher. But the production, using a severely pared-down adaptation by David Ives of the slender Guy Bolton-Jack McGowan book, suffers from casting that can best be described as serviceable. Not bad but unable to shake the rafters.

And the rafters must have been really trembling during the original run of the show nearly 80 years ago. The production featured a young lady named Ethel Merman belting her way through not only "I Got Rhythm" but several other Gershwin sizzlers including the torchy "Sam and Delilah" and "Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!"

In the Merman role, Ana Gasteyer is a game performer, and she can hold a note. But the brass and sass so associated with the legendary star is missing. The amazing Gershwin score music by George, lyrics by Ira served more than the Merm. It also features such standards as "Embraceable You" and "But Not for Me" as well as that faux cowboy hymn to inaction, "Bidin' My Time."

The slight, and we do mean slight, book concerns an Eastern playboy sent out West by his rich father to run a dude ranch and get away from the bright lights and female temptations of New York. Of course, they follow him there, and he hooks up with the pert local postmistress, a role played in 1930 by Ginger Rogers.

The two are played by Chris Diamantopoulos, an agile if bland performer, and Becki Newton, who is short on the necessary wistfulness as well as the sweet tone required of musical-comedy ingenues.

The evening's most successful performance is provided by comedian Wayne Knight as the New York taxicab driver who delivers the playboy out West and hangs around to become sheriff. Knight has the necessary cheerfulness and confidence to deliver the musical's parade of jokes, both good and bad. Also exuding that confidence is the underused Marc Kudisch, playing a character with the great stage name of Slick Follicle.

Director Jerry Zaks is known for his fast-paced productions and this one, given a boost by Warren Carlyle's hoe-down choreography, moves quickly. But it's those musicians who really drive the show.

"Girl Crazy," which opened Thursday, runs at City Center through Sunday. Next up for "Encores!" is "Fanny," Feb. 4-7, to be followed by "Anyone Can Whistle," April 8-11.