MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW:
TO LIFE
20 MAY/11

JOHN COULBOURN,
QMI Agency
Rating: 3.5 out of 5


TORONTO - Musical theatre, it is said, is one of the few truly American art forms. 
Still, one doesn’t need to probe too deeply into its genealogy to know that without the American Jew, musical theatre wouldn’t have amounted to much. For proof, look no further than a little show titled TO LIFE, currently playing at the Jane Mallett Theatre, a production of Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company.


Conceived by HGJTC’s co-artistic director Avery Saltzman (who also directs) and Tim French (the show’s impressive choreographer), this is a two-hour voyage through the history of musical theatre with a focus on the strong Jewish connection in musical theatre’s bloodlines. Fittingly, it starts and ends with Bock and Harnick’s anthemic To Life, composed for Fiddler on the Roof.


In between, there are two acts of some of Broadway’s best — some of it designed to celebrate Jewish composers, some of it Jewish performers and most of it simply the Jewishness at the heart of it all. As for composers, there’s a cross-section here, ranging from George Gershwin through Jule Styne, Jerry Herman, Richard Rodgers and a host of others. And while Broadway’s pioneer Jewish performers are evoked in only four names — Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker, Fannie Brice and Al Jolson — a performing pantheon is honoured in the process.


In a first act devoted to the early years of musical theatre and the transition from vaudeville and burlesque, Saltzman and French truck out a passel of old standards — Ain’t She Sweet, Makin’ Whoopie and Rainbow Around My Shoulder — mixing them liberally with funhouse fare like the tongue-twisting Sister Susie’s Sewing Shirts for Soldiers and Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go With Friday on Saturday Night --- all to maximum effect. The inclusion here of the masochistic My Man is simply unfortunate and proves that not all oldies are golden.


Each of the four talented cast members — Shawn Wright, Patrick Cook, Gabi Epstein and Charlotte Moore — is given a moment in the spotlight as they pay personal tribute to Jolson, Cantor, Tucker and Brice respectively. In the second act, things move into the modern era, with a selection of tunes from more contemporary Broadway shows, drawn from hits like Fiddler, I Can Get it for You Wholesale, Cabaret and Funny Girl as well as lesser known works like Two By Two, The Fig Leaves are Falling and The Bar Mitzvah Boy.


Under the musical direction of Mark Camilleri (who also does keyboard duty opposite pianist Jeffrey Huard), it is indeed a tuneful event and count on a tough time getting the score out of your head — which is the best kind of tribute to this kind of show. But not everything is coming up roses here, to borrow a phrase. While they touch lightly and justifiably on the anti-Semitism which forced most Jewish performers to change their names early in the last century, they serve up songs like Mammy and Swanee with no acknowledgment whatsoever of the hurtful tradition of blackface, which was equally shameful.


And while Saltzman and French keep things alive and lively on a set designed and lit by Phillip Silver, Alex Amini’s costuming for the distaff could best be described as unfortunate. And finally, there’s a strange unevenness to the cast that leaves Cook and the comically gifted Epstein apparently just performing their tunes (sometimes with too evident self-satisfaction) while the more seasoned Moore and Wright successfully inhabit theirs on a deeper level. Coupled with more false endings than a shag carpet, it conspires to make TO LIFE feel just a tune or two too long. And that’s too bad.