Word: lenya
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...play otherwise filled with absurd, broadly-played comedic characters, but he handles the portrayal with ease and a unique brand of wit and ingenuity.Among the ridiculous and idiotic, Steven Dyer might have the flashier role with his over-the-top Count Gregor Yousekevitch, but it is the Zubritsky parents, Lenya (Dorothy Ahle) and the Doctor (Peter Cosmas Sofronas), who nearly steal the show. The two share an effortless rhythm and sharp comedic timing that help them pull off some of the more absurd one-liners and gags. All of the actors use convincing Russian accents throughout the show, transforming some...
...genre. Instead of a freestyle skate, Arthur settles for the compulsory short program: a once-over-lightly reprise of her hits from stage (Fiddler on the Roof, Mame) and TV (Maude, The Golden Girls); a funny anecdote about each of the famous people she's worked with (Lotte Lenya, Tallulah Bankhead); and stilted "extemporaneous" banter with her pianist, Billy Goldenberg. The audience leaves to the accompaniment of the theme song from Maude but learns virtually nothing about...
...clear and briskly energetic (even a bit too much so in the lovely "cranes duet"). Gary Bachlund brings an appropriate touch of Nelson Eddy to the role of the doomed hero, though Anna Steiger (daughter of Rod) plays Jenny with a less happy touch of Jeanette MacDonald. As Lotte Lenya taught a whole generation of admirers, Weill's heroines should sound sexy, metallic and bitter...
Faithfull's voice is eerie, raggedy, shattered. She sounds like Lotte Lenya serenading from a sidecar, but she is completely lacking in either melodrama or self-pity. Songs like Penthouse Serenade and Boulevard of Broken Dreams ("And gigolo and gigolette/ Wake up to find their eyes are wet/ With tears that tell of broken dreams") are the sort of fey selections reliably included on subscription-only albums by chanteuses who play hotel lounges in off- season. Faithfull, however, endows them with real gutter sophistication -- the Boulevard of Broken Dreams never sounded like a mean street before -- and that...
David Flores and Erika Zabusky come off well as Doctor and Lenya Zubritsky, Sophia's parents. Indeed, Zabusky and Valerie Gilbert (Yencha the Vendor) stand out astonishingly for their stage presence and ineffable grace of motion. But the best efforts of acting, directing, and music adaptation cannot save this play from Neil Simon's dark and cynically elitist outlook...