Center; Ty McConnell, Sandra Thornton; rear; Holland Taylor, Mary Jo Catlett, Sandra Thomas, Jan Buttram, Sydney Blake, Susan Romann.
FASHION
[Musical/Women] A/D: Anthony Stimac; M: Don Pippin; LY: Steve Brown; SC: Anna
Cora Mowatt’s play, Fashion; S:
Robert U. Taylor; C: Bieff-Herrera; L: Spence Mosse; P: R. Scott Lucas; T:
McAlpin Rooftop Theatre (OB); 2/18/74-5/12/74 (94)
Anna Cora Mowatt’s classic 1845 comedy of pretentious
manners among the New York nouveau riche—one of the few premodern American
plays more or less regularly revived—was given a novel musical interpretation
this rather effective presentation originally seen Off-Off Broadway.
 |
| Sydney Blake, Susan Romann, Jan Buttram, Joanne Gibson, Ty McConnell, Mary Jo Catlett, Holland Taylor, Henrietta Valor, Sandra Thornton/ |
The adaptors chose to produce it as if it were being
rehearsed at a suburban home by a group of well-to-do, 1973, Long Island,
suburban housewives (“The Long Island Masque and Wig Society”) Done with an
almost all-female cast (Ty McConnell, the one male, played both the
chauvinistic director and the phony count) as a play-within-a-play. The
performance suggested that these women were not so far removed from the
snobbishness of their 19th-century counterfeits.
The event had an overtone of gay campiness, especially
in the use of actresses to play male roles. The jokes were often obvious and
the framework play was not fully developed, but there was a liveliness, esprit,
and high enough level of achievement in most areas for several critics to find
the show charming.
The Fashion part
of the book stayed rather close to the original, while excising a few of
Mowatt’s characters, including the black servant. Much of the 1845 dialogue was
retained.
The campy cutesiness of the show distracted a couple
of reviewers. One, Jerry Tallmer,
however, had to admit that “it won me over, against all odds.” “Fashion is running high, wide and
handsome,” wrote John Beaufort, and Clive Barnes declared that a “bullseye” had
been hit in this “chamber-ensemble musical of beguiling charm.” John Simon
enthused, “The cast is endearing, the material engaging, and often
intoxicating, and the whole thing is buoyant and caressing as can be.” As a
whole, Fashion proved “irritating” to
Martin Gottfried, but “some of the parts are promising and even engaging.”
The “lively, lively score,” as Edith Oliver called it,
written in a derivative mode that sounded like much that was familiar from
well-known shows, was nevertheless enjoyably melodic, and the lyrics were
“right and witty in context,” according to Barnes.
Most stimulating of the show’s assets were the
performances, which Barnes called “without exception, exceptional.” Every
player was lauded by one or more critics, but the plump Mary Jo Catlett was
generally considered the finest of the lot in her roles of Evelyn and Mrs.
Tiffany. Others in the 10-member cast included Jan Buttram and Holland Taylor.
