Gershwin musical Primrose makes its New York debut

Most musicals of the 1920's were not intended for posterity. Many producers saw them as vehicles for live performances of new hit songs, much like today's rock concerts, and the idea that the script of a Broadway musical would be of interest to anyone the next season, much less the next century, was laughable. But musical theatre grew into a uniquely American art form and today any discovery of its discarded roots is a cause for celebration.

The latest cause for celebration can be seen on the tiny stage of the 14th Street Y, where Musicals Tonight! is presenting the New York premiere of George and Ira Gershwin's Primrose, a show that only existed in piecemeal before producer Mel Miller spent two years researching through the Library of Congress, the Museum of the City of New York, the Lincoln Center Library, the Goodspeed archives and the British Library, pasting together existing pages until the most authentic score and libretto possible could be formed.

After a year-long absence from the New York stage, 1924 saw three new Broadway musicals composed by George Gershwin plus the premiere of his Rhapsody in Blue. The last of these musicals, Lady, Be Good, would have the first score completely written in partnership with his lyricist brother Ira. But before that was to be, producers Alex A. Aarons and Vinton Freedly (who named the Alvin Theatre after themselves) sent the boys, along with prolific book writer Guy Bolton, on a liner to England to collaborate with British lyricist Desmond Carter and his countryman librettist George Grossmith on a musical specifically for the London audience. Although the resulting Primrose was a resounding hit, running for 225 performances, Aarons and Freedley had no intention of moving it to Broadway, where it would compete for business with Lady, Be Good, opening two months later.

With Bolton having the most experience of the five collaborators in writing book musicals, Primrose greatly resembles the earlier Princess Musicals he created with Jerome Kern. Presented in three acts, it was a small scale show with contemporary costumes, dealing with the terribly modern issue of what a pretty young socialite is to do when she finds out the handsome writer, whose latest romantic novel is being published in serial form, plans to provide his central character -- whom she identifies with greatly -- with an ending she doesn't find particularly happy. (Yes, in 1924 this was a modern issue.) The usual assortment of daffy characters and complicated plot twists featuring mismatched couples and elaborate disguises was also within Grossmith's comfort zone, as his father was a leading player in many of Gilbert and Sullivan's premiere productions.

For this frothy confection Gershwin provided a score sounding like nothing we're accustomed to hearing from him. The blues and jazz influences which colored his work up until that point were discarded for an operetta inspired sound, particularly in the first act's ballads and choral pieces. Acts II and III are packed with more comedy numbers and charm songs, providing simple, peppy melodies containing nary a hint of the tricky syncopation and sophisticated chord progressions that New York audiences would embrace two months later in Lady, Be Good. But by far the most outstanding contribution to Primrose is the comedy lyrics of Desmond Carter, who penned the words to seventeen of the score's twenty-two songs and collaborated with Ira Gershwin on four of the remaining five. Two among them, "Isn't It Horrible What They Did to Mary, Queen of Scots" and "That New Fangled Mother of Mine", shine with humor and wordplay worthy of Noel Coward. Carter even wrote new lyrics to "Boy Wanted", replacing those Ira had written three years earlier for A Dangerous Maid.

Presented as a staged reading with scripts in hand, director Thomas Mills' threadbare production features an exuberant cast who gamely plunges into material filled with references and humor that often mean nothing to a contemporary American audience. But sometimes an expertly executed comic rhythm is all that's needed to produce a laugh and Gavin Esham, alternately recalling both P.G. Wodehouse and the aforementioned Coward in his role as a bumbling playboy, provides an evening's worth of them. His vampy counterpart, Brynn O'Malley, is a flashy belter who throws a three minute party with each of her songs. And when Cristin Mortenson, as the pretty young socialite, gets a lesson from O'Malley on how to be popular with the boys by becoming a "Naughty Baby", her awkward transition from good girl to sexpot is the funniest makeover in town.

Primrose is by no means a rediscovered classic, but by finding and mounting this atypical effort, Musicals Tonight! gives us a new side of one of America's greatest composers to consider. "We find these puppies, we put them on their feet...", says Miller. "We trust these guys. Even if they're not 'Wow!', they're pretty darn good."

Primrose runs through December 21. For more information go to http://www.musicalstonight.org.

For Michael Dale's "mad adventures of a straight boy living in a gay world" visit dry2olives.com

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