Flappers' Delight

The original show, with its book by Otto
Harbach and Frank Mandel and music by Harbach, Vincent Youmans and
Irving Caesar, featured tuneful evergreens like “Tea for Two” and “I
Want to be Happy,” which made the production stand out amid a crop of
other contenders from the rah-rah 23-skidoo decade. The 1971 revival
was adapted by Broadway veteran Burt Shevelove (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum),
who presumably added more winking sassiness to the ancient setup. In
turn, this production spearheaded the 1970s-era fondness for old-school
nostalgia, especially with troupers like former Hollywood hoofers Ruby
Keeler and Bobby Van in Nanette’s cast. 

The Merry-Go-Round mounting has no
problem emphasizing breeziness over wheezy plot devices. Bible
publisher Jimmy Smith (David Edwards) is happily married to frugal Sue
(Joyce Nolen) and anxious to bestow his philanthropic friendliness
(he’s worth three-quarters of a million bucks, and that ain’t hay in
1925) upon those in need. Unfortunately, he’s also a sap when it comes
to pretty girls in short skirts with hard-luck stories to tell, as a
trio of not-quite-naughty vamps—Winnie Winslow (Jennifer Long) from
Washington, Betty Brown (Dawn Newman) from Boston and frisky Frisco
showgirl Flora Latham (Synthia Link)—conspire to visit the Smith
dwelling in Manhattan for another shakedown. 

Beach party: From left, Synthia Link, Jennifer Long, Becca Kloha and Dawn Newman in Merry-Go-Round’s No, No, Nanette.

 

Aware that these platonic relationships
could spell doom for his business, Jimmy asks his lawyer buddy Billy
Early (Scott Willis) to intervene. The legal eagle suggests that Jimmy
should hide out during a “business trip” to Philadelphia, then arranges
with law clerk Tom Trainor (Sam Underwood) to plan a rendezvous with
the ladies at the Smiths’ little-used summer place, named “Chickadee
Cottage,” in Atlantic City, where, according to one catchy song lyric,
“high-stepping swells fill the hotels.”  

But the Boardwalk also beckons Sue and
Billy’s shopaholic spouse Lucille (Julie Cardia), who heads for
Chickadee Cottage for a spontaneous weekend getaway from the guys. And
then there’s Nanette (Becca Kloha), the Smiths’ spunky virginal ward,
who’s chomping at the bit to visit Atlantic City with her flapper gal
pals. Sue says she can’t go, and boyfriend Tom wants to keep Nanette
away from the sinful possibilities of the seaside resort, but Jimmy’s a
pushover regarding Nanette’s passionate pleas and agrees to the trip.
After all, Nanette reasons, “Before I raise a family, I want to raise a
little hell first!” 

To be sure, there isn’t much that passes for edge-of-your-seat plotting in the Shevelove adaptation, and that’s part of Nanette’s wispy charm. So MGR’s producing director Ed

Sayles, who’s in the director’s chair for Nanette,
instructs his players to contribute warmly sympathetic
characterizations, even amid the tongue-in-cheek cliches, and that
gambit works out pretty well. Nanette’s happy ending is all but
assured, too, although one theatergoing couple, apparently unaccustomed
to two-intermission shows (a rarity these days), bolted from their
seats after the second act and headed to the parking lot, remarking on
the strange manner that the play ended—until a good samaritan (OK,
yours truly) informed them that a third act was forthcoming.

Director Sayles handles the various
moments of mistaken identities and snowballing misunderstandings with a
zippy ebullience, which dovetails nicely with the propulsive
orchestrations from music director Corinne Aquilina and, crucial for a
dance show, Jen Turey’s dazzling choreography. Indeed, MGR’s Nanette is an intensely physical undertaking where even the intimate “Tea for Two” eventually morphs into a major production number. 

And taskmaster Turey delivers the goods
big time, aided by a 14-member chorus line of seven ladies and seven
gents, most of the time dancing away in heels and spats (Travis Lope’s
period costumes are really spot on). The second act’s opening number,
“Peach on the Beach,” overflows with inventive visuals, notably the use
of blue swatches of fabric stretched across the stage to simulate ocean
waves, along with individual bits of business for each dancer,
incorporating humor from beach balls, badminton and pogo sticks.

Several main cast members are no
slouches in the dancing department, either. Scott Willis turns out to
be one helluva hoofer, as his Billy Early demonstrates in the early
number “Call of the Sea.” With his slicked-back hair and angular
features, actor Willis also looks the most like a caricature from a
cartoon panel drawn by jazz-age artist John Held. Julie Cardia as
spendthrift wife Lucille matches her onstage hubby’s footwork in “You
Can Dance With Any Girl,” plus she’s a superb songbird in numbers like
“Too Many Rings Around Rosie,” in which she can belt ’em out to the
back row—and maybe even to the shore of Owasco Lake.

Elsewhere in the cast, David Edwards
makes his guileless dupe Jimmy entirely plausible, while Joyce Nolen as
his forgiving wife Sue also dances up a storm in several numbers,
including “Take a Little One-Step.” Inhabiting what used to be labeled
the “juvenile” roles in Broadway parlance, Sam Underwood as Tom and
Becca Kloha as Nanette provide lots of good cheer and fine voices in
their spooning duets “Tea for Two” and “I’ve Confessed to the Breeze.”
Both performers also manage to keep straight faces when uttering
love-struck declarations such as “Absitively posilutely!”

MGR’s wow of a show also boasts a
contest between two certifiable scene-stealers. Andrea A. McCullough
plays wisecracking maid Pauline, the role that won old-timer Patsy
Kelly a Tony Award in the 1971 version of Nanette. McCullough
is a bantam blast, whether she’s making grand entrances on roller
skates and push scooters or refreshing the hoariest of one-liners
(“He’s expecting me,” says one vamp. “To do what?” Pauline replies.).
Stiff competition is provided by Synthia Link (perhaps wearing a
WonderBra for the occasion) as buxom Follies girl Flora, whose heaving
decolletage seems to enter the stage about three beats before the rest
of her body. (“Oh my god, they’re getting bigger!” Pauline yelps.) With
her boop-oop-ee-doop demeanor and her expert deployment of some
expected double entendres, Link seems to win the scene-stealing
showcase by a nose—or, ahem, a slightly lower attribute.  

This production runs through Aug. 13. See Times Table for information.