By Lauren Yarger
Silent film star Charlie Chaplin's troubled life is brought to the Broadway stage in a new musical, starring Rob McClure as the comedic genius haunted by a tragic past, failed marriages and ostracization by the Hollywood community from which he so desperately sought approval.
Turning the story into Chaplin is a somewhat troubled effort itself, however.
Let's start with what's good. McClure gives a very strong performance (he created the role at La Jolla Playhouse). It's early in the season to predict, and I hate to admit that I will be surprised if this show is still running at TONY time, but expect the fabulous McClure to receive a Best Actor nomination. He embodies Chaplin not only emotionally, but physically as well as he twirls a cane, balances on a tightrope (with help from Flying by Foy and a tightrope trainer) and shuffles along in a terrific recreation of The Little Tramp.
At times, he magically walks from the stage into a scene from one of Chaplin's movies (Jon Driscoll, video/projection design; Ken Billington lighting design; Scott Lehrer, Drew Levy, sound design). Christiane Noll plays his mother, Hannah, a saloon singer who introduces him to the entertainment world. Sent to a work house when Hannah is hospitalized for mental illness, Charlie is later discovered by film producer Mack Sennett (Michael McCormick) and lands in Hollywood.
Soon, he is Box Office gold and he brings friend Alf Reeves (Jim Borstelmann) and his brother, Sydney (Wayne Alan Wilcox) over from London to join him in the business. He also brings Hannah over and sets her up in a nursing care facility, but refuses to see her since she can't remember who he is.
Syd proves himself a terrific manager and soon has Charlie earning the biggest paychecks in Hollywood's history. Fame clouds the star's judgment, however, and he soon is paying the largest divorce settlements in Tinsletown's history too.
The first failed marriage is to gold-digging Mildred Harris (Hayley Podschun); the second to Joan Barry (Emilee Dupre). It isn't until he marries debutante Oona O'Neill (Erin Mackey) that he finds matrimonial bliss, but the relationship results in Oona's being disinherited by famous playwright father, Eugene, who objects to her much-older choice.
Charlie's star really begins to fade when gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (a delightful Jenn Colella who brings some much-needed life to the show) has a grudge and starts trying to blacklist Charlie by playing up his association with the Communist party (the accusations are fueled by Chaplin's last picture, The Great Dictator, a talkie, featuring Adolph Hitler as the star). He and Oona flee to Europe until many years later, when he finally is recognized at the Oscars. Amy Clark and Martin Pakledinaz dress all the characters in yummy period costumes which range from 1894 to 1972.
Ok, now for what's not so good.
First, bookwriters Christopher Curtis ( and Thomas Meehan try to include almost every detail from Chaplin's life in the musical. There simply is too much happening. One scene, for instance, has Hedda talking to her assistant about wanting to get Charlie on her show, asking the assistant to call him, then making the call. The call would have sufficed. Or even just the last part of it with an angry hang-up from Hedda as she launches into her revenge mode. The dialogue leading to and during the call is tedious. Whole sets are created for a few lines of unnecessary dialogue.
In the same way, the first musical numbers and accompanying scenes could have been eliminated with the musical starting on a riveting note as Charlie is abandoned by his mother. We really don't need his life, though nicely portrayed by Zachary Unger as young Charlie, depicted in such detail prior to the start of the real action.
On the other hand, to get in so many details, other parts of the script seem to move as break-neck speed. Charlie meets Mildred, woos her, signs numerous contracts with film studios, starts his own studio, finds out he's going to be a father and marries Mildred in about the same amount of time it took you to read this sentence.
The constant revisiting of moments between young Charlie and his mother also gets old after a while, though it's hard to complain about having a chance to enjoy the lovely Noll on stage. Curtis' music and lyrics don't give her a lot to work with, however, as they are mostly uninspired. The last ensemble number "This Man" was my favorite, but two and a half hours is a long time to wait before you start loving the music. Bryan Perri provides the musical direction and vocal arrangements; Larry Hochman does the orchestrations.
Director Warren Carlyle (who also choreographs) just can't pull the pieces together. The production further suffers from his and set designer Beowulf Boritt's decision to present everything in black, white and gray. I get it. This is supposed to be a movie about Chaplin, and I suppose his life wasn't full of color and all of his movies were in black and white. An interesting idea on paper doesn't always work on a live Broadway stage, however. The unquestionably talented Boritt creates some lovely Deco backdrops, but the lighting on them (Ken Billington, design) intentionally keeps them -- and all of the beautiful costumes -- colorless. Even the makeup design by Angelina Avallone seems overly chalky to make sure nothing but shades of black and white are visible until the Academy Award scene near the end, which is staged all in red. The result -- and the most disappointing part of this musical -- is a very drab-looking production to match a ho-hum show.
Chaplin runs at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 West 47th St., NYC. Tickets and information: 212- 239-6200 or 800-432-7250; http://chaplinbroadway.com./.
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