Santino Fontana and cast

 

 

                                      by Deirdre Donovan

 

If you are a chronic rooter for the underdog, then God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater will be right up your alley.  Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s 1979 musical version of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel resurfaces at New York City Center’s Encores! Off-Center series--and it couldn’t be fresher. 

 

With Santino Fontana playing the nominal character, and a star-dusted cast to support him, this new revival, deftly directed by Michael Mayer, takes on a millennial flavor.  And given that it coincides with an election year, it also gains a pointed political edge.

 

Before parsing the current production, here’s a brief background on Rosewater.  It was a semi-flop when it debuted at the WPA Theatre in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in the spring of 1979.  Though some critics liked it, others hemmed and hawed about its off-beat conceit.  It revolved around a geeky millionaire (Eliot Rosewater), the wealthy son of a senator from Indiana, with an obsession for following volunteer firehouse operations and an obscure science-fiction writer named Kilgore Trout.  At any rate, the show’s mixed critical reception sent it to an early grave, and when it was remounted later that year at the larger Entermedia Theatre, it shuttered after six weeks.  The only other production of note was at Arena Stage in 1981.

 

But that was then, and this is now.  So what’s the new verdict on this peculiar musical?  Not bad.  Considering the show’s rather dismal track record, this production rises like a souffle.  And, abetted by the baton of the Musical Director (and conductor) Chris Fenwick and the on-stage orchestra, Rosewater, its 13 songs swelled through the auditorium like bright butterflies on the wing. 

 

The title pretty much captures the tone of this humorous work, and in the first few scenes we meet the Rosewater clan (the 14^th wealthiest family in the country) and those who work for the Rosewater Foundation.  True, the Rosewater family’s immediate heir, Eliot, is a drunk and perhaps crazy.  Still, he has the heart of Mother Teresa and the soul of Gandhi.  And if actions speak louder than words, then Eliot is a do-gooder who delivers one-hundred percent to those less-fortunate than himself.

 

And there’s more zaniness in the plot.  Eliot wanders all over the map of the United States, drifting from California, to Texas, to Ohio, to Pennsylvania, and beyond.  But it’s the “unwashed” and down-on-their-luck folks of Rosewater County, Indiana, that pull on his heartstrings—and wallet—the most.  For the disheveled citizens of this backwater town, we see Eliot writing checks of ridiculously hefty amounts, all funded by the Rosewater Foundation, of which he is the President. 

 

Skylar Astin                  photos by Joan Marcus

             

And, oh yes.  We also encounter a dishonest lawyer named Norman Mushari (Skylar Astin) who continually spies on Rosewater, in hopes of declaring him legally insane.  And this “insanity question,” in fact, drives much of the action and gains even more intensity when Eliot sojourns in Elsinore, California, and assumes the guise of Hamlet.  Yes, say what you will about its eccentric protagonist, this political satire has a profound underlining complete with a moral:  the ordinary human being needs to be heard in a world that all too often bows to money and social status.

 

The acting is superb.  Even though this staging of Rosewater is presented as a concert performance, most of the actors were off-script and looked at ease in their parts, at least on the evening I attended.  Fontana inhabited Eliot with genuine warmth, interpreting him as a Regular Joe who was ready to go that proverbial extra mile for whomever was in need and just happened to cross his path.

 

Brynn O’Malley and cast

 

 Sylvia, Brynn O’Malley (Honeymoon in Vegas, Annie), plays opposite him as his wife Sylvia who’s literally driven to her nerves’ end with her husband’s bizarre behaviors.  Skylar Astin also is suitably cunning as the lawyer Norman Mushari.  And James Earl Jones (most recently seen on Broadway in The Gin Game) is a hoot as Kilgore Trout, the science-fiction writer who has a fan club of one (that would be Eliot).

 

Truth be told, Rosewater is not your garden variety musical. But it does deserve a larger audience.  We cannot forget that Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five) at his best gave us pure gold, and at his worst gold-plate.  Vonnegut himself once said that his Rosewater was meant as a cri de coeur.  And, happily, in its musical retooling by Ashman and Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast), it retains that heart-felt quality.

 

Only time will tell if Rosewater gathers more steam or retreats into the shadows.  But no doubt the A-list actors in City Center’s recent outing of this musical gave it new life.  And if Lady Luck should smile in the future, and make a Broadway or Off Broadway production possible, who knows?  This could be the next little musical that could.

 

Five performances only, July 27th- 30th.

At New York City Center, 131 West 55^th Street, Manhattan.

Running Time:  2 hours with one intermission.