Were some of the music different, it might have been Mickey and Judy out there — yep, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland — singing and dancing, she the nice girl from the right side of the tracks, he the boy who used words like "swell," and sometimes "damn." The good kids and the ruffians were all out there last night as "Cry-Baby," based on a John Waters film, opened as a New Line Theatre production at the Washington University South Campus Theatre. It will run through March 24.
Some of the songs, with music and lyrics by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger, might have found a home in a 1930s M-G-M songbook. They're tuneful, with often-interesting lyrics, occasionally with word plays like rhyming "failure" with "genitalia." But then we reached the musical styles of the 1950's, when the musical is set, with lots of hard-thumping drums and lyrics that were less interesting, more repetitious.
"Cry-Baby" is based on a Waters film that starred Johnny Depp, a hot commodity because of his success in "21 Jump Street" (and look out, that movie will be here in a few weeks). Book writers Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan obviously were looking at a long-running success like "Hairspray," which they also wrote, based on a Waters film. But with the exception of "Hairspray" and "Diner," movies set in Baltimore have relatively short lives.
Where O'Donnell and Meehan kept "Hairspray" relatively simple, they tossed everything but the kitchen sink into "Cry-Baby," bringing us Communists, McCarthyism, "duck and cover" atom bomb drills, Elvis, Chuck Berry, the Rosenberg spy saga and other odds and ends.
But the evening's entertainment, and it is mostly an entertaining evening, gives us the tale that never gets old — boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl and we all leave smiling after a tuneful finale. Ryan Foizey is first-rate as Wade (Cry-Baby) Walker, our hero, complete with ducktail haircut, and New Line regular Taylor Pietz charms as the sweet, virginal Allison, queen of the country club set. Mike Dowdy is Baldwin Blandish, the ultimately square leader of the Squares, whose high point is a song called "Squeaky Clean," which also has a line involving "peachy keen." Cindy Duggan is fine as Allison's grandmother, who has a secret. All sing and act well, and they dance, too, though Duggan does less of that. She does, however, deliver a satiric ballad, "I Did Something Wrong — Once" in absolutely delightful style. There's also superior work from Terrie Carolan as Lenora Frigid, who is anything but, as a member of the Drapes, the rivals to the Squares (think Sharks and Jets from "West Side Story").
Robin Michelle Berger, whose choreography always is a large part of New Line's success, brings something new and different to "Cry-Baby," and it's splendid. She has designed a dance number for a singing group called the Whiffles (Evan Fornachon, Devon A. A. Norris and Christopher Strawhun) who sing backup to Dowdy. They and Ari Scott do a wild and woolly dance number to "A Little Upset," that uses the stage, the backstage, the wings (or what amounts to backstage and wings in this theater), the audience and possibly part of Clayton Road. It ain't delicate, but it's terrific, and Berger and her dancers sparkle like the opening night sky, where Jupiter and Venus stood tall and bright in the west.
Zachary Allen Farmer is superb in a half-dozen different roles, primarily Judge Igneous Stone, and Marcy Wiegert, Chrissy Young and Sara Porter are delightfully over-made up and bring a rude and effective charm as Foizy's posse, with Carolan a vocal part. Jenifer Sabbert and Alexandra Taylor round out the cast as members of the Squares and the Drapes.
Justin Smolik leads the very good musical sextet from his keyboard. Other members are D. Mike Bauer, lead guitar; Joe Isaacs, rhythm guitar; Robert Vinson, reeds; Dave Hall, bass; and Clancy Newell, percussion.
Scott Miller directs stylishly. He knows the weaknesses of the story and the strengths of the actors, and he exploits one and shields the other in excellent fashion. "Cry-Baby" is a very ordinary piece of theater, but Miller's direction and the cast's talent make it a fine diversion, like something to see if you need a break from preparing your taxes.
Cry-Baby, a production of New Line Theatre, opened last night at the Washington University South Campus Theatre and will run through March 24
— Joe
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Thanks for the review Joe. Makes me want to see Crybaby. Doris