Corbin Bleu, Lora Lee Gayer, and Bryce Pinkham star in Broadway debut of HOLIDAY INN (photo by Joan Marcus, 2016)
Studio 54
254 West 54th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through January 15, $47-$167
212-719-1300
www.roundabouttheatre.org
Sitting in the lobby in any of several theater district Holiday Inn hotels, watching people come and go, is likely to be more pleasurable than sitting in Studio 54, watching the Roundabout production of the Goodspeed musical Holiday Inn. Mark Sandrich’s 1942 movie was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Original Story, but music director-conductor Andy Einhorn and orchestrator Larry Blank sap all of the charm and rhythm from Irving Berlin’s songs, while director Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge’s book makes all the wrong changes to the plot, aside from wisely dropping the infamous “Abraham” minstrel scene. Singer-composer Jim Hardy (Bryce Pinkham), dancer Ted Hanover (Corbin Bleu), and chanteuse Lila Dixon (Megan Sikora) are a moderately successful song-and-dance team seeking their big break. Immediately after Jim proposes to Linda, he proposes that they give up show business and move to the farm he just bought in Midville, Connecticut; their manager, Danny (Lee Wilkof), then scores the trio a major gig in Chicago. Jim is heartbroken when Lila says she’d rather go out on the road with Ted. “But Lila, we promised each other that when the gigs dried up we’d get out of show business and live a normal life,” Jim implores. “I’ve always wanted to be normal. After I’m famous,” Lila replies. Jim sticks to his guns, deciding to go to the farm, where he will wait for Lila to join him after she and Ted finish their shows. Arriving at his new home, Jim meets the downtrodden Linda Mason (Lora Lee Gayer), the previous owner of her family’s farm who had defaulted on the mortgage, allowing Jim to buy it.
HOLIDAY INN gobble-gobbles its way to Studio 54 (photo by Joan Marcus, 2016)
It takes about three seconds to figure exactly where the story is going, and lo and behold, that is precisely where it ends up. The songs, which were taken from the film as well as other sources, are staged by Greenberg (Guys and Dolls, Working) and choreographer Denis Jones (Honeymoon in Vegas, Pieces of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story) in either overly silly or melodramatic ways, zapping the spirit from “White Christmas,” “Blue Skies,” “Steppin’ Out with My Baby,” “Heat Wave,” “Cheek to Cheek,” and “Easter Parade,” while the costumes, by Alejo Vietti (Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, Allegiance), are either too mundane or too over-the-top. Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, The Heidi Chronicles) and Gayer (Doctor Zhivago, Follies) are pleasant enough in the roles performed in the film by Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds, respectively, but Bleu (High School Musical, Godspell) doesn’t have enough vocal range or pizzazz as Ted, played in the film by Fred Astaire, and Sikora (Under My Skin, Curtains) is miscast in the Virginia Dale part; it’s as if she is in a different show. And Megan Lawrence (The Pajama Game, Urinetown) just plain tries too hard in the thankless role of Louise, who has been added for comic relief but quickly grows tedious, as does Morgan Gao as Charlie Winslow, a ten-year-old Midville banker. (Don’t ask.) Aside from a couple of funny Connecticut jokes, this Holiday Inn is not a place where anyone should stay.