This fall, one of America's greatest musical comedies is docking at Broadway's beautifully restored Lyric Theatre in the heart of Times Square! With the biggest orchestra on Broadway and a 30-member cast of New York's most talented singers and dancers, ON THE TOWN tells the story of three wide-eyed sailors on a whirlwind musical tour of the city that never sleeps. With just 24 hours of shore leave, they're eager to experience all that New York City has to offer... including a chance to discover love with the girl of their dreams.
Directed by Tony winner JOHN RANDO (Urinetown, A Christmas Story) and choreographed by Emmy winner JOSHUA BERGASSE ("Smash"), this big, brassy musical comedy features a beloved LEONARD BERNSTEIN score, lyrics by COMDEN AND GREEN, and breathtaking dancing inspired by the original JEROME ROBBINS choreography. Arriving on Broadway following a critically acclaimed out-of-town run, ON THE TOWN is "one of those rare revivals that remind us what a hit show was originally all about" (The New York Times). Come see what all the buzz is about, and spend a spectacular evening...ON THE TOWN!
Three footloose sailors aren't the only ones who get lucky in 'On the Town.' The audience does, too. Director John Rando has assembled a great cast for this fizzy and frisky revival...Tracing a tale of World War II tars on leave in the big city, the production feels like a big, juicy kiss...The whole cast is excellent, but Yazbeck (center) is a standout. Rando ('Urinetown') mines the script for all its boisterous humor and smartly makes space for hushed interludes...Choreographer Joshua Bergasse keeps the fleet of agile and athletic dancers leaping, kicking and spinning like a top. The cast is top-to-bottom excellent. In sailor suits and stipped to their skivvies, Johnson and Alves are adorable and able-bodied. Umphress adds sass and brass as the go-for-it taxi driver, and Stanley is delicious as the oversexed scientist. Jackie Hoffman is a hoot-and-a-half playing a boozy voice teacher and a few more small roles...it's a helluva entertainment.
John Rando, embraces both the strengths and weaknesses of the musical...Trying to modernize On the Town would make it seem hopelessly quaint. Rando (a 2002 Tony winner for Urinetown) instead is unapologetic in presenting the old-fashioned material at face value, playing even the silliest routines with a mostly light touch, and injecting the whole dizzy narrative with an air of yearning romance. He enlists the aid of choreographer Joshua Bergasse (NBC's Smash) to channel the expressive athleticism of Robbins' dances. The chief element retained from the director's earlier brush with the show is his winning lead Tony Yazbeck, a dependable Broadway yeoman who arguably has never been more ideally cast than as Gabey. Whether in dramatic scenes, songs or in his rapturous dance numbers, Yazbeck brings just the right balance of masculinity and vulnerability, unworldliness and floating-on-air grace to the openhearted farm boy dreaming of love. It's a star turn and yet seems so effortless it's almost self-effacing.
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