Photo by Diane Sobolewski
Some people like to go deep-sea
diving and others are content to splash around in a wading pool. Both groups
have fun, but it’s a different order of fun. If you are of the wading pool
group, then “Good News,” currently playing at Goodspeed Opera House, is just
your ticket. The water’s not too deep and all that’s demanded of you is that
you simply sit back and occasionally wiggle your toes.
The musical, which has been adapted
by Jeremy Desmon from a book by Laurence Schwab, B. G. DeSylva and Frank
Mandel, debuted on Broadway in 1927, the same year that Jerome Kern’s
“Showboat” opened. The two shows couldn’t have been more different, for whereas
“Showboat” dealt with topics that bedeviled America (prejudice, racism), “Good
News” focused on the of lot of college students caught up in the blithe inanity
of the Roaring Twenties, a sub-culture that embraced booze, sex, suggestive
dancing…and football…as the primary goals of life. “Showboat” became iconic;
“Good News”…well, there was a 1947 film starring Peter Lawford and June
Allyson. It was cute.
The cast of "Good News." Photo by Diane Sobolewski
And “cute” is the operative word
for Goodspeed’s production of this light-as-a-feather musical under the
direction of Vince Pesce, who is also responsible for the energetic
choreography. The story line is about as basic as it can get: Tom Marlowe (Ross
Lekites), a football star at Taft College, is dating perky, blond Pat Bingham
(Lindsay O’Neil), a co-ed focused not only on the BIG game but the dance to
follow, an event that, she is sure, will provide the venue for Tom’s proposal.
Alas, Tom has been a bit laggard in his studies and has failed astronomy, a
class taught by Professor Kenyon (Beth Glover). Shockingly, he’s ineligible to
play football (where are this college’s priorities?). Coach Bill Johnson (Mark
Zimmnerman), informed of the problem by his assistant, Pooch (Max Perlman),
asks the good professor (who was an old college flame) to give Tom another
chance. She agrees to let Tom take a make-up exam and Coach solicits the help
of the professor’s star pupil, the studious Connie (Chelsea Morgan Stock) to
tutor astronomy-challenged Tom. You can guess what follows.
There’s also a sub-plot of sorts,
and it captures the essence of what’s right (and possibly wrong) about this
production…or the musical itself, written for an era that is almost a century
in the past. Sexually liberated (or just perpetually in heat) Babe O’Day (Tessa
Faye) has broken up with the intellectually-challenged Beef Saunders (Myles J.
McHale) and is now on the prowl for a new man. She sets her sights on Bobby
Randall (Barry Shafrin) with a vengeance. Essentially, she stalks him,
flaunting and flirting, much to the confusion of Bobby, who fears Beef’s wrath
will descend at any moment.
Yes, it’s all light-hearted fun,
but it is so alien to America circa 2013 that its aged attempts at being risqué
seem, if nothing else, slightly off-putting. However, Goodspeed is renowned for
boarding shows that, if nothing else, are energy personified, and “Good News”
certainly is that, with a cast that burns calories by the minute, but there’s a
vacuum lurking beneath the surface shimmer of this show, an emotional emptiness
that can’t be hidden by the patina of perkiness evinced by the entire cast. In
essence, “Good News” is just too cute for words.
Under Pesce’s direction, most of
this talented cast seems bent on asking the audience, “Do you see what I’m
doing right now? Do you get the joke? Do you understand I’m happy…mad...sad?”
Gestures are broad, reactions are exaggerated, and emotions are parsed down to
the lowest common denominator. Yes, the book is simple, but that doesn’t mean
it has to be played as if all the characters are simple.
So, if you’re a wading-pool sort of
person, “Good News” should certainly satisfy your toe-wiggling needs. The song-and-dance
numbers will make you smile and, of course, there’s a happy ending. However, if
you ask something more of a musical than toe-wiggling, you might want to search
out where “Next to Normal ” is currently playing
in Connecticut .
“Good News” runs through June 22.
For tickets or more information 860-873-8668 or go to www.goodspeed.org
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