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...Wonderful Town, the price is not too high to pay. Although its plot is formulaic and its ending pat, the Loeb's latest offering boasts a melodic Leonard Bernstein score, an occasionally witty book and, most importantly, the comic and musical talents of Rhonda Lee Goldenberg and Susan Terry, who look and sound just right as the two sisters...
Wonderful Town is a curious amalgam. Set in the late 1930s, the show is Bernstein's 1953 adaption of a 1941 hit play that was in turn partially based on Ruth McKinney's book My Sister Eileen. Not too surprisingly, the final product of these transmutations conforms far less to the original--from which it draws only its setting, the two principals and one or two incidents--than to the conventions of musical comedy...
Like others of its genre, the show stands or falls largely on the basis of its music. Leonard Bernstein's score is characterized by its eclecticism; complementing the melancholy strains of "Ohio" and the lyricism of "It's Love" are the Latin American rhythms of "Conga," the Irish jig "My Darlin' Eileen" and the jazzy "Swing." While Wonderful Town is no West Side Story, its finest tunes, like "Ohio" and It's Love," are definitely hummable...
Comden, Green and Bernstein have composed no real show-stoppers; but the score of Wonderful Town is, on the whole, eminently respectable...
Wonderful Town. The Loeb breathes musical life into an adaptation of the 1940s hit play My Sister Eileen about two sisters from Columbus, Ohio who invade New York to seek their fortunes. A melodic Leonard Bernstein score and an occasionally witty book are complemented in this production by fine performances from Rhonda Lee Goldenberg and Susan Terry, who look and sound just right as the two sisters. A good bet for nostalgia buffs and musical comedy lovers, who won't mind the formulaic plot. At the Loeb, December 11-13, at 8 p.m. Tickets...