SHOW INFORMATION: Through June 1. Tues - Weds at 7:30PM, Thurs – Sat at 8PM, Sun at 7PM, Sat and Sun at 2PM. Tickets $45 - $69. 703-573-SEAT or www.signature-theatre.org for tickets and information.
◊◊◊◊◊ out of five. 2 hours, 30 minutes, including intermission.
With the Kander and Ebb Celebration at Signature Theatre in the DC suburbs, we knew we'd get a fresh look at a classic hit (Kiss of the Spider Woman), and a sneak peek at the future (The Visit), but the wild card was probably always the new, if curious, look at what could have been, but never was. That show, The Happy Time, which opened last night under the direction of Michael Unger, is a wild card no longer, but is definitely a fresh look at an overlooked jewel of a show. Featuring a spectacular cast, production values evocative of simpler times and fresh, tight direction, The Happy Time will certainly cause (and rightly so) historians to re-evaluate what is a deeply heartfelt and charming show.
Rarely performed, and remembered chiefly for giving Robert Goulet his Tony (and subsequent absence from the Broadway that made him a star) The Happy Time is at heart a quaint, generational family drama, about the pains of growing up, the fear of settling, and ultimately the triumph of love for others over self. Darker rivers run deep beneath the surface, gradually working their way to the surface and out of sight again. Those darker rivers, familial issues, are on the surface of it fleetingly discussed and argued and just as fleetingly dismissed and disappear. This is but one family's story - in a provincial Canadian town, a glamorous but frequently absent uncle/brother/son returns home, only to face the demons he was never rid of, all while trying to help his beloved godson/nephew traverse the pitfalls of adolescence and still see that there is a whole wide world out there. That the uncle/brother/son is a photographer, bent on capturing the beauty of things in his pictures, is telling. After all, when you take the family photo, how can you be a part of it, too?
Pared down to a small cast of 16, and bathed in sepia tones and framed by tintype photographs, the show is now what it likely should have been to begin with: a chamber musical. Kander and Ebb's score is, like the rest of their canon, very easy on the ears, but deceptively complex, and dare I say it? The Happy Time is almost Sondheim-esque in its music and lexicon. Their signatures are all here – a bouncy, memorable title tune, pastiche numbers ("Catch My Garter"), the breezy comic turn ("The Life of the Party", "A Certain Girl") and, of course, the thematic character ballad ("Running", "I Don't Remember You"). And this production, utilizing the voices of the company and a 3 piece band, strips the score to its essentials while still delivering a lush treatment.
Mr. Unger has masterfully utilized the tiny black box space of Signature's Ark Theatre, with a simple concept and a beautifully paced staging. A few chairs, a small platform and precious few props bring the focus squarely on the family, while the back wall, a series of picture frames, is illuminated by stunning projections (designed by Todd Edward Ivins) that fill in the blanks with generic settings evocative of the small town in the 1920's. Perhaps even more genius, though, is that every time a photo is snapped, and it is frequent, the cast members strike their pose, and up pops a sepia-toned photo of the same pose, but in a "real" location, which serves to preserve the moment AND give the audience a crystal clear notion of where we are at any time. Mark Lanks' moody lighting and Kathleen Geldard's detailed period costumes truly complete this artistic picture. Karma Camp's choreography is joyful and fun to watch as the thrust stage is used to the maximum; that "Catch My Garter," a vaudeville/can-can number featuring just four young ladies looks like a gigantic show stopping spectacle is much to Ms. Camp's credit.
