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 By Joseph Sirota - Theater Review Event News
NEVER
GONNA DANCE
... Au
Contraire.. This Show's Born To Dance
Heading
for the stately Carpenter Center to see the Long Beach
Musical Theatre West (MTW) pacific premiere of Never
Gonna Dance, I remarked to a friend, "MTW audiences
seem more loyal than any others I know". Oddly, as
part of the warm opening welcome (after please disarm
cellphones), it was announced that, now in its 53rd
year, MTW has an amazing 91% renewal rate among season
ticket holders. Even 75% is great! Happily, this musical
comedy tribute to the beautiful melodies of composer
Jerome Kern and many of his finest collaborating lyricists
(Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer,
Ira Gershwin and more) surely won't tarnish MTW's
enviable satisfaction rating. Filled seats, smiling
faces and seas of applause were almost unanimous.
It's important to put this show's roots in perspective.
Based on the 1936 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers Astaire
film Swing Time, this Broadway adaptation with book
by Jeffrey Hatcher is unashamedly a "good-time/happy-ending"
piece. It's meant to echo a time when audiences yearned
to feel better about themselves, the future, love
and the world in general. After all, the great Depression
had truly turned Wall Street barons into bums and
dampened the rosy dreams of the most optimistic of
young lovers planning their ever-afters.
 So
it's understandable that Never Gonna Dance, treats
with kindness, warmth and kid gloves its cast of lovable
stockbroker bums, out of work dancers and young romantics
looking to love for hope to go on bravely in life.
Admittedly, the plot is contrived and tangled. Lovably
superstitious Lucky, a great, but small time dancer
decides to give up show-biz, take his lucky quarter
to New York and prove to his snooty ("we hate Show-Biz
people") girlfriend's family he can make his fortune
in business. But in NY he meets his two true loves-Penny,
a struggling dancer eeking out a living teaching fox-trots,
and Broadway, the place he realizes he was always
meant to be all along. So, boy meets wrong girl, then
boy meets right girl almost too late. Boy and girl
seemed doomed to lose each other, along with their
dreams of being great show biz stars. But, hoorah!
Love and goodness triumph and all these likable souls
dance into the future happily at the final curtain.
And what grand dancing it is, with the guidance of
smart, snazzy choreography by Lee Martino, worthy
musical direction by Darryl Archibald and the inspired
comedic yet sensitive overall touch of director Larry
Raben (Raben -- himself a great singer/dancer with
numerous awards and credits clearly knows his craft
well).
Musically,
connecting the sweet comic fable's story points is
a treasure chest of great Kern tunes, many now American
standards like "The Way You Look Tonight," "A Fine
Romance", "I Won't Dance" and "Never Gonna Dance",
all signature songs of our costarring young lovers
and aspiring dancers, Lucky and Penny, most winningly
brought to life by David Engel and Tami Tappan Damiano,
blending powerful performance licks with believable
chemistry and plentiful personal audience appeal.
Henry Polic II and Harriet Harris also shine as the
funny but caringly wise older generation couple shepherding
our young hero and heroine through their rocky road
of love. Their highlight numbers include, "Pick Yourself
Up", "The Song Is You" and "I Got Love".
As
the main competitors to Lucky and Penny in the plot's
central dance contest Yvette Tucker and Danial Brown
are simply electrifying in sizzling hot, razor sharp
dance duos in showstopping numbers like "I'll Be Hard
To Handle" and "She Didn't Say Yes, She Didn't Say
No". Winning the funniest moments of the show award,
Joshua Finkel as the too macho cute for words Ricardo,
Penny's Latin suitor, with his three equally all-too-perfect
Rome-Tones put a wild new spin on Kern's beautiful
"Who?" and "The Most Exciting Night". Though space
prohibits a complete list, all the Company singer/dancers
combine to fill the show to the brim with non-stop
joyous entertainment.
No
show is perfect. Several numbers are too long, diluting
their impact (stop selling once the sale is made).
The whole show could be a svelt 2 hours with intermission.
A couple of songs, while well-performed are simply
not Kern's best works ("Remind Me" and the key second
act opener "Shimmy With Me"). A few notes ring with
less than perfect pitch, and a few dance routines
show repetition. But these are relatively small "could-be's"
in a show that already is a true crowd pleaser. It's
also a most handsome production with impressive sets,
costumes, lighting and sound (Joe Yakovetic, Thomas
Marquez, Leigh Allen and Julie Ferrin). The live 17
piece orchestra certainly helps make this offering
another MTW coup. .
2/23/2006
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