Word: gabey
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...think it's wrong to ignore the sense of fear and melancholy that really does pervade the subtext of On the Town. The plot itself is simple enough. Three sailors--Ozzie (Bill Gerber), Gabey (Kurt Peterson), and Chip (Jess Richards)--are on their first, one-day leave in New York City. They're cornfed types and, although between the three of them they don't want to miss a bit of what the city has to offer, they're mostly interested in girls. Particularly Miss Turnstyles, a subway poster girl with whom Gabey instantly falls in love, and who becomes...
...Field's revival of the show, now in a pre-Broadway tryout at the Shubert, when the fears and melancholy surface--in distinct contrast to the prevailing air of foolishness and mock sophistication. Certainly most disturbing is the weirdly undefined dream sequence in the second act when Gabey imagines Miss Turnstyles as an unobtainable socialite, surrounded by Ronald Searle-like caricatures of the rich. But for the most part this revival's spirits are too blithe. It strives for a simple-minded innocence when real recognition of the forties' blend of hell-bent pleasure and reluctantly perceived pain might instead...
...root of it, what the show really lacks is its own special style. Most of James Trittipo's sets seem to misfire (for example, Gabey's ballad "Lonely Town" is played against a sky-blue background interrupted only by three stalagmite-like skyscrapers which make the place look more like Monument Valley), although the first act's Times Square design, crowded with neon that even extends to a multi-colored proscenium, hits pointblank. Crowded up against the footlights, the large ensemble looks exactly like the blatantly artificial casts that people the production stills I've seen from the period...