By: John Guare, Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia
At: Circle Theatre ( Forest Park )
Phone: 708-771-0700; $22-$24
Runs through: June 25
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Oh how the critics howled at Sweet Smell of Success when it didn't live up to expectations during its 2001 Chicago tryout and its 2002 Broadway berth. Some critics seemed aghast that the show's esteemed collaborators even dared to make a musical of the much-admired 1957 United Artists film of the same name starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.
Sweet Smell of Success did win one Tony Award for actor John Lithgow as JJ Hunsecker, the ruthless and power-mad gossip columnist modeled directly on the real-life Walter Winchell. Otherwise, Sweet Smell of Success didn't live up to its title.
Rather than seeing Sweet Smell of Success relegated to the Broadway flop dustbin, the plucky Circle Theatre produced it ( with revisions by the show's authors ) . Thank heaven for that, since this musical shines despite its tarnished image.
As someone who missed the previous stage production ( and who opted to watch the film afterward ) , I was surprisingly impressed. Circle Theatre has stylishly conjured up Sweet Smell of Success' swanky nightlife of 1952 New York with gorgeous period costumes by Jeffrey Kelly and an expert jazz band swing led by music director Peter J. Storms.
Against Bob Knuth's film-noir backdrops of black and white projections and hidden compartments, the drama plays out with incredible intimacy and urgency. Michael Mahler is the conniving press agent hero Sidney Falcone ( changed to 'Falco' to be more iconic ) who desperately clamors to get his clients in the make-or-break gossip column of Hunsecker ( an imposing and threatening Jon Steinhagen ) .
By chance, Falco gets taken under Hunsecker's wing as a go-between to break up a budding romance between Hunsecker's younger sister, Susan ( Katrina Kuntz ) , and an up-and-coming jazz musician named Dallas Cochran ( Scott Allen Luke ) . Drunk on New York nightlife and dreams of journalistic power, Falco scrambles to stay on the good side of Hunsecker, even imperiling his hat-check girlfriend, Rita ( Darci Nalepa ) , in the process.
The cast assembled here is marvelous, including the vocally adept ensemble that functions as a goading Greek chorus.
Not everything is perfect. Even with revisions, the score by Marvin Hamlisch ( A Chorus Line ) and Craig Carnelia isn't always engaging ( perhaps too many reprises for the young lovers ) . John Guare's book is at times beholden to the film's original catchphrases.
The Circle Theatre production has its faults, too. Christopher Ash's moody lighting design plays up the show's darkness a little too literally. ( You frequently have to squint to discern performers' expressions. ) Also, director Kevin Bellie's simplistic choreography doesn't dazzle in the extended nightclub dance and oddly veers to moves typical of village peasants instead of New York sophisticates.
Sweet Smell of Success may never shake its Broadway flop odor, but Circle Theatre shows that it is worth salvaging and still salient for any gossip-hungry society.