'The All Night Strut'

eau Jest is a Chicago prod- rade is exposed) about to whom
uct _, it premiered there in you lie (an Immigration official,
1990, then went on, in 1991, for example, who would try to
to a 2-1/2-year run off-Broad- keep you out of America) and to
way. So Beau Jest is a fairly well- whom you do not (your parents).
The last act pulls it all neatly
known entity; it played the
Birmingham Theatre before it together and leaves room for a
sequel — Jest A Second — to
became a multiplex. Now
come. And so it is
it's at Meadow Brook.
scheduled at Meadow
Should anyone have
Brook in a few weeks,
forgotten, and for the few
playing back-to-back
who may not have heard,
some of those times
the premise of Beau Jest
with Beau Jest.
is a farceur's dream wed
The show can rise a
to a movie genre, the ro-
bit above the clever
mantic comedy in which
MIC HAEL H.
plumb line with a good
the leads "meet cute":
MA RGOLIN
cast. Meadow Brook
Sarah Goldman is Jewish
Artistic
Director Geof-
SPECI
AL
TO
THE
and to please her parents
frey Sherman, also the
JEWIS H NEWS
she makes up a Jewish
director of this produc-
doctor-fiance named Dr.
David Steinberg, then hires a guy tion, has much to kvell about.
First, there is John Seibert
from an escort service to imper-
sonate him. The good news is who plays the actor-lover-sur-
that the escort is an actor; the geon with such charm and ele-
bat' news is he's not Jewish (His gance that any Jewish, Catholic,
name, Schroeder, is meant to be Protestant, nondenominational
or Bible Belt mother would
eponymously Jewish.)
Sarah Goldman's parents, Abe clutch him to her bosom
and Miriam, are delighted with and thrust him into a
him, thank God; otherwise we roomful of daughters.
As Abe, the multidimensional
have no second act. And Sarah
Robert
Grossman once again
can fall for Bob Schroeder, the
guy who convincingly acts the throws talent to the winds. His
role of Dr. David Steinberg, who Abe is just plain folk and his re-
-is a cardiac surgeon and a brain luctant re-entry in Act III, Scene
II is simply perfect. Miriam is
surgeon, bless his heart.
The seder dinner in Act II is a played by Henrietta Hermelin,
lovely piece of writing, as is Abe's and she is a funny kvetch; though
speech in Act III (when the cha- the part is written stereotypical-

tr

Linhea'TOddand'iobn Seibert star in Meadow 13rdoles'prbdutfiorof

Beau jest.

ly, there are moments when she
could be warmer, more expan-
sive. I wish she'd take them.
As Joel, Sarah's divorced ther-
apist brother, David Ellenstein
was as good as necessary — the
role is semi-thankless; as her cur-
tain-up boyfriend and curtain-
down rejected suitor, Wayne
David Parker was creative in a
part that doesn't call out most of
his wonderful comic talents.
That brings us to Linnea Todd
as Sarah. There are two Sarahs
in the play - the dutiful, guilt-
ridden daughter and the impul-
sive, romantic woman. She was
apt as both; there were some
wonderful moments in the per-
formance, but a certain edge of
hysteria, a grandiosity of frus-
tration that is part of the guilty
feelings driving her in this cha-
rade are not in the performance.
As we have come to expect at
Meadow Brook, set design (Peter
W. Hicks), costumes (Edith Leav-
is Bookstein) and all other
production matters are
exemplary. Sherman the
director and Sherman the
artistic director are surely by now
holed up somewhere patting each
other on the back. For the record,
the author James Sherman is no
relation.

(.) C4.
) 1 ) 0- 40.

retty women in swingy too, to costume designers Melin-
skirts above shapely gams da Pacha (men's) and Lanny
with flirty peplums just Birdsell (women's) — in a kind
gracing slim hips; men in of costumers' cross-dressing.
In Act II, a few props such as
white tie and tails with slick hair
a
faceted
ballroom globe twirling
and graceful hands; "moonlight
and love songs never out of and sending reflected light into
date ... the world will always the house, frame a swift, well-
welcome lovers, as time goes crafted 13-song set beginning
with a nifty "I Get Ideas" (which,
by."
And as time goes by, the Gem when sung by Tony Martin in
Theatre will always welcome the '50s was banned from radio
play because of lines like,
The All Night Strut.
"When I'm dancing and
When the Gem re-
THEATER
I'm • dangerously near
opened its doors on
you,
I get ideas") and end-
New Year's Eve 1991, the
All Night Strut strutted its stuff ing on a croonful "Lullaby of
and "a nightingale sang in Broadway." Whew.
In the course of two swift
Berkeley Square." This produc-
tion, sparkling and new, opened hours, I admired Mr. Kelly's
an 11-week run last week, but I take on "A Nightingale Sang in
wouldn't be a bit surprised if it Berkeley Square," Mr. Thomp-
was in residence on New Year's- son's "Ain't Misbehavin'," Miss
Flynn's In the Mood" and just
Eve 1996.
This time the quartet of about everything by Miss Oliv-
singers who harmonize, quarte- er.
As the Strut has proved here,
tize, soloize and sentimentalize
songs of the '30s, '40s and there and everywhere, it pleas-
'50s with a mighty trio of piano, es. "It Don't Mean a Thing If It
bass and drums are Lori Flynn, Ain't Got That Swing," though,
Michael Richard Kelly, Rachel and this production does swing
Lynn Oliver and Gary Thomp- especially in its superior musi-
son. The guys are manly cality (the harmony alone is a
and handsome; the gals are pret- pleasure). Welcome back, Strut,
ty and svelte. They sing like to the Gem: "I'll Be Seeing You
angels (the ones who dined at in All the Old Familiar Places."
the Ritz, just before the nightin- I love it when song lyrics come
gale sang in that famous Lon- true, don't you?
don square) and dance like
Q.) Q)
, *- .0* 1/2
troupers.
Most of the time — a very
— Michael H. Margolin
good time — they hang out by
the four microphones and croon
that tune. There's not a lot of
fussiness in
Strut — seen to
admirably by
creator and di-
rector Fran
Charnas. She
keeps Act I, with
its mix of jazz-
inspired tunes
and pop ballads
leading up to a
snazzy World
War II medley,
moving like that
"Chattanooga
Choo Choo"
which chugs the
four singers on.
And congrats,

p

Lori Flynn, Gary
Thompson, Michael
Richard Kelly and
Rachel Lynn Oliver
strut their stuff in
the swing jazz
review.

PHOTO BY SANTA FABIO

'Beau Jest'