Word: joeys
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...eyes of theater fans all over Boston are trained on this particular staging of Pal Joey at the Huntington Theater Company because of its redeveloped book and score. Adapted by director David Warren and Richard Greenbarg, the revised book and several added songs are intended to bring Pal Joey, as the program notes explain, to its "best form," creating a "period musical with modern sensibility...
Although Greenberg's plot revisions are reasonable and interesting, the production fails to do equal service to the show's score. Greenberg manages to eliminate some of the weaker storyline and character elements: Ludlow Lowell, the comic gangster who blackmailed Joey in the original, disappears altogether in this production...
...addition of two lesser known Rodgers and Hart ballads do little to develop the characters; rather, they hurt the peace of the show. This Pal Joey runs a somewhat slow two hours and 40 minutes...
...production fails to bring its purported "modern sensibility" to the structure of Pal Joey's musical numbers. Too many of the songs are delivered as nightclub numbers of the show within the show rather that as a natural part of the plot progression. In fact, this production exacerbates this imbalance by adding to the number of songs delivered in this manner...
...musical revisions are successful. The restoration of a beautiful short lyric ("Talkin' To My Pal"), which was cut from Pal Joey before its Broadway opening, is strongly illustrative of Joey's character. The addition of Rodgers and Hart's "A Lovely Day For A Murder" adds depth to Linda English. The sweet and innocent Linda is given an opportunity to be enraged and vengeful, and melodramatically funny: It's a fun, upbeat number that works well...