The Great Ostrovsky

by Steve Cohen

theater review

As sweet, light and fizzy as a chocolate egg cream, The Great Ostrovsky captures the spirit of the American Yiddish theater in the 1920s. With music by the legendary Cy Coleman, book by novelist Avery Corman (Kramer vs. Kramer and Oh, God!) and lyrics by the two of them, this new musical tells the backstage story of a fictional star of Yiddish theater in New York. His troubles with theater owners and critics transcend the specific and apply to performing artists of any time. So, too, does his conflict between honoring the texts of great plays and giving audiences what they want. Bob Gunton is outstanding as Ostrovsky. Neither he nor any of the cast use immigrant dialects, and the show speaks to audiences regardless of ethnicity.

This is not a new subject. Philadelphian Bob Merrill wrote music and lyrics for The Prince of Grand Street in 1978. Despite having Robert Preston in the title role, it flopped. That musical took a serious approach whereas The Great Ostrovsky is lighthearted and succeeds. Corman and Coleman capture the essence of Yiddish theater -- to entertain poor immigrants by taking their minds off their daily troubles and giving them hope for a better future. That's why Ostrovsky, and his real-life counterparts, put happy endings on Hamlet and King Lear. In an attempt to connect with the audiences, Hamlet is a yeshiva student and Lear is upset that his ungrateful daughters have taken his garment business away from him. As for what happens backstage, the plot details don't matter. The trick is how effervescently the writers get Ostrovsky out of his predicaments.

Coleman's score mixes rhythms and inflections from klezmer, Hasidism and American showbiz with great variety. In "You Took Me by Surprise," he starts with a tango and segues into Jewish wedding music. In "A Mother's Love," he and Corman bow affectionately to the sentimental ballads that made Al Jolson and Georgie Jessel famous. "I'd Love to Be in Love with You" and "The Answer Has Always Been You" are love songs that would have made the charts in an earlier era. The score gives specialty numbers to no less than eight supporting characters, in the tradition of vaudeville. Rachel Ulanet, Louise Pitre, Jonathan Hadary, Paul Kandel, Jeff Edgerton and Edward Staudenmayer are particularly vivid in these songs. Patricia Birch stages the musical numbers with pizzaz and Douglas C. Wager directs the production. Steven Gross leads the six-piece band in Jonathan Tunick's evocative orchestrations.

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