BWW Reviews: NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT is 'Delishious' Broadway Fare

The Broadway production of "Nice Work If You Can Get It" played for just over a year in New York with the fame factor of Matthew Broderick and Kelli O'Hara pulling in audiences. The current national tour may not last long either, with its only Northern California stop currently in Folsom. But the production, a reworking of Gershwin's 1926 musical "Oh Kay," features an equally charming pair with instant chemistry. Add to that amazing energy and Broadway-polished sets and Folsom's Three Stages offers a "fascinating rhythm" worth dancing to.

Rich boy Jimmy is celebrating his impending nuptials at a 1920's speakeasy when he runs into bootlegger Billie and confesses he hardly uses his beach estate. With the police and the president of the Society for Dry Women on their tail, Billie and her accomplices stash the illegal liquor in Jimmy's never-used basement, only to have Jimmy show up at the estate with his new wife for his honeymoon. Now Billie must distract Jimmy while her partners Cookie and Duke pretend to be the butler and cook. Mistaken identities and hilarious revelations follow in this lovable romantic comedy.

Perfect timing and a fleshed out script give the slapstick humor a natural feel. "Nice Work" is essentially a character piece built around the classic music of George and Ira Gershwin. Songs include "Someone to Watch Over Me," "'S Wonderful" and more, while the cast includes over-the-top Reed Campbell as the sarcastic New Yorker Cookie and Stephanie Harter Gilmore as the diva-conservative Prohibitionist Duchess Estonia. Both have plenty of surprises in store for audiences.

Rachael Scarr plays Jimmy's new "wife," the "delishiously" self-centered Eileen Evergreen, who also happens to be on the forefront of the interpretive dance scene. And Aaron Fried with Stephanie Gandolfo has some adorable moments in the second act's "Blah, Blah, Blah" as Duke and chorus girl Jeannie Muldoon. But Alex Enterline and Mariah MacFarlane lead the cast as Jimmy Winter and Billie Bendix. The moment the two open their mouths to sing, the audience immediately knows it's in for a good show of song and dance. Kathleen Marshall's original choreography matches the colorful and playful tunes, and on a two-show day, the ensemble shows no sign of fatigue.

"Nice Work If You Can Get It" plays through this Sunday, March 8 only in Folsom. For tickets and information, visit www.harriscenter.net.

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