Woody Allen Spoofs the 1920s in “Bullets Over Broadway”
By Skip Sheffield
“Bullets Over Broadway” was not one of Woody Allen’s better
films when it came out in 1994. The stage musical version, which debuted in
2014, is no improvement.
Nevertheless there is some fun to be had with the touring
production, which runs through Sunday, March 27 at Kravis Center in West Palm
Beach.
The show mixes original songs by Woody Allen, Douglas
McGrath and Glen Kelly with popular hits from the 1920s (the setting is 1929).
The story premise is the same as in the movie. David Shayne (Michael
Williams), a promising young playwright, has written his first play and is
desperate to raise the money to mount it on Broadway. David finds an unlikely
backer; a mobster named Nick Valenti (Michael Corvino). There is a catch, and
it is a big one. In order to release the funds, David has to agree to cast
Nick’s talentless, crass, screechy girlfriend Olive Neal (Gemma Jane) in a
principal role. Nick sends one of his enforcers, a guy who calls himself Cheech
(Jeffrey Brooks), as “protection” for Olive.
As it turns out, Cheech has more artistic talent than David
Shayne. It is his revisions that turn the show around into something really
worthy.
There are side plots. The overbearing Grand Dame star, Helen
Sinclair (Emma Stratton) sees David as a conquest. The problem is David already
has a girlfriend, Ellen (Hannah Rose Deflumeri).
Everything will sort out and come together in a finale opening night,
which we see from a backstage point of view. Any show that has “Yes, We have No
Bananas” as a curtain number can’t be all bad. The dancing, based on original
choreography by Susan Stroman, is agile and spirited. The costumes and sets are
bright and brash. The band is rock solid. Given the material, the acting is as good
as one could hope. I'll still take "Manhattan."
Tickets are $49-$67. Call 800-572-8471 or go to www.kravis.org.
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