Theater Review—

‘Sugar Babies’ Is Eye-Opening Fun For Most Ages

By Julie Stern

BRIDGEPORT — Now that the country’s new commitment to moral issues has led to the righteously indignant censure of NFL halftime shows and commercials for being offensive to public decency, it may be that The Downtown Cabaret Theater’s production of Sugar Babies will never be invited to the White House.

After all, a show that bills itself as a “hilarious, extravagant, rowdy and risqué Burlesque Musical” is probably too blue for the red states. However, since this is Connecticut, unrepentant sinners can make their way down to Bridgeport and enjoy this revue mingling tap dancing, songs, chorines, bad jokes, comic routines and kooch that comprise a loving tribute to the old burlesque shows.

Filled with bawdy routines, double entendres, revealing costumes and a cheerful disrespect for all civic and social institutions – the law, the police, school, government, etc – the show, conceived by Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby, and featuring music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Al Dubin, is a fast paced, bubbling entertainment.

 The cast is high-spirited and very talented, especially Kirby Ward as The Top Banana and Paula Leggett Chase as The Prima Donna.

Hugh Hallinan’s lighting really adds to the mood, as do Jimmy Johansmeyer’s costumes.

The whole thing is just a lot of fun, as evidenced by the giggles and chortles heard from tables all around us last Saturday evening. For some of the older people in the audience it was clearly a happy trip down memory lane; for the younger ones, it was an eye-opening glimpse of their grandparents’ world.

 Sugar Babies is not a great musical and it is not a memorable one, but it makes for an eminently delightful evening with friends, and if your in-laws are not members of the Moral Majority, it would be a great show to take them to.

 (Sugar Babies: The Burlesque Musical continues on weekends until February 6 at Downtown Cabaret Theatre, 263 Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport. Call 203-576-1636 or visit www.DTCab.com for full curtain and ticket details.)