Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! This week, I’m sharing the latest in our “potpourri” series on midcentury Broadway plays, specifically comedies, that I’m reading for (mostly) the first time. In this entry, I selected three titles adapted into musicals with scores by Jerry Herman!
JACOBOWSKY AND THE COLONEL (1944)
Logline: A Jewish intellectual and an aristocratic colonel try to escape France as Nazis invade.
Author: S.N. Behrman, based on a play by Franz Werfel | Original Director: Elia Kazan
Original Broadway Cast: Louis Calhern, Oscar Karlweis, Annabella, Harold Vermilyea, J. Edward Bromberg, Hilda Vaughn, Herbert Yost, and more
Thoughts: This is the most serious of the three plays in this post, and its musical adaptation, The Grand Tour, was also the least successful of the tune-filled works they each inspired, in part because it’s inherently challenging to calibrate the right comedic sensibility for such a heavy story. The straight play similarly has some trouble with its tonal balance, but its higher dramatic stakes are indeed capably paired (for the most part) with some big, surprising laughs — like, for instance, a lisping Nazi whose goofiness lessens some of the life-or-death tension — and they occur often enough to feel permissible within the script’s general ethos. Also, the play’s central idea is uplifting, because the two main characters — the intellectual refugee and the aristocratic colonel — are sufficiently nuanced and multi-dimensional, capable of handling a plot that requires both comedy and drama based on their bond. Since their relationship is the centerpiece of the text, the play is, basically, a success. Unfortunately, I think every other character is something of a decoration without as much complexity — specifically Marianne, who’s positioned as the object of their mutual desire, torn between her love of both and what they each represent. She lacks the individualized texture of her male counterparts, and accordingly, the conflict with Jacobowsky and the Colonel tends to have more weight when it’s less about their competition for her and more about their natural differences as two different people. I get why it’s here — a love triangle is a reliable narrative conduit for any rivalry — but since the woman’s functional purpose seems too-visible as a result of her own limited design in proximal comparison, it’s hard not to clock it as a contrivance… However, again, the play is about the two men and a focus on them saves it. In fact, the later musical fails to delight as much because it doesn’t prioritize their rapport, instead bolstering Jacobowsky (star Joel Grey) at the expense of the Colonel, while also forcing several lively but unearned narrative centerpieces that enable big production numbers with little relevance to the leads’ relationship, which is thus decentralized. Here, it’s right where it should be — and that’s precisely the play’s saving grace.
Jackson’s Rating: 7/10
THE MATCHMAKER (1955)
Logline: A widow hopes to land a curmudgeonly millionaire by serving as his matchmaker.
Author: Thornton Wilder, based on previous plays by Johann Nestroy and John Oxenford | Original Broadway Director: Tyrone Guthrie
Original Broadway Cast: Ruth Gordon, Loring Smith, Eileen Herlie, Rosamund Greenwood, Arthur Hill, Robert Morse, Prunella Scales, Esme Church, Patrick McAlinney, Alexander Davion, and more
Thoughts: Although this classic farce had a long history before Thornton Wilder’s hit adaptation of his lesser-known version from 1938 (The Merchant Of Yonkers), Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! has since risen above them all to become the most popular iteration that we see today. Indeed, I read this after having already loved the musical (and its book), so that affinity informs my opinions — i.e., yes, I smiled every time I spotted a line of dialogue that directly inspired a song title or lyric. However, if I’m predisposed to prefer Dolly, I’ve also developed a real appreciation for Wilder’s play, for its simple but farcical plot remains durable, especially with characterizations that feel less constrained in this space, with more time to develop now that room doesn’t have to also be made for song and dance — a lot of which can be revealing and insightful for character, but mostly in capturing a specific feeling or moment. Here, there’s more of a fullness to the main characters as a result of more communication with each other (which also massages the plot), and Horace Vandergelder is particularly well-realized in The Matchmaker as opposed to Dolly. As the rich curmudgeon seeking to trade a little security for adventure, he traditionally has been the nucleus of this long-successful tale, even as he’s gotten increasingly decentralized over the years as the marquee character, with the musical accelerating this shift towards “the matchmaker” who obviously gets top billing in this play (first starring Ruth Gordon), which served as Dolly’s most direct basis. In this regard, there’s a bit of a happy medium in The Matchmaker — with both lead roles well-managed, and most of everyone else having a certain amount of color as well. Additionally, Wilder has a compelling voice in his own right, so while I might miss the sheer joy of those oh-so-wonderful Herman songs, I’m just as compelled by the humanity displayed here. And I’m ultimately glad to have both. Heck, I think it would be fun to see a company play them in repertory — they’ve got the same bones but are different enough (with different climactic centerpieces) to both be worthwhile. Dolly will remain the star because of its great score and what it affords any grand diva — but this is a charmer.
Jackson’s Rating: 7.5/10
AUNTIE MAME (1956)
Logline: An exuberant socialite becomes the unlikely caretaker of her orphaned nephew.
Author: Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, based on Patrick Dennis’ book | Original Broadway Director: Morton Da Costa
Original Broadway Cast: Rosalind Russell, Polly Rowles, Peggy Cass, Robert Smith, Marian Winters, Dorothy Blackburn, Jan Handzlik, Robert Higgins, Yuki Shimoda, and more
Thoughts: As with Hello, Dolly!, I have a natural affinity for Mame because it’s what I know best. However, if Dolly has superseded the straight play on which it’s based in our general culture, I think Auntie Mame has actually been able to remain an equal to its musical successor. This is for several reasons — a) the film adaptation of the straight play is better and has been shown on TV more often than the film adaptation of the musical, b) Mame has not been revived on Broadway with the same frequency as Hello, Dolly!, so its reputation has shrunken rather than maintained, and c) Auntie Mame as a character is the most iconic thing about this story, in the same way Dolly Levi is the most iconic thing about her story; and while Dolly is most prominently displayed in her musical, Mame probably has a richer, more fuller depiction in her straight play. However, that last point is debatable — the truth is that both the play and the musical are tributes to its eponymous lead, with Jerry Herman’s melodic score bringing us into the character’s world, externalizing her emotions, and zeroing in on her relationship with Patrick more exclusively, as the plot is also pared down around them (for the better, I think, as beats are simplified and streamlined). The play, in contrast and by definition, relies on dialogue as its primary tool for revealing character, and as with Horace Vandergelder in The Matchmaker, this expansion of opportunities for her to interact with a variety of people and in a variety of situations makes this Auntie Mame feel more multi-dimensional on the page. Of course, as with Dolly, the reason to do Mame — heck, the reason to do any Jerry Herman show — is to hear those thrilling songs, while the reason to do Auntie Mame is to enjoy a very well-crafted comedy with a dynamic character at its center. Oh, I’d say all versions of this IP are working with a specific limitation — it’s always episodic, in accordance with its literally chaptered origins — but plotting the show around its central arc (the relationship between Mame and Patrick) is naturally helpful as a matter of focus, and both these stage versions do that well. So, again, although I read this play and long for the songs that I adore, the Mame character here is remarkable.
Jackson’s Rating: 7.5/10
Come back next week for a new Wildcard! And note that Musical Theatre Monday will be postponed for a week, with a new entry coming on Monday, August 26!