Good Enough Gershwin

GOSH DARN, Lady Be Good ain't deep. The Gershwin musical is now at Agassiz under the co-sponsorship of Radcliffe Grant-in-Aid and North House. What do we find under the surface of Lady Be Good? Let us ponder. We find, alas, no intelligent treatment of sensitive issues, no probing of our souls' seamy undersides. At bottom, this show is clean. Unbesmirched by ambiguity, wiped of Weltshmerz, it comes to us like a babe, puerile and kicking. No meat for melodic meditation, no erudite arias, no recondite repartee a la intelligencia. In a word--a four-letter word--the book of Lady Be Good is gosh-darn dumb. But like the song says: the production has "got a rhythm, a rhythm, a rhythm" that could make "you all aquiver." The Gershwin songs are great, stuff your grandmother might have warbled in her day, still sprightly enough to get us up off our seats, to make Fred Astaires of us all. Even though the show is definitely not slick, by the second act everything clicks. And while the first act has a certain high-schoolishness about it, and while some ideas for the sets and costumes were probably better on paper than in execution--all in all, it's still good clean fun.

Here's the story: Boy does not meet girl--boy already knows girl. She's poor; he's poor. Boy has a sister, who is appalled at his plan to marry the local bird-brain millionaress for her money. The sibling cherubs are truly in dire straits, having been evicted from their apartment, but are adjusting well to the street ("a nice policeman is acting as our butler"). Their problems are solved when Susie, the sister, falls in love with a chap disguised as a hobo, who is in fact about to inherit a swanky hotel. Also singing and dancing across the stage are a lessthan-scrupulous lawyer, a Mexican bandit, a stern uncle, a cooing couple and assorted chorus members. The folderol produces no fewer than four marriages, as well as such numbers as "The Half of It Dearie Blues," "I'd Rather Charleston" and "The Man I Love."

Smooth transitions from story line to song, and vice versa, are not the trademark of Lady Be Good; the dialogue and the musical numbers are quantum leaps apart in quality and content. In the first act, the dumbness of the transitions probably can't be--and certainly weren't--covered up. After the title song, the women chorus members are forced to squirm off stage in a clump, giving one mutual twitter with all the naturalness of a concerted burp. There are fewer transition problems in the second act, probably because there are fewer transitions. Once the background has been rather slowly introduced in the first act, the denouement melodically takes place at zany, breakneck speed. Even so, the second act, as a whole, is much better than the first.

Act One is a bit washed out--almost, but not quite, hitting the mark with its orchestration, sets and costumes. The overture wobbles where it should be mellow; the idea of using the stage screen as a curtain was interesting, but the screen itself is too flimsy. Its paint job has not so much saucy style as the flapper it pictures, winking boldly at the audience. The garden of the millionaress, Jo Vanderwater, where most of the action takes place in Act One, is also a mite tacky for the palatial estate it is supposed to be. Moreover, the lighting is so dim that it is no wonder the chorus looks lost. Even the costumes (designed by Susie Kendall), which seem appropriately authentic for the time period, are not well coordinated and lack an attention-drawing sheen.

BUT PERHAPS the worst problem with the first act is its main character--Susie's brother, Dick Trevor (Fred Barton). Although he can dance and belt out a song, he overacts so much that his rolling eyes begin to resemble the oranges and lemons of a one-armed bandit. His manic mechanical nature nearly ruins the number "Swiss Miss," which is cleverly choreographed (by Douglas Fitch and Nancy Tulowiecki) for Dick and Susie to move like the puppets on a Swiss cuckoo clock. Because Barton is nearly always cuckoo, the dance doesn't come off as much of a contrast--a real shame, because Barton is relaxed and debonair in later routines.

The first act has its highlights, though, as it features many of the show's most famous songs. Luckily, most of the cast members have strong voices. Karin Kasdin, as Jo Vanderwater, sings "Little Jazz Bird," and looks the part--tall and thin, gowned in white, her hair topped with a feather, she resembles a tip-toeing crane slinking unsuccessfully after her man. Laura Hastings, as Dick Trevor's true love, gives a beautifully evocative rendition of "The Man I Love," while spotlighted in cool blue light.

Act Two takes place at the former hobo's seashore hotel. The fresh air revives the chorus: "Linger in the Lobby" is peppy, sung and danced with a snappiness that doesn't quit till the last bows. In the lobby, the chorus lingers and mingles with larger-than-life-size cutouts of hotel guests, bell-hops and beach umbrellas, all of which give the stage an effective style halfway between art deco and '70s surrealism. None of the flesh and blood lingers in the second act. The cutouts sway and stir as each character dashes madly around. Laurel Leslie, playing Susie, is consistently good, but is truly at her best here, switching costumes, rescuing her brother, dancing Charlestons and tangos, and looking rattled throughout. If, as her brother says, her mind is in her dancing shoes, then she clearly has lots of brains. George Melrod, as the lawyer, gets to display his comic talents to advantage in this act, and George W. Hunt, as Susie's hobo, makes the switch easily into hotel magnate, maintaining a boyish charm despite his three-piece suit, and eliciting as many chuckles as anyone in the cast.

In conclusion, we find a dialectic in Lady Be Good--an unresolved dialectic. On one side stands the dumb dialogue, technical weakness and a lackluster beginning. On the other: great music, strong voices and peppy dancing. You just can't dive too deeply in the waters of this show. It's very pure, very shallow musical comedy.