Playwright: George Abbott ( book ) , Richard Rodgers ( music ) , Lorenz Hart ( lyrics ) . At: Drury Lane Theatre Oak Brook Terrace. Phone: 630-530-0111; $28-$33. Runs through: Sept. 28. Photo by Johnny Knight
There are two ways to stage old musicals: do them as is with minimal changes—a revival, or substantially revise the scores and books to make them more contemporary—dubbed a 'revisical.' The Boys from Syracuse very definitely is a revisical, and much of it is commendable. The set and costumes are bright, colorful and fun; the choreography is slick and sometimes sensual; the athletic knock-about comic business is genuinely laugh-inducing; the performances all are strong; and the show is a rollicking good time ... that is, if you don't know anything about The Boys from Syracuse. But then there are curmudgeonly purists such as me.
Written in 1938, Syracuse is based on Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors ( itself based on antique Roman comedy ) in which identical twin masters and identical twin slaves run riot in the antique Greco-Roman city of Ephesus. Play and musical both feature convoluted mistaken identity plots, thinly-drawn characters and lots of physical comedy. For the musical, Rodgers and Hart provided a dazzling jazzy score including such standards as 'Falling in Love with Love,' 'Sing for Your Supper' and 'This Can't be Love.' If you mess with this show—and particularly this score—you'd better have good reason, and it's been messed with.
Not convinced the score is jazzy enough, director David H. Bell sets this 1938 musical in, uh, 1938, reorchestrating songs as swing or gospel numbers and interpolating a jitterbug production number while excising or shortening several of the original songs. He's done this, the show's publicity says, to salvage a neglected gem of American musical theater. Bald-faced balderdash: The Boys from Syracuse has been produced many times since 1938, with a notable 1960's Off-Broadway revival ( and recording ) and at least three or four Chicago productions since 1970 ( hey, I'm the gray-haired guy who knows ) .
Earlier revisions of the book left the magnificent score intact, but Bell's revisions make changes without making improvements. His edits and rewrites don't make the characters stronger or the action swifter; his musical alterations don't make the score more tuneful. It's change for the sake of change, and it's unworthy of the show and unworthy of Bell's masterful talents as a director and choreographer.
When he's on target there's no one better, as the show's Turkish Keystone Kops ( Ephesus is in Turkey ) , deft physical business and strong casting choices prove. But, ultimately, Bell doesn't trust the material; he doesn't believe the words and music will play as written, without his high-concept overlay. Such mistrust has been a frequent feature of Bell's 30-year career. Admittedly, even when he's wrong ( and sometimes he's right ) his productions are energetic and exuberant. But that doesn't make his high-concepts either necessary or appropriate.
FYI: dollar-wise, Drury Lane is one of Chicago's top theater values.
