Review: A Class Act (Porchlight Music Theatre)

By Chicagotheaterbeat @chitheaterbeat

  
  
A Class Act  

Music and Lyrics by Edward Kleban 
Book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price 
Directed and Choreographed by Stacy Flaster 
at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont (map)
thru Oct 7  |  tickets: $39   |  more info
  
Check for half-price tickets 
  
  
   Read entire review
  

     

     

Catnip for musical theater geeks

     

  

Porchlight Music Theatre presents

  

A Class Act

Review by Catey Sullivan 

The name Edward Kleban might not ring a bell, but his writing surely will. He was, in the words of one of his most famous lyrics, one singular sensation. It was Kleban who put the words to Marvin Hamlisch’s music to create A Chorus Line. The fact that Kleban never had another hit – or even another commercial success – would seem to indicate intriguing potential for a musical biography. Was his work on A Chorus Line a fluke? Did he self-sabotage? And what of the dozens of songs left behind when he died at 48 of throat cancer? With the musical biography A Class Act, director Stacey Flaster tries to let the audience inside the heart and soul the Pulitzer Prize winner whose one singular success was never duplicated in his later efforts.

“It’s the doing. That’s all there is,” Kleban (Bill Larkin) muses at one point, noting that one’s driving force shouldn’t be a critically acclaimed box office bonanza but rather a commitment to the process of creation. It’s a moving, trenchant point – and one of too few in this troubled musical by Kleban (music and lyrics) and Linda Kline and Lonny Price (book). The trouble isn’t the music – Kleban’s tunes are alternately evocative and playful, and songs such as the wistful “Paris Through the Window”, the slightly manic “Light on My Feet” and hilariously honest “Broadway Boogie” are delivered in fine voice by a capable ensemble cast of nine.

The trouble with A Class Act is that it never adequately delves into the intricacies of Kleban’s undeniable gifts and demons, instead presenting him as a bundle of superficial neuroses whose blockbuster success rather inexplicably never got a second act. He’s like Woody Allen-lite here, all of the tics but none of the depth. It’s only a very superficial rendition of Kleban that Kline and Price craft, leaving Larkin – a highly committed actor who palpably puts his heart and soul into his performance – little but a shallow enigma to play.

Kleban, we learn, wanted nothing more than to pen a Broadway musical – both words and music. When he agreed to do only the lyrics for A Chorus Line, it was a frustrating, much resented compromise for him. By far the most engaging segment of A Class Act comes in its depiction of the creation of some of A Chorus Line’s iconic songs. “At the Ballet” takes on a beautiful sorrow with the lyric “everyone was beautiful at the ballet.” Dance becomes both a refuge and a celebration in this wonderful scene, with Dana Tretta, Sharriese Hamilton and Jessica Joy delivering an achingly poignant snippet from the song.

Flaster – who also choreographs – has cleverly punctuated the “Chorus Line” scenes with a series of postures that will be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the iconic promo photo from the show (dancers on the line, each revealing something about themselves through their stance.) Although A Class Act condenses the creation of a phenomenal musical into a few, brief scenes, treating audiences to the origins of “One Singular Sensation” and “What I Did for Love” are catnip for musical theater geeks. So is John Francisco’s droll performance as Chorus Line director Michael Bennett. You’ll forgive him for going a bit over the top, swirling about in Bennett’s signature striped boatneck and putting his lithe limbs through all manner of balletic warm-ups – largely because he’s just so funny.

Also turning in skilled comedic work is Jessica Joy as a flirtatious minx who puts the move on Kleban after meeting him in a class on writing for musical theater.

The entire show is backed by the gorgeous accompaniment of Beckie Menzie, who can make a single piano resonant with the depth of an entire orchestra. Her musical direction is also deft, with the cast instilling each song with layers of mood and tone.

But for all the amiable work by the cast, Kleban remains a mystery. And lacking a clear view into just what made him tick, A Class Act becomes much more of an awkwardly paced musical revue than a character study.

  

Rating: ★★½

  

  

A Class Act continues through October 7th at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont (map), with performances Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm, Sundays 2pm.  Tickets are $39, and are available by phone (773-327-5252) or online through TheaterWit.org (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.  (Running time: 2 hours, includes an intermission)

Photos by Jeremy Rill 

     

artists

cast

Bill Larkin (Ed Kleban); John Francisco (Bobby, Michael Bennett, others); Michael Glenn (Lehman Engel); Tina Gluschenko (Sophie); Sharriese Hamilton (Felicia, others); Jessica Joy (Mona, others); Zach Spound (Charley, Marvin Hamlisch, others); Dana Tretta (Lucy, others); Eli Branson, Amanda Kahn, Alex Newkirk, Khaki Pixley (understudies)

behind the scenes

Stacy Flaster (director, choreography); Beckie Menzie (music director); Bil Ingraham (asst. director); Doug Peck (music supervisor); Bill Morey (costumes); Julia Eberhardt (props); Dustin L. Derry (lighting); Angie Weber Miller (set); Victoria Delorio (sound design); Deborah Blumenthal (dramaturg); Christopher N. Tisone (stage manager); Patrick Fries (production manager); Jeremy Rill (photos)

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