Theater: New York City Center / 130 West 55th Street, New York, NY, 10019
Synopsis:
Stephen Sondheim’s and Arthur Laurents’ experimental mid-‘60s satire of any and every target on the American cultural scene of the moment – conformity, psychology, race relations, greed, religion, politics – divided the critics, thrilled the emerging counter-culture, baffled the masses and closed quickly, becoming an instant legend that has grown over the years as Sondheim’s reputation has soared. The title song and “With So Little to Be Sure Of” have survived as cabaret classics, but the rarely heard complete score is a riot of jazzy, show-biz razzmatazz, waltzes, gospel numbers and Broadway pastiche, as full of variety and surprise as the show that gave it birth.
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April 10, 2010: It’s not as if New York hasn’t known its share of power-addicted, egomaniac mayors. But there’s something special about Cora Hoover Hooper, the impeccably coiffed basket case who runs the broken-down little town in “Anyone Can Whistle,” Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’s muddled musical from 1964, which is stylishly exploring its own identity crisis at City Center this weekend.
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April 10, 2010: "Anyone Can Whistle" closed after just nine performances on Broadway in 1964. Last night, the show returned in a triumphant Encores! revival at City Center, where it runs through Sunday night.
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April 10, 2010: Forty-six years after its ignoble Broadway debut, Stephen Sondheim's "Anyone Can Whistle" roars back into town triumphant. Triumphant with an asterisk, perhaps; this wild and crazy musical, circa 1964, retains its problems -- most especially the libretto by Arthur Laurents, which figuratively and literally places the audience in the crazy house. But Sondheim's remarkable early score is served up like a jewel on a velvet cushion, with extraordinary performances from three of Broadway's finest current-day stars. This Encores! presentation may not have the extended commercial life of Encores! alum "Chicago," but it's still a don't-miss attraction for musical theater fans.
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April 10, 2010: "Anyone Can Whistle" has an amazing score and an impossible book. It's also the stuff of Broadway legend: a nine-performance flop in 1964 despite music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, who only a few years earlier had collaborated (with composer Jule Styne) on one of the greatest musicals of all time, "Gypsy."
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April 10, 2010: In "Anyone Can Whistle," Donna Murphy embodies everything that's exhilarating about musical theater. When she's onstage, it's pure, unadulterated ecstasy -- there isn't a more dynamite performance anywhere else in town.
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