THE BOY FRIEND: Musical Satire Revue. Directed and Choreographed by Cindy Goldfield. Book, Music, and Lyrics by Sandy Wilson. 42nd Street Moon, Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson St., San Francisco. Box Office: 415/255-8207 or www.42ndstmoon.org. October 29 – November 16, 2014
THE BOY FRIEND a colorful splash by 42nd Street Moon [rating:3]
Welcome back Cindy Goldfield! Actually Cindy has not departed from the Bay Area but is back at the Eureka to helm the charming musical satire that introduced American audiences to Julie Andrews and started her career to stardom. It all began in London in 1953 when Sandy Wilson wrote a one act musical spoof to end all musical spoofs about the age of the flappers (1920s) that was so successful it was expanded to two acts and went on to be the most popular show of its time lasting for 2,078 performances. The 1954 Broadway run, produced by Cy Feur and Ernest Martin (Guys and Dolls and Can-Can) ran for 14 months and had a successful revival in 1970.
42nd Street Moon’s production has many of the ingredients needed to be a smash hit. There are Goldfield’s spot-on direction/choreography, colorful costumes (Yvonne Ortiz), excellent singers, marvelous songs, Dave Dobrusky’s fine piano accompaniment and some individual superb performances. The problem seems to be in the casting. It is difficult to perceive the female ensemble as 18 year old finishing school debutantes and the French accents need polishing to become intelligible. It is unfair to be hypercritical since this revue is a spoof and broad acting is part of the genre.
The action takes place in 1920 on the French Riviera mostly at Madame Dubonnet’s School for Young Ladies that include the protagonist Polly Browne (a fine Jennifer Mitchell) and classmates Masie, Dulcie, Faye and Nancy (Andrea St. Clair, Khalia Davis, Melissa Reinertson, Barbara Pond). Poor Polly, the daughter of a rich financier Percival (Paul Myrvhold) does not have a date (read boyfriend) for the upcoming masquerade ball. Along comes Tony (Nathaniel Rothrock) a delivery boy and sparks fly between our erstwhile love birds (the charming “I could be Happy With You”) and continue later on with “A Room In Bloomsbury.”
Polly and Tony
Before that happens the young ladies sing and dance up a storm with “Perfect Young Ladies” who need “The Boy Friend” and we meet Bobby Van Husen (hunky Brandon Dahlquist), Masie’s boyfriend. They receive appreciative applause for their dancing and singing of “Won’t You Charleston With Me.” The male ensemble (Adam Roy, Michael Doppe and Burton Thomas) strut-their-stuff with Masie and Bobby in the spiffy “Safety in Numbers” song and dance.
In the second act costumer Yvonne Ortiz has a field day with the youngsters in one piece tank top swim suits frolicking on “The Riveria.” Goldfield throws in a rambunctious dance for the swim suit crowd with beach balls flying between the cast in the aisles. Later, the costumes for the Masquerade ball are delicious. But the show stopper to end all show stoppers, which alone is worth the price of admission, is performed by Mark Farrell (as the lecherous Lord Brockhurst) and the sexy beauty Khalia Davis in “It’s Never Too Late to Fall in Love.” Stephanie Prentice who filled in for Maureen McVerry turns in a fine performance in song with “Fancy Forgetting” and “The You-Don’t-Want-to-Play-With-Me Blues.”
Running time 2 hours and 10 minutes with an intermission.
CAST: Jennifer Mitchell as Polly Browne, Nathaniel Rothrock as Tony, Stephanie Prentice as Madame Dubonnet, Katherine Cooper as Hortense, Brandon Dahiquist as Bobby Van Husen, Khalia Davis as Dulcie, Michael Doppe as Pierre, Mark Farrell as Lord Brockhurst, Paul Myrvold as Percival Browne, Barbara Pond as Nancy, Melissa Reinertson as Faye, Andrea St. Clair as Maisie, Burton Thomas as Alphonse, and Erin-Kate Whitcomb as Lady Brockhurst.
ARTISTIC STAFF: Directed & Choreographed by Cindy Goldfield; Music Director Dave Dobrusky; Stage Manager Becky Saunders; Production Manager Hector Zavala; Costume Design & Assistant Stage Manager Yvonne Ortiz; Set Design Arael Dominguez; Lighting Design Danny Maher; Prop Design Amy Crumpacker.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com.
