Review: SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS at Jazz At Lincoln Center Is Transfer-Worthy

If Encores can transfer many of its productions to Broadway, why not MasterVoices—starting with its current revival of Sweet Smell of Success? If you missed its brief run (November 21–22), keep an eye out for future MasterVoices offerings. The show proved to be an electric, full-throttle performance within the grand Frederick P. Rose Hall, part of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Sweet Smell of Success premiered on Broadway in 2002 with a powerhouse cast—John Lithgow, Brian d’Arcy James, Kelli O’Hara, and Jack Noseworthy—yet ran for only three and a half months. Opening a mere five months after 9/11, perhaps its dark, morally bankrupt characters felt too sour for the moment. The same was once said of the original Chicago but look how long its revival has been running. Perhaps Sweet Smell is also overdue for another shot?

Based on Ernest Lehman’s 1955 novelette and the 1957 film adaptation, the musical follows Sidney Falco (Ali Louis Bourzgui), a hungry young press agent who dreams of becoming a powerful gossip columnist like the ruthless J. J. Hunsecker (Raúl Esparza). Hunsecker can make or break a career simply by slipping a name into his wildly influential column, read by 60 million people.

This cautionary tale—be careful what you wish for—spirals into a world of jealous manipulation, mob violence, and proto–cancel culture. John Guare paints an intentionally ugly landscape for his protagonist and his tyrannical mentor, but a glimmer of decency ultimately breaks through and wins in the end.

If the chief reason to revive this musical is to hear Marvin Hamlisch’s jazzy, propulsive score played live (I literally gasped at the thrilling opening measures of the overture), then no company is better suited than MasterVoices, with Ted Sperling serving as artistic director, stage director, and conductor. The 17-piece orchestra delivered the score’s driving pulse from the overture straight through the exit music—music so exhilarating that many audience members stayed rooted in admiration until the last note. The score matches the electric brilliance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Dance at the Gym” from West Side Story.

MasterVoices’ signature asset—the chorus—was deployed on a grand scale: well over 150 singers. A quarter of them entered and exited as part of Andrew Palermo’s crisp, spirited choreography, while the remaining three quarters sat in three ascending tiers behind the stage, mirroring the stacked box levels of Frederick P. Rose Hall (scenic and props design by Ryan Howell). The sheer sonic force of the chorus in “Welcome to the Night,” standing together in unified sound, sent a jolt through the room. I actually uttered, “Wow.”

The Telsey Office (Craig Burns, CSA) assembled a superb cast. Ali Louis Bourzgui, a young triple threat reminiscent of an early-career Santino Fontana, makes a compelling, sharp-edged Sidney Falco. Raúl Esparza’s Hunsecker is magnetic in his volatility—menacing yet irresistibly watchable. His “Don’t Look Now” was an Act II showstopper. Lizzy McAlpine lends vulnerable warmth to his overprotected (and perhaps inappropriately adored) younger sister, while Noah J. Ricketts brings easy charm to Dallas, the musician she loves. When he tells her, “I wrote a song for you,” and launches into “I Cannot Hear the City,” the audience collectively melted.

Another standout is Aline Mayagoitia as Rita, Sidney’s mistreated girlfriend—her Act II number, “Rita’s Tune,” is a star-making showcase.

Still grieving that Marvin Hamlisch left us so early—he died at 68 in 2012, never seeing his final musical The Nutty Professor (directed by Jerry Lewis) produced in New York—I can’t help but wonder what else he might have given us. Fortunately, we now have this successful revival of Sweet Smell of Success, a blazing tribute to his talent and a production that will linger in memory for years.

Find more upcoming shows at Jazz at Lincoln Center on their website here.

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