Newcity Stage

Theater, Dance, Comedy and Performance in Chicago

Review: Turn of the Century/Goodman Theatre

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by Brian Hieggelke
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Seeing director Tommy Tune sign an autograph in the Goodman lobby before the world premiere of “Turn of the Century” was a tangible indication of the star wattage, of the stakes involved in what is likely the fall season’s most-anticipated theatrical opening. With the nine-time Tony winner helming the debut of the new musical from “Jersey Boys” creators Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and featuring movie star Jeff Daniels and Broadway star Rachel York playing the romantic leads, this is a production clearly pointed toward the bright lights of Broadway.

Dixie and Billy are success-deprived musicians who find themselves together on the eve of the new millennium. (Hearing “1999” performed as a piano “standard” affirms Prince’s decision to retire the song from his repertoire.) They’re soon magically transported back a hundred years to the dawn of the twentieth century, where Billy realizes they can release the hits of the upcoming era as their own creations, and convinces Dixie to play along. Before long, they are the superstars they’ve always dreamed of being, albeit not on terms ever imagined. The conceit allows for a songbook-of-the-century musical mash-up, from Irving Berlin and George Gershwin to Paul Anka and Paul Simon, a process that subtly evokes its own commentary about the relative paucity of contemporary culture, perhaps exemplified in Dixie’s aspiration to be like “Celine Dion!” The result is a crowd-pleasing period musical in the tradition of, say, “Thoroughly Modern Millie” with some thoroughly modern juxtapositions, like a comical take on Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” sung by Ziegfeld Girls. Walt Spangler’s set soars with gorgeous simplicity: an oval portal envelopes the stage, with an encircling LED crawl that provides setting details and some humorous commentary; inside its borders a multipurpose backdrop curves like the sky itself, sometimes turning the set into a glorious epic snow globe. In the Goodman’s relatively intimate space, the overall effect is magical; this is the Broadway musical of the imagination, one that the reality of the much larger theaters normally housing big musicals can’t imitate.

Under Tune’s direction, the musical is a loving homage to the era it plunders; the costume and choreography is “Top Hat” come to life (without the dancing of Fred Astaire, or much dancing at all, for that matter). The radiant Rachel York, with her big voice and just the right vulnerability, is perfection as Dixie. Jeff Daniels, as Billy, is not. In real life, he’s a Michigan-based movie star who does admirable things for Midwest theater and even croons a bit as a singer-songwriter, but his voice is adequate at best. Of course, his role doesn’t really require the big pipes since he plays the piano man, but it does call for lady-killer charisma and that’s not him. He’s just too affable, in spite of the douche-bags he’s played in the movies at times. But he’s good enough: with the sparkling York at his side and a crackerjack ensemble around him, anyone with a soft spot for the nostalgia of Tin Pan Alley and old Broadway will swoon.

What elevates “Turn of the Century” above mere pleasantly nostalgic musical theater is the sort of Einsteinian cultural paradox it conjures. Before long, a 12-year-old Irving Berlin (played with beyond-his-years verve by Jonah Rawitz in a very demanding role) enters the lives of Billy and Dixie, who’ve been merrily making hay “writing” the songs Berlin’s destined to write. What will Berlin and his fellow songwriting greats do with their lives if all their songs are taken? The musical asks the question but then brushes it aside in order to rush us toward the obligatory happy ending.

It’s a sly comment, nonetheless, positing that our culture is milking its past dry. Are Brickman and Elice offering penance for their own transgressions, their “plundering” the songs of others for profit here and in “Jersey Boys”? Or are they simply asking a big question of our time: if every big hit is either a revival or a repurposing of a movie (hello, “Dirty Dancing” and ‘The Producers”), what kind of future are we leaving for the culture? (Brian Hieggelke)

At Goodman Theatre, 170 North Dearborn, (312)443-3800, through November 2.

  • Dennis Polkow

    Not seeing this show until well into its run, there have reportedly been plenty of changes since its world premiere here in late September, but here are some thoughts experiencing it for the first time almost a month into its run.

    I do like this show a lot, and see much potential here, but it should be said that this is clearly a music lover’s show primarily for people who are fans and followers of the classic American songbook.

    I agree with Brian that a better leading man (younger and who could sing) would help and also concerning his eloquent waxing about the bigger cultural issues that this and other revisitings (“plunderings”) of older material raise about what we are leaving to future generations. It is also indeed ironic that given Tommy Tune’s direction that dancing doesn’t take more of a role in this show.

    The central gimmick, i.e., that a pianist and a singer end up mysteriously teleported at midnight of the beginning of 2000 back to midnight of the year 1900, is never explained. Not even “Y2K” is invoked, and this is problematic for the credibility of the story. Yes, it’s been done to death, but even explaining this away as potentially a dream (or nightmare) a la “A Christmas Carol” or “Wizard of Oz” would solve this problem. Since it is New Year’s Eve, too much champagne would even suffice to justify a dual pass out. Of course, the couple could wonder at how each had the same experience at play’s end, and leave open the possibility that it all somehow actually “happened.”

    The fact that a future century’s worth of songs are there for the taking to resell comes about as the explicit and sinister idea of the pianist, which takes away any sympathy for the character. The guy is a crook, deliberately stealing other people’s work. Far better to have all of this come about by accident where others assume the songs are his, and he is powerless to convince them otherwise given that any explanation that the songs are from the future will not be believed. The guy could still be guilty for enabling others but at least some of his humanity would be restored by becoming what Curly Howard would call a “victim of circumstance.”

    The most entertaining aspect of the show that is most likely to give this show a core audience, in my view, is its hysterical and inappropriate melding of a century’s worth of songs one into the other as thought to be appropriate by a mediocre lounge pianist and his psedo-girlfriend singer. The result gives you Victor Young’s “Tara’s Theme” from “Gone With the Wind” as the chorus for Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” and the chorus of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” mixed with Gershwin’s “Summertime.” These are great moments, and there are undoubtedly more that could be done with this idea where really great tunes are mixed with novelty songs.

    That the couple meets a 12-year old Irving Berlin is a clever idea, and brings up the more viable possibility that only Berlin’s songs might be used as the couple’s catalog, though again, mixed in with odds and ends from other future songs. The kid is way too sweet, though, given what we know about Berlin and his personality quirks, which could have been shown well in progress — just like his songwriting — as a boy.

    The fact that the couple dares to find its own “voice” vs. other great songwriters is a clever if predictable climax, but a better song is needed to fulfill that function. It would also be less jarring to hear an original song if others had been used as narrative or “framing” devices throughout the show.

    Lastly, more homework needs to be done on what was happening on December 31, 1999 in the world to feed the headline crawl around the clock that go by before the show begins. I am at an unfair advantage there having set three VCRs to record day and night during this transition, but more credibility here would jar people’s memories in a fun way as this is such recent history that old and young can share and compare.