Review: Pal Joey

Bothersome and Bewildering, but Not Bewitching
By Lauren Yarger
It’s got great songs, a wonderful actress playing Vera and a pretty decently updated book, but the newest version of Pal Joey lets down rather than revives at Broadway’s Studio 54.

Stockard Channing stars as Vera Simpson, a married woman smitten with sleazy-but-charming womanizer Joey Evans (Matthew Risch) in 1930s Chicago. The problem here, is that this Joey is neither sleazy nor charming. Risch, originally the understudy, took over the role prior to the show’s opening when Christian Hoff suffered an injury and bowed out amid rumors that the show’s producers didn’t find his dancing skills up to par.

Where a triple threat is needed, however, director Joe Mantello inexplicably cast a triple so-so instead, whose singing, dancing and acting skills just aren’t ready for a powerhouse role like Joey. In past stage and screen adaptations of the Rodgers and Hart classic, Joey was played by the likes of Gene Kelley, Bob Fosse and Frank Sinatra. The character mistreats women, but is supposed to have a magnetism they find irresistible.

With Risch unable to give Joey any charisma or panache, we’re never quite sure why confident Vera, trustingly naïve shopkeeper Linda English (Jenny Fellner), vampy ex-girlfriend Gladys Bumps (Martha Plimpton in a pleasing turn) or anyone else would be attracted to the cad. Channing brings good stage presence, comedic timing and a few moments of raw emotion to a rejected Vera. You feel her pain when she grabs her drink glass for another round of “fini;” you’re just not clear why she cares so much.

When she sings one of the show’s trademark songs “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” she seems more “concerned” -- about hitting the right notes than any of the above. Channing uses her wonderful drama skills to act through her solos, reminiscent of Glynis Johns talking her way through “Send in the Clowns,” but she doesn’t have adequate vocal coaching support. Musical director Paul Gemignani also should have worked more with Plimpton (who has received acting accolades, but for whom music theater on the Broadway stage is a new venture) and Risch who both have trouble finding support for some of their notes. Fellner has the strongest singing voice of the group and Risch’s duets with her are his best vocally.

Richard Greenberg’s update of the book by John O’Hara is fresh, combining some of the original characters and shifting song assignments around. The orchestra, split above the stage on both sides, isn’t large, but sounds full. It’s always wonderful to hear Rodgers’s “I Could Write a Book,” “What is a Man” and the haunting “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” which get into your head and keep you humming them for days (the mark of a great Broadway score).

Scott Pask’s set design is noteworthy. Two rotating side stages, a tall winding staircase, minimal props and a central section nuanced with scrim and lighting (Paul Gallo) become various locales. William Ivey Long’s costumes evoke the period and Channing is bedecked, if not bewitched, in several lovely sparkling gowns.

Christians might also like to know:
• God’s name taken in vain
• Sex outside of marriage
• Show girls are scantily clad
• One character is gay and is blackmailed