Review: Dames Add Heat to Lyric's CITY OF ANGELS

Book by Larry Gelbart; music by Cy Coleman; lyrics by David Zippel; directed by Spiro Veloudos; music director, Catherine Stornetta; choreography and musical staging by Rachel Bertone; scenic design, Matt Whiton; costume design, Elisabetta Polito; lighting design, John Malinowski; sound design, David Wilson; projection design, Johnathan Carr; fight choreography, J.T. Turner; production stage manager, Natalie A. Lynch

Cast:

Phil Tayler, Stine; Ed Hoopman, Stone; Jennifer Ellis, Gabby/Bobbi; Leigh Barrett, Donna/Oolie; J.T. Turner, Buddy Fidler/Irwin S. Irving; Samantha Richert, Carla Haywood/Alaura Kingsley; Meghan LaFlam, Avril Raines/Mallory Kingsley; Tony Castellanos, Pancho Vargas/Lieutenant Muñoz; Patrick Varner, Del Dacosta/Peter Kingsley/Mahoney; Michael Levesque, Werner Kriegler/Luther Kingsley/Commissioner Gaines; Damon Singletary, Studio Guard/Big Six/Dr. Mandril; Margarita Martinez, Studio Guard/Sonny; Davron Monroe, Jimmy Powers; Sarah Kornfeld, Elise Arsenault, Andrew Tung and Brandon Milardo, Angel City 4

Performances and Tickets:

Through May 2, Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston; tickets are $33 to $67 and are available online at www.lyricstage.com or by calling the Box Office at 617-585-5678.

CITY OF ANGELS, Larry Gelbart, Cy Coleman and David Zippel's musical romp through the seedy underworld of Hollywood via film noir, would be nothing without its dazzling dames. The same holds true for the production soon ending its run at Boston's Lyric Stage. Without the humor and heat brought by the wonderful Leigh Barrett and Jennifer Ellis, director Spiro Veloudos' CITY OF ANGELS would be all steak and no sizzle.

Not that there's anything wrong with a good slab of beef. The 1990 Tony Award-winning musical that conflates the real world of spineless detective novelist turned screenwriter Stine (Phil Tayler) with the reel world of his more audacious gumshoe alter-ego Stone (Ed Hoopman) is a feast for the eyes and ears. Its clashing Technicolor and black-and-white worlds, joke-filled murder mystery book, and jaunty, jazzy score deliver delicious moody pastiche and incessantly clever rhymes. The tongue-in-cheek cloak and dagger story is enough to satisfy the most ardent movie buff while the sexy, sassy and spectacular Coleman score drives theater fans to musical heaven.

What this CITY OF ANGELS doesn't have, however, is the big heat between Tayler's bookish Stine and Hoopman's sensual Stone. Without the essential clash of titanic egos that have the two men squaring off to compare Stine's pen with Stone's sword, the production becomes a soft-boiled parody instead of a hard-boiled musical thriller.

Thank goodness, then, for those damned fine dames. Barrett gives us two Girl Fridays for the price of one as Donna, the dutiful secretary to movie mogul Buddy Fidler, and Oolie, the lovelorn, wise-cracking secretary to PI Stone. Ellis alternates between heartbreaking as Stine's jilted wife Gabby and heartbroken as Bobbi, the sultry lounge singer with a sordid past. Barrett triumphs as both Donna and Oolie with her wry "You Can Always Count on Me" while Ellis practically burns the theater down with Bobbi's torchy "With Every Breath I Take." Together they harmonize divinely on the tongue-twisting "What You Don't Know about Women," revealing in private the backbones that turn to jelly whenever their obtuse men are around.

The large cast is filled with fine supporting players, but the real scene stealer is Tony Castellanos as Lieutenant Muñoz. CITY OF ANGELS comes giddily to life when Castellanos and his band of flatfoots taunt Stone maliciously in the Latin-inflected "All Ya Have to Do Is Wait." The number builds mischievously and then tops itself when the Lieutenant and company break into a maniacal Conga choreographed with a perfect sense of wicked glee by Rachel Bertone. Sarah Kornfeld, Elise Arsenault, Andrew Tung and Brandon Milardo as the Angel City 4 also stand out, serving as a Manhattan Transfer-style Greek chorus and quartet of back-up singers.

The Lyric's greatest achievement in mounting CITY OF ANGELS is the company's sheer ability to fit such a large show in its modest thrust space. While timing does seem to suffer a bit when frequent noisy set changes are being made, Johnathan Carr's cleverly animated projections draw the audience into the world of film noir and provide numerous laughs that augment what's in the script.

While some cast members are less effective than others in singing Coleman and Zippel's intricate score, Barrett and Ellis are perfect interpreters of the jazzy, seductive, and playful songs that earned the composing duo a Tony Award in 1990. It may be Stine and Stone who get to hurl insults at one another in the brilliant "You're Nothing without Me," but in this production it's Barrett and Ellis who really earn the right to that song.

PHOTOS BY MARK S. HOWARD: Brandon Milardo, Sarah Kornfeld, Elise Arsenault and Andrew Tung as the Angel City 4; Phil Tyler as Stine and Leigh Barrett as Donna; Tony Castellanos as Lieutenant Munoz with Ed Hoopman as Stone and company; Phil Tyler and Jennifer Ellis as Gabby