Date: Fri 09-Apr-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SARAH

Quick Words:

Downtown-Cabaret-Stern

Full Text:

THEATRE REVIEW: There's Nothing Wrong In "Playing Our Song"

(with cut)

By Julie Stern

BRIDGEPORT -- Vernon Gersch is a shy, mild mannered, nervous fellow who

happens to be hugely successful as the composer of popular love songs. Sonia

Walsk is a flighty, hyper earth-mother type who once edited the literary

magazine at Middlebury and who hopes to make it as a pop lyricist so that she

can afford to buy her clothes at places other than thrift shops.

Playwright Neil Simon has this pair meet when Sonia submits her latest

collection of song lyrics for Vernon's consideration, and they realize that on

professional terms, theirs is a match made in ASCAP heaven.

Psychologically speaking, however, the two are so fundamentally different that

they drive each other nuts. The question that shapes the plot of They're

Playing Our Song is, will these two ever be able to surmount their

temperamental incompatibility and find the "true love" that is the subject of

the pair's most successful collaborations? Or is real life less romantic than

the world's love songs portray?

This delightful confection is currently on stage at Bridgeport's Downtown

Cabaret Theater and is apparently based on a real-life relationship between

Marvin Hamlisch and Carol Bayer Sager (who wrote the music and lyrics for the

show when it was a Broadway hit twenty years ago). They're Playing Our Song

has at least three things going for it, if not more.

First and foremost are the two leads, played by the husband-and-wife team

Kirby and Beverly Ward. Whereas in many musicals the characters are primarily

vehicles for the songs, the Wards breathe such distinctive life into their

pair of incorrigible New Yorkers -- charming, neurotic, career-driven and

vulnerable -- that they emerge as indelibly real human beings, who just happen

to break into episodes of song and dance.

Next is playwright Simon's unerring humor. Sometimes his plays become

tiresome, like endless reruns of old television sitcoms, but here his string

of one-liners ring true, especially out of the mouth of Vernon who has a kind

of dry wit to come up with clever retorts. When Sonia, on their first meeting,

nervously picks up Vernon's Oscar from its place of honor on the piano and

exclaims in surprise "It's so light!" he responds, "Yes, they're chocolate

inside."

Sonia's comedy is more essential to her personality, in particular her manic

disorganization and her inability to put a final end to her relationship with

a mysterious, but woefully dependent Leon.

There is also the running joke of her outfits -- because she is so poor, she

gets her clothes from a girlfriend who is an actress who has worn them

previously in various off-Broadway productions. When she first arrives for her

meeting with Vernon she therefore happens to be dressed as Masha, from

Chekhov's Three Sisters . Later her outfits run the gamut from Tennessee

Williams to The Rocky Horror Picture Show , all beautifully managed by costume

designer Susan Branch.

Finally, as always, the show benefits from Cabaret's consistently high

production standards, from Richard Sabellico's direction to Tom Kenaston's

seven-piece orchestra and Nathan Hurwitz's musical direction. The whole thing

made for a lovely entertaining evening -- a treat to the eye, the ear and the

heart.

(Kirby and Beverly Ward will continue their winning performances of They're

Playing Our Song until May 2. Curtain is Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 5:30 and

8:30, and Sunday at 5:30. Contact Downtown Cabaret Theatre for reservations

and additional information, 576-1636.)