42nd St. Moon's "Hooray For What!"


Likely to amuse; unlikely to offend (Minor Spoilers)

Disclaimer: As you may know I do marketing work for 42nd St. Moon and write their blog. Not only that but the leading man is my friend and web designer, David Curley.

Nonetheless, I feel confident giving you: The Top 5 Reasons To See "Hooray For What!"

5. A uniformly fine cast...not a bum voice in the lot...singing terrific vocal arrangements by Brandon Adams and Dave Dobrusky. If you've been following my 42nd St. Moon blog, you've read that this show required a great deal of reconstruction. For one number they only had the lyrics and the violin line! This is what 42nd St. Moon is famous for...recreating and reconstructing works that would otherwise stay lost, and the vocal arrangements these two musical talents (and further disclaimer, of course I've worked with them both!) came up with are terrific.

4. A passel of popular references from the day (1937) that hold up remarkably well. I've been in shows at 42nd St. Moon where the references were completely lost on me...and some were even lost on Artistic Director Greg MacKellan. So, what might have been big laugh lines back in the day fall like a lead balloon in front of today's audiences. The authors of this show were pretty prescient, though, and every famous name thrown out there has stood the test of nearly 70 years time. I even asked Greg at intermission if he had purposely changed some references to make sure modern audiences got it, but he said 'no.'

3. An out-of-the-blue vocal tour de force from Charlie Levy as Benjy, singing "Life's a Dance." It's not really a memorable song, nor his the rest of his role very key to the story, but all of a sudden out of nowhere, Levy comes out with this Ziegfield Follies tenor voice that kind of blew me away! It's such a strong moment I assumed he was going to win over Annabelle and Breezy was going to end up with Stephanie!

2. Some gems of songs...which most of you have probably never heard before. There were a number of Arlen/Yarburg numbers that I thought...hmmm, wonder if I can get the music to that one, including "Moanin' in the Mornin'" (which isn't as naughty as it sounds), "Napoleon's a Pastry" and "Down with Love."

1. The number one reason is one I can't describe too fully without giving too much away...but I LOVED the 'fashion show' in the second act. Gentle, but barbed wit, delivered with just the right tone by David Curley, accompanied by excellent physical humor from all the ladies of the cast...this scene had me rolling. This scene is a perfect example of how the show pokes fun at war profiteering and hawks in general, but in a way that could hardly offend anyone.

That being said, anyone expecting a highly controversial satire of war from this show will find instead a farcical romp. There is subtle irony and gentle poking fun, but this isn't "Assassins" where you can always expect some walk-outs at every performance.

"Hooray for What!" is really a quintessential 42nd St. Moon show...smaller cast, heavy emphasis on the music...truly a lost gem.

Don't forget: 42nd St. Moon is offering exclusive discounts to all performances (except Sunday matinees) to blog readers. All the details are here.

Posted: Mon - November 15, 2004 at 09:08 AM       EmailFeedback

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