Dancing in the Dark

 

Dancing in the Dark is the latest pre-Broadway tryout to come to the Old Globe. It is based on the Vincent Minnelli movie Bandwagon starring the inimitable Fred Astaire and the gorgeous Cyd Charisse. The screenplay was by Betty Comden and Adolph Green based on a revue by the same name, which had some wonderful songs by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz (“Dancing in the Dark” and “Something to Remember You By”) with a series of sketches by George S. Kaufman. The original revue starred both Fred and Adele Astaire.

Many attempts have been made in the past few years to turn movie musicals into stage shows. They include Hairspray, Cry Baby, Saturday Night Fever, Xanadu etc. Some have been successful others not so much. As you can see, the source materials for these transformations had some already familiar music but many had to reconfigure the screenplay to fit the book for a musical.

In Dancing in the Dark, there was the insurmountable fact that Fred Astaire was irreplaceable and, to a lesser extent, so was Cyd Charisse. Douglas Carter Beane has fashioned the new bookreplacing the lead characters, a has- been dancer from movie musicals (Astaire) and a ballerina (Charisse), with an Oscar- winning ex musical comedy star (Scott Bakula) and a modern dancer (Mara Davi). Scott Bakula is a good musical performer who can move well but he lacks the vulnerability and the comedic ability of an Astaire and his ok dancing doesn’t translate to a show called Dancing in The Dark, which at its heart is still a show about dance. To accommodate this casting (wisely having given up on ever finding an Astaire) the plot has been squeezed and tortured, and what was once a light ethereal piece in transformed into a story that is layered with a back story that tends to drag the piece down (alcoholism, infidelity, a mean spirited choreographer etc) and placed songs and dances in a context that make them seem ridiculous.

In the movie the modern dance was good just the concept of a musical Faust and technical disaster destroy any attempt to put it on. “Dancing in the Dark” was an elegant stroll in the park that turns into a dance but in Beane's book it becomes the 10:30 number, replacing what was a beautiful ballet that starred Cyd Charisse. In the movie the composer couple were hard working artists who wanted their musical to work. Here the couple are always wrangling and the bouts of jealousy and unresolved feelings, alcoholism are brought in to give them supposed depth but instead it makes them at times annoying. But my biggest problem is that the story they put forth as the basis for the new musical is so awful it makes everyone involved seem like untalented idiots. On top of that, the sets look like they are from a stock production, the costumes are unattractive, and the chorus needs to be triple its size,

Despite all the above, I found myself enjoying the characters by the end. This is because the performers are all first rate. Bakula does a terrific job doing what he has been given. Mari Davi is a good singer and dancer. The only characters that really work as is  are Hal Meadows, simply played by Benjamin Howes, and the Jeff Cordova, the scene stealing classical actor, so smashingly played by Patrick Page. The plot twist making them lovers is not a distraction and is not laid on. It is  actually is one of the few nice additions to the original book.  What is left of the original book is what works best. The musical needs to be rethought again, going back to what makes the movie work so well, and while they may not be able to find a Fred Astaire, and Bakula would still be fine, get rid of all the heavy back stories. Once again find the elegance in the piece which drew you too it in the first place. As it stands now I can’t get on the bandwagon. Playing at The Old Globe until April 13.