Word: cohan
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...only he can catch hold of its handlebars. In his passion to board the train, Georgie plays a politician's game; brash and overeager, he lets his ambitions run roughshod over personal relationships. An act and a half and one wife later, metamorphosed into Broadway actor/composer/producer George M. Cohan, he pleads his success: "I'm not just on that train, I own it," he says...
...train. "If you're not moving, you're slowing down," Georgie says at one point. "That's my idea of the thing--perpetual motion." Bringing a phenomenal level of energy to his role, Minahan, who also directed the show, never does slow down. Aided by a lively George M. Cohan score and foot-stomping choreography, he carries George M! exuberantly onward to its musical destination...
AFTER MINAHAN, the star of the show is the music. The second act, which features more of Cohan's hits, is especially impressive, with one finger-snapping number fading right into another, like fourth of July fireworks. Under the direction of Karen Krag, the show orchestra handles the music with patriotic zest, only rarely drowning out the performers on stage. Cohan's score is also enhanced in this production by consistently fine choreography, which heightens the excitement of sequences like Minahan's tap-dancing rendition of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and elaborately mounted production numbers like the "Over There...
...general, Minahan, the director, does a good job pacing the show, executing well the transitions between serious and comic moments. The scene where Georgie tries to orchestrate his first wife's departure ("Give it the Cohan touch...Play the sad scene against a happy background," he tells her) is particularly effective. Joe Mobilia's clever sets, all emerging from a revolving backdrop, simplify Minahan's task by smoothing the transitions between scenes...
George M! The Radcliffe Grant-in-Aid's production of the Joel Grey Broadway hit about the life of entertainer George M. Cohan. The music includes "Broadway" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy." At the Agassiz, November 6-8, 13-15, 20-22 at 8 p.m. Tickets $3.50 and $3, $2 for students...