Like the heroine it celebrates, “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom” can justly be described as “friendly, warm and gracious.” Also sweet, sentimental and heartwarming.
Not necessarily the elements of a great musical, but more than enough reason for this slight, appealing show’s very well-
produced restoration and revival at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.
The musical–about a 60ish, newly widowed woman who finds a happy new love in her ballroom rendezvous with a shy mailman–has a curious history.
An Emmy-winning TV drama of 1975, it was turned into a Broadway musical in 1977 under the direction of Michael Bennett and did not fare well.
Its production, 20 years later, at Marriott came about because its surviving creators–librettist Jerome Kass, composer Billy Goldenberg and lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman–still had faith in the show and wanted to present it anew, out of the shadow of Bennett, who died in 1987, and on an intimate scale faithful to their original intentions.
What they’ve come up with, under the guidance of Marriott producer Kary Walker, is a staging by David Taylor, with choreography by Arte Phillips, that strikes an immediate sympathetic chord with its audience.
The musical’s opening domestic scenes, in which Bea (Louisa Flaningam), the widow, tries to set her life on a new course despite her family’s objections, are among the best things in the show, played with heart and skill by all hands: Mary Ernster as Bea’s apprehensive daughter; Ann Whitney, delightful as her busybody sister; the rare Ronald Keaton as her droll brother-in-law; and, in a small but flawlessly played role, Stephen P. Full as her understanding son.
In the ballroom itself, where Bea joins her brassy pal Angie (Mary Robin Roth) and meets her new love Al (Joel Hatch), Phillips’ choreography deftly brings in six mature couples (plus Tony Dobrowolski as a very funny odd man out) to go through smooth demonstrations of waltz, fox trot, tango, rumba and assorted other dances that are familiar to any viewer of the annual ballroom contests shown on public television.
Lighting designer Diane Ferry Williams, making excellent use of a revolving mirrored globe, and costumer Nancy Missimi, dressing the couples in perfect ballroom competition attire (all those feather-lined swirling skirts), add to the lovely evocation of a world gone by.
Kass’ music pleasantly goes through all the various ballroom tempos and styles, and it wraps very neatly around the dramatic, witty lyrics by the Bergmans.
As the evening’s star, Flaningam movingly portrays the withering and then blossoming of her character, but she has an unfortunate tendency toward stridency, her speaking voice like an anxious croak and her singing voice becoming harsh when she turns up its volume.
In a musical that’s gentle and tender, that voice could use a little softening.
———-
“Queen of the Stardust Ballroom”
When: Through Oct. 4
Where: Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire
Call: 847-634-0200
