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Arts & Entertainment

Copyright © 1999 Seattle Times Company

Posted at 07:17 a.m. PDT; Monday, October 4, 1999

Village does 'Babes' proud with superb cast, sounds

by Misha Berson
Seattle Times theater critic

ISSAQUAH - When "Babes in Arms" first scampered onto Broadway in 1937, critic Robert Benchley called it "a swell show, acted by young people who know their business."

Happily, one can say the same for the swell "Babes in Arms" at Village Theatre, where a squadron of gifted young performers are tapping, pirouetting and singing superb Rodgers and Hart tunes under Steve Tomkins' effervescent direction. (The show moves to Everett next month.)

A happy diversion from the short-list of constantly revived musicals, "Babes in Arms" has both the freshness of novelty and the fascination of a period piece.

It's an unabashed "song-and-dance" show, with plot playing third fiddle to crooning and hoofing. And it's a shameless burst of Depression-era escapism, doffing its raffish cap to hard times and social issues while keeping its sunny side up. Ergo, there are wisecracks about communism, and racism gets a spirited debunking.

Lyricist Lorenz Hart and composer Richard Rodgers dreamed up the story, about a band of penniless Long Island teens fending for themselves after their vaudevillian parents hit the road. What do they do when threatened with being sent to the county work farm? Industrious Val (Jason Collins) recruits his friend Marshall (Greg Allen), the feisty vagabond Billie (Angie Rolfs) and an over-the-hill child star (Leslie Law) to help him put on a youth-variety revue in a barn.

Their scheme never pays off, due to the producer's bigotry. But then this French aviator crashes in a nearby field and . . .

Oh, never mind. Plot, shmot. The idea is to give Billie an excuse to sing two of Hart's finest lyrics: "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "My Funny Valentine." And let jealous Gus (Cheyenne Jackson) and fizzy Dolores (Taryn Darr) romp through "I Wish I Were in Love Again" a la Fred and Ginger.

And to set Rodgers' jazzy "Johnny One Note" to a King-Tut-of-Kitsch number stocked here with one of Bill Forrester's dandy art-nouveau backdrops and a virtuoso Nicholas Brothers-style tap duo: Chris Clay, and his 11-year-old sidekick, D'Anthony Gatewood.

Long eclipsed by the "book" musicals that flourished later, "Babes in Arms" recently re-emerged for a high-profile showcase in New York's "Encore" series. Let's be glad the Village got its mitts on it, too, because it brings out the best in the company.

Tomkins' direction keeps matters vivacious, even at their silliest. And his choreography is as adept when hordes are tapping in thunderous precision as it is in a fantasy-ballet sequence.

The cast, garbed in Nanette Acosta's nifty threads, is up to all of it. Collins and Allen are hearty singer-dancers who keep gaining polish. Rolfs' brassiness and punchy voice fit Billie well. Law clowns above her material, and Darr is a find: a flirty dish who doesn't play dumb.

Clay and Gatewood might wow 'em in vaudeville (if it weren't dead). And the Village orchestra under Bruce Monroe's baton does a great score proud.