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by Michael Portantiere

NO, NO, NANETTE IS THE BEE'S KNEES

The word "revisal" has come to be rather a dirty one, with dreadful rewrites of old shows far outnumbering the successful examples. But in 1970, they got it right. A guy named Harry Rigby had the crazy idea that, in the wake of shows like Hair and Oh, Calcutta!, Broadway audiences might just cotton to No, No, Nanette -- a cute, feather-light 1925 musical comedy that had been hugely popular in its day but had faded from the current public consciousness, partly because no representative movie version was ever made.

Burt Shevelove adapted the original book of the show by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel to make it more accessible to modern-day comic sensibilities. Set in New York and Atlantic City, Nanette centers around Jimmy Smith, a Bible publisher who just wants everyone to be happy. To this end, he gives cash to three young gold-diggers and is thus caught in a compromising position -- even though, we are told, he never laid a hand on any of them. When Jimmy's lawyer, Billy Early, tries to help his client, his wife Lucille thinks he's the one who's philandering. Meanwhile, Jimmy's high-spirited young ward Nanette is determined to "lead the high life" for a while before settling down, and this gets her in trouble with her strait-laced boyfriend, Tom.

All ends happily, but at any rate, the plot is hardly the point of this show. It's just an excuse for a series of great songs by Vincent Youmans (music), Irving Caesar & Otto Harbach (lyrics). These in turn are excuses for amazing dance routines that have always been the show's raison d'etre. And indeed, it's the dancing that's the supreme highlight of the City Center Encores! production, which opened last night four a four-day run.

From the joyous tapping in "I Want to Be Happy" to the breezy soft-shoe in "Tea for Two" to the nifty, Charleston-inspired moves in "Take a Little One Step," choreographer Randy Skinner delivers the goods over and over again, continually topping himself. And since he has a company of phenomenal dancers at his disposal, Nanette turns out to be a show full of show-stoppers. City Center is due for a renovation, and none too soon; at several points during last night's performance, the audience reaction was so vocal and visceral that I half expected the roof to blow off and the walls to collapse.

My praise of the choreography is certainly not meant to imply that the production is lacking in any other area. On the contrary, the Encores! Orchestra -- here conducted by the series' original music director, Rob Fisher -- sounds better than ever as it plays the lush orchestrations that Ralph Burns and Luther Henderson wrote for the 1970 revisal. Some of the Encores! shows have been over-amplified, but that's not the case here, thanks to sound designer Scott Lehrer. Scenic consultant John Lee Beatty has provided two lovely, gauzy false proscenia to frame the action and just enough in the way of additional set pieces to establish the various locales, which are beautifully lit by Ken Billington. Nanette also boasts more elaborate costuming that any previous Encores! show, courtesy of Gregg Barnes. Perhaps this is one reason why rumors of a Broadway transfer have arisen?

Walter Bobbie directs the proceedings with just the right tough of flapper-era whimsy, and his casting of the leads is spot-on. Though Charles Kimbrough seemed a bit tentative with some of his lines on opening night, he brings the perfect air of sweet, comic befuddlement to the role of Jimmy. As Jimmy's wife, Sue, Sandy Duncan is a wonderfully warm presence and an awesome dancer. In "I Want to Be Happy," and "Take a Little One Step" she keeps right up with the kids in the ensemble, most of whom are probably about half her age.

Beth Leavel and Michael Berresse are style personified as Lucille and Billy; her big solo moment is "The 'Where-Has-My-Hubby-Gone' Blues," he shines most brightly in "The Call of the Sea" and "Telephone Girlie," and they really set off sparks when come together for the multi-part song and dance duet "You Can Dance With Any Girl." Mara Davi is a more belty, less soprano-ish Nanette than I'm used to hearing, but this makes her seem all the more spunky. As her intended, Tom, Shonn Wiley sings as smoothly as he dances.

Angel Reda, Jennifer Cody, and Nancy Anderson offer sharply etched comic caricatures of Flora, Betty, and Winnie, the three young ladies who want their "Uncle Jimmy" to keep making them happy. And Rosie O'Donnell gives a thoroughly disciplined, hilariously deadpan performance as Sue's and Jimmy's long-suffering maid, Pauline.

The Encores! series has given us some unforgettable shows, but this is truly one of the best ever. No, No, Nanette is the bees knee's!

Posted by Michael Portantiere on Friday, May 9, 2008 | Item Link

Michael Portantiere comes to BroadwayStars after seven years as Editor in Chief of TheaterMania.com, having previously worked as an editor and writer for InTheater magazine and Back Stage. He has contributed articles to Playbill and Stagebill, and has written notes for several major cast albums. Michael is also a professional photographer.

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	BROADWAYSTAR'S FIVE DAY FORECAST

2007-08
Broadway Season

June 28 - Old Acquaintance (AA)

July 10 - Xanadu (Hayes) [Robert Ahrens, Dan Vickery, Tara Smith/B. Swibel and Sarah Murchison/Dale Smith]

Aug 19 - Grease (Atkinson)

Oct 4 - Mauritius (Biltmore) [MTC]

Oct 11 - The Ritz (54)

Oct 18 - Pygmalion (AA)

Oct 25 - A Bronx Tale (Kerr)

Nov 1 - Cyrano de Bergerac (Rodgers)

Nov 4 - Rock 'N' Roll (Jacobs)

Nov 8 - Young Frankenstein (Hilton)

Nov 9 - Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (St. James)

Nov 10: Local One Strike Begins

Nov 28: Local One Strike Ends

Dec 2 - Cymbeline (Beaumont)

Dec 3 - The Farnsworth Invention (Music Box) [Dodger Properties with Steven Spielberg, Dan Cap Productions, Fred Zollo, Latitude Link and the Pelican Group]

Dec 4 - August: Osage County (Imperial) [Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Steppenwolf]

Dec 6 - The Seafarer (Booth)

Dec 9 - Is He Dead? (Lyceum)

Dec 16 - The Homecoming (Cort) [Richards, Frankel]

Jan 10 - The Little Mermaid (Lunt)

Jan 15 - The 39 Steps (AA)

Jan 17 - November (Barrymore)

Jan 24 - Come Back, Little Sheba (Biltmore)

Feb 21 - Sunday In The Park With George (54)

Feb 28 - Passing Strange (Belasco)

Mar 6 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Broadhurst) [Stephen C. Byrd]

Mar 9 - In The Heights (Rodgers)

Mar 27 - Gypsy (St. James)

Mar 29 - Macbeth (Lyceum)

Apr 3 - South Pacific (Beaumont)

Apr 17 - A Catered Affair (Kerr) [Jujamcyn Theaters, Jordan Roth, Harvey Entertainment / Ron Fierstein, Richie Jackson and Daryl Roth]

Apr 24 - Cry Baby (Marquis)

Apr 27 - The Country Girl (Jacobs)

Apr 30 - Thurgood (Booth)

May 1 - Les Liaisons Dangereuses (AA)

May 4 - Boeing-Boeing (Longacre)

May 7 - Top Girls (Biltmore)

TBA - Godspell

2008-09
Broadway Season

Oct 16 - Billy Elliot (Imperial)

Nov 08 - Dividing the Estate (a Shubert theater)

Dec 14 - Shrek: The Musical (Broadway) [DreamWorks]

Talked About
Not Scheduled Yet

TBA - 50 Words

TBA - Addams Family (Elephant Eye)

TBA - American Buffalo

TBA - An American Vaudeville [Farrell, Perloff]

TBA - The Beard of Avon [NYTW]

TBA - Being There [Permut]

TBA - Benny & Joon [MGM]

TBA - Billy Elliot

TBA - Brave New World [Rachunow]

TBA - Breath of Life [Fox]

TBA - Busker Alley [Margot Astrachan, Robert Blume, Kristine Lewis, Jamie Fox, Joanna Kerry & Heather Duke]

TBA - Broomhilda

TBA - Bye Bye Birdie [Niko]

TBA - Camille Claudel [Wildhorn]

TBA - Camelot

TBA - Carmen [Robin DeLevita and The Firm]

TBA - Catch Me If You Can

TBA - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [Bob and Harvey Weinstein]

TBA - Cry Baby [Grazer, Gordon, McAllister, Epstein]

TBA - Designing Women [Alexis]

TBA - Don Juan DeMarco [New Line]

TBA - Dreamgirls [Creative Battery]

TBA - Duet

TBA - Equus

TBA - Ever After [Adam Epstein]

TBA - Fallen Angels (Shubert) [Kenwright]

TBA - Farragut North [Richards]

TBA - Father of the Bride

TBA - The Female Of The Species (TBA)

TBA - Fool For Love (AA) [Roundabout]

TBA - Girl Group Time Travelers

TBA - Golden Boy

TBA - Harmony [Guiles, Karslake, Smith, Fishman]

TBA - Hitchcock Blonde

TBA - The Importance Of Being Earnest

TBA - Jerry Springer: The Opera! [Thoday, McKeown]

TBA - Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train (Circle)

TBA - Josephine [Waissman]

TBA - Leap of Faith

TBA - A Little Princess [Ettinger, Dodger]

TBA - Midnight Cowboy [MGM]

TBA - The Minstrel Show - Kander and Ebb and Stroman

TBA - Moonstruck [Pittelman, Azenberg]

TBA - Mourning Becomes Electra [Haber, Boyett]

TBA - Monsoon Wedding

TBA - The Night of the Hunter

TBA - The Opposite of Sex [Namco]

TBA - Orphans

TBA - Pal Joey [Platt]

TBA - Paper Doll

TBA - The Paris Letter

TBA - The Philadelphia Story

TBA - Peter Pan

TBA - Porgy and Bess [Frankel, Viertel, Baruch, Routh, Panter, Tulchin/Bartner]

TBA - The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert

TBA - The Princess Bride

TBA - Princesses [Lane, Comley]

TBA - Poe the Musical

TBA - Rain Man [MGM]

TBA - Robin Hood

TBA - Secondhand Lions

TBA - South Pacific

TBA - Speed-the-Plow

TBA - Stalag 17

TBA - Starry Messenger

TBA - Syncopation

TBA - A Tale Of Two Cities

TBA - Torch Song Trilogy

TBA - Turn of the Century

TBA - West Side Story

TBA - The Wall [Weinstein, Mottola, Waters]

TBA - Will Rogers Follies [Cossette]

TBA - The Wiz [Dodger]

TBA - Zanna [Dalgleish]

This list is compiled from various sources. If you have corrections to the Broadway Season, please contact us.

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