In my rush to rhapsodize over War Horse and Porgy & Bess, I almost forgot about the first show we saw in NYC…. which was no masterpiece, to be sure, but was still a delightful night of entertainment in more ways than one.
The show was Nice work if you can get it, which follows in the footsteps of Crazy for You by presenting a brand new story adorned with an array of Gershwin songs drawn from all kinds of previous shows, and a mix of familiar favorites and intriguing rarities. It’s certainly fun to hear what amounts to an especially generous musical smorgasbord, but since songs are being plugged into a story for which they weren’t originally written, there ends up being a rather generic quality to the evening. In other words, you need to set aside all expectations for an artistically integrated work like Les Miz or Ragtime and just have a good time. And of course, with a cast led by Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara, that’s not hard at all! We were excited to be seeing as big a star as Matthew Broderick (who I’d seen previously in The Producers a few years back) but even more excited to see Kelli O’Hara, who had wowed us and broken our hearts previously as Clara in Adam Guettel’s Light in the Piazza. And then a couple of years ago, we got to see her in a NATS-sponsored concert in Salt Lake City and once again we were blown away. . . both by her wonderful singing as well as her enchanting charm. And after the concert, when we spotted her and her accompanist sitting at the other end of a hotel lounge where we had stopped off for a drink, we told our waitress that we wanted to pay for whatever they was having- “in appreciation for her performance that evening”- and were deeply touched (and impressed) when she came over to thank us in person. That kind of graciousness is all too rare in this world.
Anyway, Nice work if you can get it was delightfully entertaining, and while it was fun to be introduced to some Gershwin songs we’d never heard before, the greatest pleasure of the night came from such irresistible chestnuts as “S’Wonderful”, “Someone to watch over me”, and the title song. And by the way, in addition to Mr. Broderick and Ms. O’Hara, the cast boasted the presence of Estelle Parsons (an Academy Award winner and four-time Tony nominee) and Judy Kaye (a Tony Award winner for Phantom of the Opera.) And the sets and costumes are a feast for the eyes, so you certainly walk away feeling like you’ve gotten more than your money’s worth from this show.
Whenever you attend a show on Broadway, it’s inspiring to think about the great shows that have preceded it in that particular theater…. especially if you’re in one of the venerable theaters that have been operating since the 20’s. We saw Nice work if you can get it in the Imperial Theater, and the printed program mentioned that it was on that same historic stage that one of Gershwin’s most popular musicals, Oh, Kay!, received it world premiere back in 1926. (The story for the show we saw was loosely based on that earlier Gershwin favorite.) The thought that the world first heard the song “I got Rhythm” in that very theater- or that George Gershwin almost certainly had sat in those very seats- was absolutely thrilling to us. With that in mind, as we were getting ready to exit the auditorium, I walked up to one of the ushers -an older woman who looked like she’d been there for quite awhile- and asked her how long she had been an usher there. She replied that she had started there back in the mid 1970’s, for Pippin. . . and proceeded to list off every show that had played there in the subsequent 35 years. . . including They’re Playing Our Song (which starred Lucie Arnez, the daughter of Lucille Ball), Chess, Dreamgirls, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Les Miserables, The Boy from Oz (Hugh Jackman’s spectacular Broadway debut), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Billy Elliot. You should have seen the immense pride with which this usher- her name was Judy- recounted the great shows that had played in that theater while she had worked there. And when you look back a little further in history, you discover that the Imperial was also the site of the premieres of Rose-Marie (the Friml show most famous for “Indian Love Call” – “when I’m calling you…ou ou ou….ou ou ou…,” Sigmund Romberg’s The New Moon, Richard Rodgers’ On Your Toes, Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun (with the legendary Ethel Merman), Call Me Madam (another Berlin vehicle for Ms. Merman), Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella (one of my very favorite musicals) and Fiddler on the Roof. That’s an incredible amount of important musical history that was made on that very stage. . . and I think that’s one of the things that draws Kathy and I back to Broadway again and again. . . as often as our calendars and bank accounts will allow.
pictured above: Kathy speaks with Judy, the long-time usher at the Imperial Theater, with whom we spoke after “Nice work if you can get it.” Kathy actually asked if it would be okay for her to take a picture of Judy and me (technically speaking, all photography is forbidden inside the theater) and she happily agreed…. but I decided to use this photo which I surreptitiously snapped as she spoke to Kathy, because it shows a little more of the Imperial’s auditorium.
By the way, Judy may have impressed us as she rattled off the many shows that have been presented at the Imperial in the last 35 years, but when it came to geography, it was a different story. “Where are you from,” she asked as we were leaving. “Wisconsin,” we replied. “Oh. . . Is that next to Idaho?” But we didn’t even mind. . . She was just too charming!