For Goodness Sake, written by Fred
Jackson with lyrics by Arthur Jackson, music by William Daly and Paul Lannin,
and with merely “additional” music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin, was
first produced on Broadway in 1922.
Starring Fred and Adele Astaire, it didn’t make much of a splash,
closing after only 122 performances. But
then, re-staged in London a year later as Stop
Flirting, with additional Gershwin songs and a revised story line (but
still featuring Fred and Adele Astaire), it proved to be considerably more
successful, running there for more than a year.
And
it hasn’t been seen here since. Until
now.
Musicals
Tonight!, which takes as its mission the resurrection of long-forgotten
musicals, is currently staging a revival this period piece as For Goodness Sake by George and Ira Gershwin, at The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row on
West 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan.
This production marks Musicals Tonight!’s 79th revival – others of which
have included Girl Crazy, Lady Be Good,
Meet Me in St. Louis, Irma la Douce, Paint Your Wagon, and Milk and Honey. To be sure, many of those 79 musicals were
well worth reviving but some were not and, sad to say, For Goodness Sake falls into that latter category.
For Goodness Sake has a hackneyed and
dated story line, providing no real surprises.
The dialogue is flat and the first act especially tedious. And of all its musical numbers, there is only
one, I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise,
that really is up to the Gershwins’ standard.
Indeed, the rest of the score is so disappointing that that one tune is
performed four times, as if to distract from everything else.
This
production of For Goodness Sake is
set at the Bourne Lodge where Vivianne (Amber Guest) who, despite being deeply
in love with and engaged to marry Perry (Brandon Andrus), persists in extensive
and innocent flirtations with an array of other men, much to the consternation
of her fiance. Perry enlists the aid of
his friend Geoff (Nathan L. Freeman) to help him determine whether Vivianne
truly loves him and to dissuade her from her flirtations but Geoff demands a
quid pro quo: he will assist Perry if Perry will sanction his marriage to Marjory
(Natalie Beck), Perry’s ward and Vivianne’s former classmate. The two men agree and concoct a plot whereby
Perry fakes his death in a phony airplane crash on a trans-Atlantic flight
piloted by his friend Bobby (Matt Demont); their hope is that, when Vivianne
hears of Perry’s death and then learns that he is alive after all, she will
return to her senses, realize how much she loves him, and abandon her
flirtations.
Of
course, events fail to develop quite as planned. Vivianne learns of the ruse and turns the
tables on Perry. But since Perry and
Vivianne are truly in love, as are Marjory and Geoff, everything works out
predictably well in the end and all the players can take turns singing I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise and
other more forgettable tunes. Finally, even
the musical’s third romantic coupling – that between Teddy (Sean Bell) and
Suzanne (Sarah Rolleston) – is brought to successful fruition. And the fortune hunter, Count Spinagio (Jason
Simon), finally gets his come-uppance.
The
musical itself isn’t much but that is not to say that the Musicals Tonight!
company doesn’t do a wonderful job with the limited material at its disposal
for, indeed, they do. The entire cast
deserves credit for their performances but, in particular, I would single out
Amber Guest, who has a terrific voice and uses it to full advantage; Sean Bell,
who has a tough act to follow as Teddy (since that’s the role that was originally
played by the iconic Fred Astaire), but who pulls it off with exceptional charm
and grace; and Jason Simon, who provides delightful Falstaffian comic relief as
Count Spinagio.
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