Word: cohans
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Cagney began his career as a burlesque actor in the early part of the 20th century, and made his first movie. "Sinners' Holiday," in 1930. He won an Academy Award in 1942 as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy." and returned from a 20 year retirement in 1981 to film "Ragtime...
...century, was no longer that new little country on the other side of the Atlantic. It had proven its might in the Spanish-American War and was well on the way to becoming a major world power. To this setting of jingoism and unbridled national pride came George M. Cohan, singer, dancer, and playwright, with more than a touch of the patriotic. Little Johnny Jones, his 1904 musical celebrating the expansive American spirit might find audiences as appreciative today as 80 years ago with the occasion of its revival at the Goodspeed Opera House...
Osmond receives solid, but never overpowering support, from a superb chorus. They all nimbly dance their way through Dan Siretta's inventive choreography. Siretta does not recreate the dances of the period, but rather their style, which makes it easier for a modern audience to appreciate them. Cohan's score offers delights other than the songs which went on to become American institutions. He could write not only belt-em-outs, but gentle ballads like "Life's a Funny Proposition," done subtlely and straightforwardly by Osmond, and wonderful comic creations such as "Captain of a Ten Day Boat" a parody...
...kind of rudimentary sociocultural chronicle. In "Arrivals," a Jewish immigrant (Jerry Zaks) just off the boat sings The Yankee Doodle Boy with an accent you could ladle with a chicken soup spoon. Later, as a fully assimilated show-biz tintype, he repeats the same number á la George M. Cohan...
...together, were rudimentary. Modern audiences expect more of a plot, and the books have to be extensively rewritten, with dated jokes carefully excised. The editing has to be judicious, however, so that the show's spirit is retained. In Johnny Jones, for example, Adapter Alfred Uhry wisely kept Cohan's quaint jingoism. "You think I'd marry an heiress and live off her money?" asks Johnny (Thomas Hulce), a jockey who is in love with one. "What do you take me for? An Englishman?" And: "French pastry ain't worth 30? compared to American apple...