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“Try to Remember: A Look Back at Off-Broadway”
Metropolitan Room – September 9, 10, 16, 17, 18
Early in the opening number of her show at the Metropolitan Room, Rita Gardner sings a passage from the score of The Fantasticks that made my jaw drop: more than 50 years after she created the role of Luisa in this landmark Off-Broadway musical and secured a place in theatrical history, she sounded the same as she did then! (I know because as a youth, I saw the original Off-Broadway production three times in two weeks, and I listened to the original cast recording lord-knows-how-many times.) Her show is a tribute to and remembrance of Off-Broadway, but it’s much more than a career retrospective; it’s an evening of marvelous material performed with assured artistry, and its many pleasures should delight even the theatrically unsophisticated. However, people with first-hand knowledge of the Off-Broadway scene will get something extra from the evening: the warm feeling that comes from spending time with friends—and by friends I mean favorite songs, fondly remembered shows… and, perhaps, cherished or long-forgotten memories.
Directed by Barry Kleinbort, with musical direction and piano accompaniment by Alex Rybeck—two of the most talented and astute people in the business—and musical staging by Pamela Sousa, the show gives us a sampling of the exceptional songs, both familiar and obscure, that either debuted or achieved prominence Off-Broadway.
Gardner is enchanting as, by herself, she recreates the duet she and Kenneth Nelson performed in the original production of Jerry Herman’s 1958 revue Nightcap. Fittingly, she does a lovely job on the lovely “Your Hand in Mine” from Herman’s next revue, Parade, and she gives a persuasively dramatic reading of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire’s “I Don’t Remember Christmas” (Starting Here, Starting Now). Her moving rendition of Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones’s “I Miss You” (1970’s Colette Collage) segues brilliantly into Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban’s “What I Did for Love” (A Chorus Line, which we all know ran at the Public Theater before it became a singular sensation on Broadway). My jaw may not have dropped at the segue, but I did say to myself, “That’s inspired!”
At the end of Gardner’s performance of Jerome Moross and John Latouche’s “Lazy Afternoon” (The Golden Apple), several members of the audience emitted an audible “ahhh”—as well they should have. Her duet with Rybeck of “It’s You” (Jim Wise, George Haimsohn, Robin Miller, Dames at Sea) couldn’t be more dear or adorable. At the other end of the emotional spectrum, her “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” (Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein, The Threepenny Opera) is darkly sardonic. And what she and Rybeck do with “Carousel” (Jacques Brel, Eric Blau) covers the gamut, building from music box delicacy (Rybeck’s piano is exquisite) to a nightmarish calliopean frenzy. Exhilarating and exciting.
Gardner sprinkles the musical numbers with entertaining anecdotes and reminiscences. There is also a medley of a baker’s dozen selections from such Off-Broadway shows as Godspell, Hair, Grease, Little Mary Sunshine, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Little Shop of Horrors. Musically and vocally it’s really swell; its only fault is that Gardner moves about the stage too much while performing it. There’s enough going on in the individual songs and in the song-to-song switching; the additional physical motion is distracting. My only other reservation is with the opening number, which pairs too little of “Much More” with much more of “I Can See It,” both, of course, from Schmidt & Jones’s The Fantasticks. The first song, which contains the passage I alluded to at the top of this review, is most welcome. The second is given too busy an arrangement—especially for an opening number; it seems to want to wow us right at the outset. There will be plenty to impress us over the course of the evening, so what the opening should do, instead, is graciously invite us in.
Gardner closes with a pairing of “Try to Remember” and “They Were You” from The Fantasticks. Her performance—encapsulating, as it does, an era, a career, and the evening—is very touching. Some in the audience cried, many cheered, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some did both. As well they should have.
Roy Sander has been covering cabaret and theatre for over thirty years. He’s written cabaret and theatre reviews, features, and commentary for seven print publications, most notably Back Stage, and for CitySearch on the Internet. He covered cabaret monthly on “New York Theatre Review” on PBS TV, and cabaret and theatre weekly on WLIM-FM radio. He was twice a guest instructor at the London School of Musical Theatre. A critic for BistroAwards.com, he is also the site’s Reviews Editor; in addition, he is Chairman of the Advisory Board of MAC.
