A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn plants itself in a plot of swampland--Betty Smith's tearfully sentimental novel. And despite its fanciful ballets, splashing sets, and a few bright tunes, the watery plot and croaky-throated principals make certain that this tree never blooms.

Stuck to the story of Johnny Nolen, the well-meaning, irresponsible husband, and his unsuccessful attempts to give up a happy-go-lucky life of gin colored fantasy, all the gaiety of the musical bogs down. Even the humorous sub-plot of Johnny's sister-in-law, Cissy, constantly spliced with Nolen tragedy, seems out of place.

Individually, however, many of the scenes are quite entertaining--the ballets especially, staged by Dean Fuller. In others, Johan Blondell as Cissy gives a comically spicy performance. But, mumbling lyrics and missing notes, she fails to put over her songs.

As Johnny, Robert Shackelton has an even harder time making himself understood. And worse, he delivers his lines in such a grim way that you wonder what the other laughing people--Miss Blondell and her lover, played with amusing awkwardness by John Vivyan--are doing in the same play.

The most colorful and energetic parts of the production are the Raffle and If You Haven't Got a Sweetheart Ballets, where Rita Karlin dances off with a good chunk of the show. I'll Buy You a Star and Love Is the Reason are songs with catchy tunes and lyrics, but neither Shackleton nor Miss Blondell are able to display them.

Perhaps most inconsistent in the theatrical rewrite by Miss Smith and George Abbott is that the authors expanded and burlesqued the Cissy part, making a vehicle for Shirley Booth and now Miss Blondell, while they left the Nolens as poignant as before. This creates a jarring contrast; and since the music and choreography fit in with the lighter parts of the production, the Nolen scenes lie alone and disjointed.