Camille Saint-Saens / Jamaica
On this day in classical music: Saint-Saëns’ “Piano Concerto No. 4” received its premier in Paris in 1875. Edouard Colonne conducted the concert which featured the composer as soloist. Saint-Saens studied at the Paris Conservatory where he excelled in organ and composition. From 1857 to 1877, he was organist at the Église de la Madeleine in Paris. His large body of works includes five symphonies, the third (Organ Symphony) of which remains his most popular, five piano concertos, concertos for violin and cello, miscellaneous works for orchestra and a significant number of works for piano and organ. Among his best known works are “The Carnival of the Animals,” the opera “Samson et Delilah,” the “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” and the “Marche Militaire Francaise.” Listen to Philippe Entremont play the second movement of the “Piano Concerto No. 4” with Donald Vorhees conducting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du9aGwl6am8
Camille Saint-Saens
On this day in the musical theatre: The Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg musical “Jamaica” opened on Broadway in 1957. Starring Lena Horne and Ricardo Montalban, “Jamaica” told the story of a simple island community fighting to avoid being overrun by American commercialism. Arlen’s score is lively and shows the influence of the Caribbean calypso. Savannah (Horne) wants a life in New York with modern conveniences. She is tempted to accept the marriage proposal of a New York businessman but ultimately chooses Koli, an impoverished fisherman who saves her younger brother’s life during a hurricane. Listen to Horne sing “Cocoanut Sweet.” The song starts about three minutes into the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3WnJy35wIw
Jamaica – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: A hurricane named Lena (Horne) blew into the Imperial Theatre Thursday night, and proceeded to provoke some of the stormiest applause heard hereabouts in quite a spell. She brought in her wake a tempestuous musical titled “Jamaica.” To watch her on stage is like following the hypnotic movements of a brilliant flame. She is our idea of a definition for incandescent. “Jamaica” bowed into the Imperial with an advance sale of close to $2,000,000. And no wonder. For, with Skipper Horne at the helm, it spells theatre — for that matter, box-office — magic. It’s a grand gale of gala entertainment. – Robert Coleman writing in the Daily Mirror
Peter Warlock / Wicked
On this day in classical music: English composer Peter Warlock was born in London in 1894. Warlock was a nom de plume; he was born Philip Heseltine. During his student days, Warlock established a close friendship with his fellow countryman Frederick Delius. Warlock traveled frequently (Germany, Ireland, Wales, Hungary) but suffered from depression throughout his life. He composed a large body of art songs and choral works but his best known work is the six-movement “Capriol Suite” of 1926. Listen to Korea’s Uni String Ensemble perform the “Basse Danse,” “Pavane” and “Tordion” from “The Capriol Suite.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYiRpzv_aKE
Peter Warlock
On this day in the musical theatre: The biggest hit of the last decade opened on Broadway in 2003. Featuring a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, “Wicked” starred Oklahoma favorite Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda and Idina Menzel as Elphaba. Based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” the Tony Award-winning musical was a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz.” It told how Elphaba (an acronym of author L. Frank Baum) became the Wicked Witch of the West. Menzel earned a Tony Award for her portrayal as the green witch and “Wicked” was awarded Tonys for scenic and costume design. Nine years later, it’s still playing to packed houses and will likely run for several years to come. Listen to Menzel and Chenoweth perform “Defying Gravity.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g4ekwTd6Ig
Wicked – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: She’s flying! She’s actually flying! No, not that winged monkey who levitates over the audience. And not the slinky babe with green skin on the broom, though she definitely has her sky-scraping moments. No, the one I’m talking about is that improbably small woman in the white dress, the one who doesn’t even need that floating mechanical bubble she uses for transportation. That’s Kristin Chenoweth, who is currently giving jaw-dropping demonstrations of the science of show-biz aeronautics in “Wicked,” the Technicolorized sermon of a musical that opened last night at the Gershwin Theater. Playing Glinda the Good Witch in this equally arch and earnest show, a revisionist look at “The Wizard of Oz,” Ms. Chenoweth must put across jokes and sight gags that could make angels fall. Never for a second, though, does she threaten to crash to earth. Even lying down, Ms. Chenoweth — who performed similar magic in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” four years ago (and won a Tony) — remains airborne, proving that in the perilous skies of Broadway, nothing can top undiluted star power as aviation fuel.
Be grateful, very grateful, that Ms. Chenoweth, who spent a brief exile in the land of sitcoms, has returned to the stage with none of the routinized glibness associated with weekly television. She provides the essential helium in a bloated production that might otherwise spend close to three hours flapping its oversized wings without taking off.
Her voice shifting between operetta-ish trills and Broadway brass, her posture melting between prom-queen vampiness and martial arts moves, she evokes everyone from Jeanette MacDonald to Cameron Diaz, from Mary Martin to Madonna. And her precisely graded vocal and physical inflections turn even predictable one-liners into something so startling that you have to laugh.
Her vividness creates a balance problem, since “Wicked” is nominally Elphaba’s story. Surely the show’s creators didn’t mean for audiences to root so ardently for a terminally superficial party girl, even before her political rehabilitation. But, ah, when you have an actress who can so skillfully sell and send up her character, turning social vices into show-stopping virtues, how can you resist? What Ms. Chenoweth manages to do with the lyrics of a song of self-admiration called “Popular” is a master class in musical phrasing.
I was so blissed out whenever Glinda was onstage that I never felt I was wasting time at “Wicked.” I just kept smiling in anticipation of her return when she wasn’t around. The talented Ms. Menzel will no doubt dazzle audience members whose musical tastes run to soft-rock stations. But for aficionados of the American musical, it’s Ms. Chenoweth who’s the real thing, melding decades of performing traditions into something shiny and new. “Wicked” does not, alas, speak hopefully for the future of the Broadway musical. Ms. Chenoweth, on the other hand, definitely does. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times
Vincent Persichetti / Finian’s Rainbow
On this day in classical music: The Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Orchestra gave the world premiere of Vincent Persichetti’s “Symphony No. 8” in 1967. Persichetti taught composition at The Juilliard School beginning in 1947 and became chairman of the composition department in 1963. Persichetti was highly prolific, writing nine symphonies, a large body of work for piano, 25 Parables, 15 Serenades and several works for band. Listen to Jorge Mester and the Louisville Orchestra perform the second movement (Andante sostenuto) of Persichetti’s “Symphony No. 8.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBXNVpIDAPc
Vincent Persichetti
On this day in the musical theatre: A revival of “Finian’s Rainbow” opened on Broadway in 2009. Featuring a tuneful score by Burton Lane and E.Y. Harburg, “Finian’s Rainbow” is the story of an Irishman who moves to the mythical U.S. state of Missitucky with his daughter. Finian believes if he buries a stolen pot of gold near Fort Knox, it will grow. Hoping to foil his efforts is Og, a leprechaun who will become human if he is unable to recover the gold. A corrupt and bigoted senator complicates the story and accidentally is turned black (only temporarily but long enough to realize the extent of his bigotry) by Finian’s daughter Sharon. All the conflicts get resolved before the final curtain. The revival managed a two-month run. Listen to Cheyenne Jackson and Kate Baldwin sing “Old Devil Moon.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVOlGqJSwno
Finian’s Rainbow – Broadway Revival Cast
Musical musings: The latest transfer from the beloved City Center Encores! series of musicals in concert, “Finian’s Rainbow” is also the most unlikely. Pretty much nobody expected to see this oddity cavorting beneath a Broadway proscenium again, although the original production was a solid hit that ran for a year and a half when it opened in 1947. Since then the show has come to be considered too corny, too confused, too tainted by misconceptions about its racial politics. But beautiful music has a way of binding together the most unlikely materials, and the score for “Finian’s Rainbow,” by the lyricist E. Y. Harburg and the composer Burton Lane, is itself an overflowing pot of memorable songs, by turns yearning and bouncy, mocking and sincere, soft as a rose petal and clever as a crossword. – Charles Isherwood in The New York Times
Howard Hanson / By Jeeves
On this day in classical music: American composer Howard Hanson was born in Wahoo, Nebraska in 1896. At age 28, he became director of the Eastman School of Music, a post he would hold until his retirement in 1964. Hanson was a champion of new American music and conducted the premieres of many orchestral works by aspiring composers. With the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, Hanson recorded works by Samuel Barber, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Walter Piston, George Whitefield Chadwick, Edward MacDowell, Roger Sessions, Virgil Thomson, Ron Nelson, William Schuman, Peter Mennin, Charles Ives and William Grant Still Ives, among others. He composed seven symphonies, concertos for piano and organ, works for chorus, band and piano. His “Symphony No. 4” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944. Listen to the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra perform the finale of Hanson’s “Symphony No. 2.” Howard Hanson conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vdpDd5_qHI
Howard Hanson
On this day in the musical theatre: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “By Jeeves” opened on Broadway in 2001. The troubled musical, which was cobbled together from the Jeeves stories by P.G. Wodehouse, debuted in London in April 1975. When lyricist Tim Rice backed out of the production, Lloyd Webber collaborated with Alan Ayckbourn. This musical farce garnered unenthusiastic reviews and closed after 38 performances. A new version opened in London in 1996 and was far more successful than the 1975 production. The 2001 Broadway production managed a 73-performance run and starred Martin Jarvis as Jeeves and John Scherer as Bertie. Listen to Ian Knauer and Emily Loesser perform the work’s standout ballad, “Half a Moment.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgOzgPhW6ug
By Jeeves – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: The giggles and snorts induced by P. G. Wodehouse, the master of dry spoofery, have everything to do with the language of propriety applied to the presumption of privilege. Wodehouse’s best-known works are, of course, the tales of a harmless and helpless wealthy idler, Bertie Wooster, and his brilliant manipulator of a valet, Jeeves. It is Bertie who narrates in a voice that is delicious with honest self-appraisal and cluelessness and implicitly conveys the author’s bland nonsurprise at the foolishness of the feckless rich. The Jeeves stories are piffle of great sophistication: in their recounting of ill-advised infatuations and foolish wagers, it isn’t the plot or even the characters that make you laugh so much, but the narrative tone. That adult tone is precisely what is missing from “By Jeeves,” the well-traveled musical adaptation of Bertie Wooster’s adventures, which opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theater yesterday. The book and lyrics (and direction) are by the playwright Alan Ayckbourn, and the music is by Andrew Lloyd Webber, neither of whom is known for pea-brained schoolboy humor. But what they have come up with is a slapstick farce reliant on routine stumblebum business with rare forays into original jokery (and only one episode of inspired lunacy), unenlivened by a score of 13 formula songs. – Bruce Weber in The New York Times
Dominick Argento / Ben Franklin in Paris
On this day in classical music: American composer Dominick Argento was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1927. A faculty member at the University of Minnesota department of music from 1958 to 1997, Argento became known as one of the 20th century’s most respected choral composers. He has written numerous operas, song cycles and choral music. His song cycle “From the Diary of Virginia Woolf” won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize. Argento composed “Cenotaphs” for the 50th anniversary of the American Choral Directors Association, a work that was given its world premiere in Oklahoma City in March 2009. Listen to the University of Southern California Concert Choir perform Argento’s “Gloria.” Cristian Grases conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nasvu-hgjkw
Dominick Argento
On this day in the musical theatre: “Ben Franklin in Paris” opened on Broadway in 1964. Starring Robert Preston as the celebrated inventor, ambassador and founding father, “Ben Franklin in Paris” follows Franklin to the French capital where he seeks support for this country’s war against England. The pendulum swings in and out of his favor, according to whether the Colonists are victorious or beaten in battle. Compounding the situation is his son William’s treasonous act of siding with the enemy. Franklin ultimately succeeds and is named Ambassador to France. Featuring a score by Mark Sandrich, Jr. and Sidney Michaels, “Ben Franklin in Paris” managed a six-month run thanks to Preston’s commanding performance. Listen to a solo piano version of “How Laughable It Is” from “Ben Franklin in Paris.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awnrpyNGtQE
Ben Franklin in Paris – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: Neither the wig nor the fine 18th-century coat, waistcoat, breeches and boots can fool us. That genial, lightfooted, resourceful salesman who answers to the name of Ben Franklin is really our old friend selling band instruments in Iowa. Airborne in the balloon’s basketlike gondola, Mr. Preston and Miss (Ulla) Sallert (as Madame La Comtesse Diane de Vobrillac) sing Mark Sandrich, Jr.’s best tune, “To Be Alone with You.” – Howard Taubman in The New York Times
Dimitri Shostakovich / The Full Monty
On this day in classical music: Dimitri Shostakovich’s ballet “The Age of Gold” received its premiere in Leningrad in 1930. A satire of 1920’s European political scene, “The Age of Gold” followed the escapades of a Russian football team whose visit to the West resulted in match rigging, police harassment and imprisonment. The team is eventually released from jail and the ballet ends with a dance of solidarity. Shostakovich later extracted a suite from the ballet and arranged the “Polka” for solo piano. Listen to Rustem Hayroudinoff perform the “Polka.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VimyIz-ldF8
Dimitri Shostakovich
On this day in the musical theatre: “The Full Monty” opened on Broadway in 2000. Based on the 1997 screenplay, “The Full Monty” focuses on six unemployed steel workers who decide to put together a male striptease act. The women cheer them on to go for “the full monty” and end the number in the buff. Featuring a book by Terrence McNally and score by David Yazbek, “The Full Monty” chronicled the men’s journey as they dealt with self-consciousness and stage fright. Despite their anxieties, they support each other to create a blue collar version of the Chippendales. “The Full Monty” was nominated for 10 Tony Awards but lost in every category. The big winner that season was “The Producers.” Watch the cast of “The Full Monty” Perform “Let It Go” on the 2001 Tony Award broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TqQ3M_4YXs
The Full Monty – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: So what do you want to know first? Do they really take off all their clothes? Yes. Can you see, you know, everything? No, at least not from where I was sitting. And — oops, almost forgot — is it any good? Well, put it this way: the Eugene O’Neill Theater won’t have to look for a new tenant for a long, long time. “The Full Monty,” the hearty singing adaptation of the popular English film about a motley male troupe of amateur strippers, opened last night in a blaze of pure mass appeal. The show calculatedly pushes as many buttons as an elevator operator, but it mercifully doesn’t hammer at them. With a winning, ear-catching pop score by David Yazbek and a lively gallery of performers who seem truly in love with the people they’re playing, “The Full Monty” is that rare aggressive crowd pleaser that you don’t have to apologize for liking. Even those who go expecting to sneer are likely to be surprised by the smiles that keep sneaking onto their faces. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times
Richard Strauss / Victor/Victoria
On this day in classical music: Richard Strauss conducted the premiere of his “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” in Stuttgart in 1912. Originally designed to be an updated version of Moliere’s 1670 play followed by the opera “Ariadne auf Naxos,” the production’s enormous length proved to be impractical and the two were eventually split. Strauss composed incidental music for “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” and extracted an orchestral suite that was premiered in 1920. Listen to the Overture from “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” performed by Vladimir Jurowski and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSLJyTxVGWs
Richard Strauss
On this day in the musical theatre: “Victor/Victoria” opened on Broadway in 1995. Based on Blake Edwards’ screenplay of the 1982 film, “Victor/Victoria” featured a score by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse. After Mancini’s death during the show’s tryouts, Frank Wildhorn was called on to write additional songs. “Victor/Victoria” was to be Julie Andrews’ final Broadway musical. After developing vocal problems during the show’s run, she underwent a botched surgery which left her unable to sing. When the Tony nominations were announced, Andrews was the only member of the cast to be honored. Feeling the rest of the cast had been overlooked, she created some controversy when she refused her nomination. “I have searched my conscience and my heart and find that I cannot accept this nomination,” Andrews stated, adding that she would “stand instead with the egregiously overlooked” cast and crew. The musical’s story followed the antics of a struggling singer (Andrews) who reluctantly agrees to disguise herself as a man named Victor who had an incredible vocal range. As the toast of Paris, she ended each performance by removing her wig. “Victor/Victoria” ran three months short of two years. Listen to Andrews perform “Louis Says” from “Victor/Victoria.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds5Y1liaVeI
Victor/Victoria – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: Thirteen years have passed since Blake Edwards made his cinematic chef d’oeuvre, “Victor/Victoria,” but as far as Julie Andrews is concerned, 13 years is no more than the blink of an eye. That’s gloriously apparent in Mr. Edwards’ otherwise big, patchy stage adaptation, which opened last night at the Marquis Theater. Ms. Andrews is reprising her most enchanting screen role, that of a woman who plays a man who plays a woman, thus to become the toast of 1930’s Paris as a female impersonator. At 60, Ms. Andrews looks terrific and sings with a sweet purity not heard on Broadway since she last played the street in “Camelot.” That was more than 30 years ago. Even as today’s usually invidious sound amplification equipment can’t distort her voice, time has made no dent in her immaculate appearance and diction, and in her grandly funny stage presence. She’s been away too long, but I suspect she will now be around as long as she wants. “Victor/Victoria” is Julie Andrews’ generous option. – Vincent Canby in The New York Times
Victor Herbert / Movin’ Out
On this day in classical music: Victor Herbert’s operetta “Naughty Marietta” was given its premiere in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1910. The Irish-born composer, cellist and conductor composed two operas, works for orchestra, solo piano and cello. He is best known, however, for his operettas, the most famous of which is “Naughty Marietta.” Herbert led the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1898 to 1904 and was a founding member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1914. “Naughty Marietta” features some of Herbert’s most attractive music, from “It Never Can Be Love” and “’Neath the Southern Moon” to “I’m Falling in Love With Someone” and the “Italian Street Song.” Listen to Beverly Sills perform the coloratura classic “Italian Street Song.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkr3IBYg-D4
Victor Herbert
On this day in the musical theatre:“Movin’ Out” opened on Broadway in 2002. Featuring music by Billy Joel and choreography by Twyla Tharp, “Movin’ Out” is a series of dances that tell the story of 1960s-era youth and their experiences with the Vietnam War. Joel’s songs were performed by an on-stage pianist which created a musical foundation for Tharp’s dances. “Movin’ Out” played for more than three years on Broadway and then toured the U.S. Watch the orignal Broadway cast perform “River of Dreams,” “Keeping the Faith” and “Only the Good Die Young” at the 2003 Tony Awards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf6_A-wZiKk
Movin’ Out – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: As a dance critic, I am perfectly willing to call “Movin’ Out” a show, and a terrific one at that, despite its thin-soup plot about coming of age in the Vietnam era. What the production is not is a musical, newfangled or otherwise, just because it is produced on Broadway. There is no dialogue, the dancers don’t sing and the lyrics are sometimes irrelevant to the dancing. (Tharp) knows that music is transformed by dance. At the end, the same disco drive propels the dancing at an exultant high school reunion. All good ballets used to have an apotheosis. This one does too. – Anna Kisselgoff in The New York Times
Walter Piston / Triumph of Love
On this day in classical music: Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra gave the premiere of Walter Piston’s “Three New England Sketches” in Worcester, Mass. in 1959. The “Three New England Sketches” were commissioned by the Worcester County Musical Association for its 100th annual Music Festival and is dedicated to Paray. The work’s three movements are titled “Seaside,” “Summer Evening” and “Mountains.” Despite the work’s titles, Piston claimed the “Three New England Sketches” had no programmatic inspiration. Listen to the University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform Piston’s “Three New England Sketches.” Barbara Schubert conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aYhrqPisYA
Walter Piston
On this day in the musical theatre: “Triumph of Love,” a chamber musical based on Pierre de Marivaux’s 1732 commedia dell’arte play “Le Triomphe de l’Amour,” opened on Broadway in 1997. The Spartan princess Léonide disguises herself as Phocion to gain access to the palace where Agis, the object of her affection, lives. Both he and his uncle Hermocrates soon discover her secret. Featuring a score by Jeffrey Stock and Susan Birkenhead, “Triumph of Love” featured Susan Egan as Léonide, Christopher Sieber as Agis, F. Murray Abraham as Hermocrates and Betty Buckley as Hesione. The musical had a brief run of 84 performances. Listen to Buckley sing “Serenity” from “Triumph of Love.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUp3GUA4OEw
Triumph of Love – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: Something shocking happens toward the end of the endless-seeming first act of “Triumph of Love,” the new musical that opened last night at the Royale Theater. By that time, if you’re lucky, your feelings have graduated from irritation to numbness before the flat-footed parade of raunchy double-entendres and double takes that give new meaning to the phrase “low comedy.” How many botanical puns about sex organs can you take, after all, before your theatergoer’s response system shuts down in self-defense? And then, against all expectation, lightning strikes. Your emotions are stirred, you sit up in your seat and you may even discover tears in your eyes. In any case, if you’re human, you’ll probably find yourself delivering a silent prayer of thanksgiving for Betty Buckley, that fine musical star whose penetrating trumpet of a voice always seems directly and paradoxically linked to a fragile soul. Ms. Buckley, the original Grizabella of “Cats” and the much-admired successor to Glenn Close in “Sunset Boulevard,” is the only thing triumphant in “Triumph.” For what it’s worth, she definitely owns the show. But isn’t it time someone gave her a more valuable piece of property all her own? – Ben Brantley in The New York Times
John Adams / Footloose
On this day in classical music: John Adams’ opera “Nixon in China” received its premiere by the Houston Grand Opera in 1987. Inspired by Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China, “Nixon in China” featured a libretto by Alice Goodman. The composer augmented the orchestra with a large saxophone section, added percussion and synthesizer. While parts of the opera feature minimalistic touches, others suggest the music of Wagner and Johann Strauss. Many critics were less than enthusiastic about “Nixon in China” but it has since been staged numerous times and has been recorded twice. Listen to “The Chairman Dances,” described by the composer as a foxtrot for orchestra, taken from the third act of “Nixon in China.” Johannes Müller-Stosch conducts the Cole Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbs7cUuk9z4
John Adams
On this day in the musical theatre: “Footloose” opened on Broadway in 1998. Based on the 1984 film of the same name, “Footloose” tells the story of a young Chicago youth named Ren who moves with his mother to a small Midwestern town. One of the town’s preachers has seen to it that dancing is outlawed, a decision the boy views as archaic. Ren makes it his mission to change the preacher’s mind. Watch Jeremy Kushnier and the cast perform “I’m Free” from “Footloose” on the 1999 Macy Fourth of July spectacular. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVZYhbzxs4g
Footloose – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: That poor, tormented Reverend Moore. All that worry for so little reason, all that anguish over something so tame. In “Footloose,” the flavorless marshmallow of a musical that opened last night at the Richard Rodgers Theater, this righteous minister of a small-town church spends most of the show fretting over the dangerous consequences of rock-and-roll, something he describes as “an endless chant of pornography.” Yet if only, early on, he could have shared the audience’s perspective on the way his town’s teen-agers dance to such music. Why, it’s less erotic, and considerably less involving, than an introductory aerobics class. Of course, if the Reverend had realized this in the production’s first scene instead of its last, then there wouldn’t be a show. That is not necessarily a bad thing. There have certainly been worse musicals on Broadway than “Footloose,” the $6.5 million adaptation of the hit 1984 movie that starred Kevin Bacon. Yet it’s hard to think of one so totally unaffecting. The music in the show is loud, for sure, with a propulsive beat designed to set toes tapping and fingers snapping. The score is peppered with flashy dance tunes from the movie that have boomed over disco floors for years. And there’s a young, eager, hard-working cast of dancers, somersaulting, back-flipping, wriggling to beat the band. But as directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by A. C. Ciulla, this production has a blurry, removed feeling, like a Xerox of a Polaroid. The show’s creators seem to be aiming at teen-agers whose parents won’t let them see the raunchier “Rent,” with a generation-crossing family entertainment that absolutely no one could object to. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times
