The Good Ol' Days

Curtains at Walnut Street Theatre

by David Anthony Fox

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Published: Sep 21, 2010

It's a small miracle that Kander and Ebb's Curtains ever made it to Broadway. The original book writer, Peter Stone, died in 2003, before the musical was completed. (Rupert Holmes eventually wrote the libretto, based on Stone's original.) Lyricist Ebb also died while Curtains was aborning. There was reason to fear that the title would be prophetic.

But Curtains did make it to Broadway, and if it didn't quite reach the heights of Cabaret and Chicago (Kander and Ebb's biggest hits), the show garnered favorable reviews, eight Tony nominations (including a win for original leading man David Hyde Pierce) and substantial popular success.

This behind-the-scenes saga dovetails nicely with Curtains itself, a "show must go on" celebration as well as a backstage murder story.It's the late 1950s, and a Broadway-bound musical comedy, Robbin' Hood of the Old West, has just failed spectacularly in Boston, where the final coup-de-grace came when the leading lady died during the opening-night curtain call.Police Lt. Frank Cioffi puts both the theater and its entire company into lockdown, during which he works to solve the crime while offering unsolicited advice on fixing the show.

The best thing about Curtains is its pitch-perfect send-up of a certain kind of second-rate musical (think Destry Rides Again).They were commonplace once upon a time, but have long since disappeared — and Curtains will make you realize how much fun they were.There are also plenty of good jokes, though by Act II they become so convoluted you'll really have to pay attention.And if the songs aren't top drawer, they are tuneful and enjoyable and cover the bases from rabble-rousing ("Show People") to sentimental ("I Miss the Music").

Songs and dances are delivered skillfully at the Walnut Street Theatre, though the book scenes don't always click. A few comic performances emerge as unfunny stereotypes.But there's fine work by David Hess, Denise Whelan and Jeff Coon, among others. And a couple of the Robbin' Hood numbers — "Wide Open Spaces" and "Thataway!" especially — will bring smiles and nostalgic tears to veteran lovers of the good ol' days of Broadway.

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