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| Danny Kaye. |
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| Tricia O'Neil, Danny Kaye, Walter Willison. |
One of several early1970s
shows based on Biblical themes, Two by
Two failed to please most critics. John Lahr went so far as to complain
that, “with its ponderous moralizing, stale jokes, and tawdry lyrics [the show]
is one of the saddest evenings I have ever spent in the theatre.”
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| Marilyn Cooper, Harry Goz, Michael Karm. |
The musical was an
adaptation of a 1954 Clifford Odets comedy about Noah (Danny Kaye) and his wife and children, seen in colloquial terms as a conventional Jewish family. It was
thought lacking in wit, old-fashioned in style, stiffly written and staged, and
musically bland. Iconic composer Richard Rodgers was assailed for a “lifeless,
sporadic” score, in the words of Martin Gottfried, although Walter Kerr
professed to find the songs appropriate and original, even selecting five songs
"as among the best Rodgers had ever written! The score included “I Do Not
Know A Day I Didn’t Love You,” “Why Me?,” “The Gitka’s Song,” “Something,
Somewhere,” “You Have Got to Have a Rudder on the Ark,” “An Old Man,” “The
Golden Ram,” “Hey, Girlie,” and “The Covenant,” among others.
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| Danny Kaye, Harry Goz, Madeline Kahn. |
The chief draw,
beyond Rodgers’s involvement, was the irrepressibly dynamic Danny Kaye—returning
to Broadway after a decades-long stay in Hollywood—as the patriarch played by
Yiddish theatre star Menasha Skulnik in the original play. Kaye received raves
from most reviewers. “The man’s energy is amazing,” wrote Clive Barnes. “He
sings, he dances, on one occasion he even piercingly whistles. . . .” Gottfried
was one of the few who deplored the star’s performance.
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| Danny Kaye, Harry Goz, Joan Copeland. |
The book concerns the
600-year-old Noah’s disappointment in being able to share his religious
devotion with his wife, Esther (Joan Copeland), sons Japheth (Walter Willison),
Shem (Harry Goz), and Ham (Michael Karm), and daughters-in-law, Leah (Marilyn
Cooper), Rachel (Tricia O’Neil), and Goldie (Madeleine Kahn). They even mock
his wish to build an ark to save them from the coming flood. Noah manages nonetheless
to build the ark and fill it with all the world’s animals. When the deluge
arrives, Noah’s piety and gratitude for God’s magnanimity grows exponentially.
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| Michael Karm, Tricia O'Neill, Danny Kaye. |
Kaye tore a ligament
during a show on February 5, 1971, and was out for two weeks. He returned on
February 18, in a wheelchair, his leg in a cast. In subsequent performances he
dropped the veneer of professional discipline and cut up outrageously,
eliciting a slew of letters to the Times
complaining of his attempts to break up the other actors as he careened around
in his chair, poking at them with his crutches.
Readers of this blog who may be interested in my Theatre's Leiter Side review collections (one with a memoir), covering almost every show of 2012-2014, will find them at Amazon.com by clicking here.
Next up: Two If By Sea.