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Ilya Khodosh Ilya Reviews Pardon My English at City Center Encores!  In March 1932, Pardon My English closed after only 43 performances. Why? I have no idea. I donÕt know what show Broadway audiences had been watching back then, but the extremely enjoyable City Center Encores! concert revival of Pardon My English was two and a half hours spent in giddy laughter and absolute delight. Granted, the book benefited from a brisk adaptation by David Ives, one of America's funniest playwrights, in which he undoubtedly reduced the clutter by frantically cutting corners and adding a few zingers of his own. True, the City Center stage has been blessed by a company of today's brightest Broadway performers. But the wonderful George and Ira Gershwin score has been with this long-lost musical since the beginning. The music in this show is beautiful, melodic and fun, and some of the lyrics are as witty, unpredictable and hilarious as I've ever heard. Pardon My English is a typical 1930s musical farce. The score is cheerful and ambitious, foreshadowing the onset of Broadway's golden age. And the plot is totally inane. This is a delirious tale of a man who switches identities every time he's conked on the head, constantly alternating between a shady German nightclub owner with a passion for American gangster movies and the club's sexy chanteuse, and a charming British secret agent who falls for the police commissioner's daughter and says things like "What the devil is a chap to do?" and "Tennis, anyone?" Hilarity ensues. The story could potentially result in utter idiocy. But this production breathes new, spirited life into it, happily reveling in its own absurdity. The cast indulges in every funny accent, every so-bad-it's-hysterical pun. The actors deliberately make fun of every plot incongruity. They deliver each lame joke as if it's hilarious, with a confidently unapologetic smile...and hilarious it becomes. They both lampoon and pay tribute to the material, and the result is nothing short of blissful. When it comes to the book, the actors playfully run wild with an earnest sense of fun. But the music is treated with the respect it deserves. To hear these songs performed by the likes of Brian dÕArcy James, Jennifer Laura Thompson and Emily Skinner is musical theater heaven. Mr. James's voice of intense edge and thrilling clarity has found a perfect comic role. Ms. Thompson, in a more-or-less generic ingenue part, has limited opportunity to show her eccentric comic timing, though she shines in a lovely romantic duet with Mr. James. And Ms. Skinner, an Encores veteran, delivers one memorable showstopper after another. Throw in some German policemen, gangsters, pretty girls and psychoanalysts, and youÕve got yourself a smart, whimsical, endlessly entertaining gem of a musical comedy. To quote a far more popular Gershwin song than any in this show, "Who could ask for anything more?" Well I could, and what I would ask for is more performances. The runs of Encores! concert productions, revivals of forgotten musicals that deserve a second chance, are way too short. Fortunately, however, they keep coming three times a year, with Bye Bye Birdie happening in May. Encores! is an important institution because it treats musicals as a respectable art form, a position they are too often denied. Personally, I think that people who don't like musicals feel that way because theyÕve never seen a really good one. If that's the case with you, give Encores! a chance. With fair expectations and an open mind, you're likely to have a great time. And if you're lucky enough to catch something like Pardon My English, you can't help but get swept up in its infectious high spirits. |
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