Theatre Review

Parts are greater than the sum

By Bruce Deachman/The Ottawa Citizen - Tuesday, October 21, 2003

That also sums up GOYA Theatre's production of Vaudeville: The Musical, which opened last week at Centrepointe Theatre. Some good, some bad, and much middling in-between.

It's 1931 in Buffalo, a city that doesn't need a stock market crash to feel depressed. Producers Sam Goldstein and B.J. Gallagher are, against Hollywood's approaching tide, planning one last great vaudeville show at the Adelphi Theatre. They face a few hurdles, however; vaudeville's diminishing popularity, for one, means there's little money to spend on acts (attested to by the adding machine on Goldstein's desk during auditions), while their headliner, Kitty La Rue, insists on having more of that meagre pie while at the same time refusing to perform alongside budding ingenue Ruby Harrigan.

That, in a nutshell, is the story, but to suggest that Vaudeville is actually plot-driven is misleading. Gord Carruth's and Robert Knuckle's play is not really a play at all. The story line is thin and holds little to keep the audience pinned to its seat. The few tensions created in the musical's 21/2 hours are resolved almost as soon as they arise, leaving viewers in a suspenseless state.

Which leaves the hoofers and singers to carry the day, a task that GOYA was at least mostly successful in doing.

Ottawa-area professional magician Chris Pilsworth was clearly the most impressive, although one got the sense that directors Carruth and Joan Scarcella perhaps tapped into his talents a little too deeply, giving the illusionist too much time on stage.

The same can be said of the Globe Players' Shakespearean parody, which, like the Bard's work, was clever and funny, but didn't know when to end.

Yet others, such as The Rhythm Kids' taps on Swanee and the Oberfurzen Villagers' Brandenberg Concerto, were smart and snappy. Both Dianna Renée Yorke and 16-year-old Leah Cogan were outstanding as the competing female leads, with Cogan delivering a wonderful Someone To Watch Over Me. Bob Lackey and Al Baldwin, notwithstanding the former's shaky Jewish accent, were also strong in the roles of the two producers.

Ron Clarke, meanwhile, with his rubbery Robin Williams-like build and playful mannerisms, added the evening's best comic relief, taking on three supporting roles and a couple of chorus appearances with great energy and presence. But Carruth and Knuckle's wan script, coupled with frequent microphone problems, prevented Vaudeville from taking off. If what they really wanted to do was to put on a vaudeville show, they should have done just that, rather than wrapping it in a story with little substance.

Vaudeville: The Musical continues at Centrepointe Theatre with 8 p.m. shows tomorrow through Friday, as well as a 2 p.m. matinée Saturday. For information, call 580-2700.