Sugar Babies
Sugar Babies
By Ralph G Allen, Harry Rigby, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields, Al Dubin, and Arthur Malvin
Directed by Michael Edwards
Choreography by Roy Alan
Musical Direction Chris Leavy
Starring Michael Edwards, Roy Alan and Heather Alexander
Winter Park Playhouse, Winter Park FL</strong><P>
Who wrote this show, the whole Brill Building? Could be, there are slices and dices of every Orpheum act that played in Peoria on this stage. True, these are jokes your grandfather knew and dances that filled nitrate film stock until it all melted or exploded, but this is the heart of American entertainment, and gosh darn it, these chestnuts are still funny and engaging.
Tonight’s ensemble is lead by Top Banana Michael Edwards in a noisy jacket and beat up top hat. Backing him up is Roy Alan (Banana 2.0) alternating between silly pants and his second best tux. There are Chorines (Courtney Sherman and April Sullivan), straight men (Todd Mummert and Mark Baratelli), a full metal Prima Donna (Alexander), pratfalls and blackout, fan dances and fart jokes, all held together by more double entendres and spit takes than the last presidential debate. And while you can takes this as pure WPPH froth, there are hints of history in the program – “Meet Me Round the Corner” and “Little Red School House” have deep roots, “Sally” recalls the racy dances of Sally Rand and her famous fans, and “The Court of Last Retort” underlies Sammy Davis Jr. “Here Com Da Judge” gags on Laugh-In.
It’s not just laughs, there’s more full length tapping on stage than in that Fred Astaire show from a year ago, and even Mr. Baratelli hoofs thought a few numbers. There are minstrel songs, fancy dancing, and glow in the dark cardboard banjos. Candace Neal played the female lead in act one, her frilly pink panties and Bronx laugh crossed the stage until it’s time for Ms. Alexander’s arrival. They roll here in on a steamer trunk, and she channels Margret Dumont singing Grand Opera. With its decidedly lowbrow material, Vaudeville never missed a chance to point out when it presented opera – it added class to the proceedings and gave everyone a chance to use the rest room. Later Ms. A reappears as an earthier Madam Alla Gazaza and then helps with some light audience humiliation in “First Annual Shimmy Contest.” Too soon, there are bows and it’s time to say good bye. A real vaudeville would have repeated the acts over and over, but today we just hit rewind. A cool show, funny as all heck, and it’s a good thing they reinforced the stage – that pounding Wall of Tap would have destroyed an older building.
For more information on Winter Park Playhouse, please visit http://www.winterparkplayhouse.org</em>
