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A CurtainUp Los Angeles Review
They're Playing Our Song
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Did I do something to make you nervous?—Vernon Sonia: Yeah, you won two Grammys and an Academy Award.—Sonia |
Jason Alexander and Stephanie J. Block
(Photo: Ed Krieger) |
Alexander is a self effacing guy, and he would probably argue &mdash indeed, he has argued via the program introduction to his Reprise Theatre Company production of They're Playing our Song — that he has a knack for surrounding himself with smart and talented people. Well, the proof of that truth is romping all over John Iacovelli's giant Panasonic record player set for the two and a half frisk-filled hours.
Our Song is the 1979 semi-fictionalized examination of the creative and romantic partnership of composer Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager (who wrote the music and lyrics respectively for book writer Neil Simon). It's typically a sweet bauble of a show, a tuneful little ode to artfully written bits of era-specific pop candy and happy endings. The last time I saw it a few years back, Tony Award winner Scott Waara and Vicki Lewis played the hell out of it at North Hollywood's El Portal Theatre for director Dan Mojica. For some ridiculous reason that production opened in February after Valentine's Day.
Alexander, still every bit a legitimate stage star, might normally be headlining the Reprise production. He plays Vernon Gersch, the celebrated songwriter who goes nuts for Sonia, the kooky lyricist who walks into his life. Famous guy playing a famous guy, right? Star vehicle, no? Except in this very pleasing production for the company he oversees, Jason Alexander doesn't headline anything.
This musical is a two hander in which the girl has the better songs and the dramatic circumstance to break an audience's heart. Director Lonny Price, another talented guy, certainly knows this, and Alexander knows it too. So our Vernon blowguns out those witty comebacks that only Neil Simon could have written, and he gets in touch with his inner Tony Manero via Josh Rhodes's choreography. And then Alexander gets the hell off the stage and lets Stephanie J. Block show us, again, why somebody needs to write a musical for her. Something better than The Pirate Queen and less corny than 9 to 5, if you please. It may be something about the songs Black gets to sing, Simon's love of his female characters or the way that Sonia Walsh is peeled back from being the pushy annoying flake of first impression to the show's beating heart. Vicki Lewis, a very different actress if also quite engaging, showed every bit of her abilities when she belted out numbers like "If He Really Knew Me" and "If You Remember Me."
Block will take your breath away. Alexander, her frequent scene partner, graciously lets her do it. This Sonia is a little bit gangly, strategically uncomfortable in her own skin, but more often every bit in control. When she invites — no, instructs — Vernon to dance during a date that she orchestrates to get away from work, Block lets the loopiness and the neuroses fall away. Underneath the flakiness is clearly a gem worth polishing, and Vernon would be a fool not to see it. And then just as startlingly, a thought occurs or a phone rings and Sonia is catapulted back to Leon, her former lover, and now a friend who Sonia can't stop watching over. This, of course, doesn't work well for Vernon who is trying to romance Sonia and work with her, but having trouble determining where one partnership ends and the other begins. Vernon, for all his success, has quirks aplenty as well and when Leon seems to be too much the relationship's third wheel, Vernon panics, makes up a flimsy excuse and bolts.
By now, Alexander has had so much practice playing a neurotic mixed up New Yorker that he could probably have done Gersch with under a week's worth of rehearsal (Reprise, if I remember correctly, gives you two). But he's not phoning in the work. You need to be on your toes to partner Block, and Alexander nails both the character's good heartedness and his exasperation . The actor's singing voice is strong and workmanlike, nothing out of practice.
Price and music director Bruce Kiesling stage the musical numbers with plenty of go-go spunk, especially when the Greek chorus of voices (three each for Sonia and Vernon) join the action and start boogieing. Applause for costumer designer Kate Bergh who manages to match some of the same unfortunate 70s regalia that Block dons to three actresses who play her voices.
There's a nice bit of nostalgia wash with an opening montage of photographs of icons from the 1970s: Jimmy Carter, Farrah, Cher, three shots each of Travolta and Redford. Karyl Newman's projections are splashed on what would be the cover of that magnificent turntable designed by Iacovelli. It even has a needle.
Visuals, ear candy songs, and the dual star wattage of Jason Alexander and Stephanie J. Block. All in all, it's a song with a pretty sweet sound.
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They're Playing Our Song Book by Neil Simon Music by Marvin Hamlisch Lyrics by Carol Bayer Sager Directed by Lonny Price Musical Direction by Bruce Kiesling Choreographer: Josh Rhodes Production Stage Manager: Jill Gold Cast: Jason Alexander (Vernon Gersch), Stephanie J. Block (Sonia Walsk Daniel Guzman (Vernon Voice), Jamey Hood (Sonia Voice), Christa Jackson (Sonia Voice), Dennis Kyle (Vernon Voice), Sylvia MacCalla (Sonia Voice), Christopher Zenner (Vernon Voice) Set Design: John Iacovelli Costume Design: Kate Bergh Lighting Design: Jared A. Sayeg Sound Design: Philip G. Allen Running Time: 2 hours 40 minutes with one intermission Presented by Reprise Theatre Company, Freud Playhouse, UCLA, Westwood From September 28 to October 10 Tue.-Sat. @ 8 pm, Sun. @ 7pm, Sat.-Sun. @2pm Reviewed by Evan Henerson, based on September 29 performance. |
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In the Heights
