Americana. The success of the concentrated and often semiprofessional revues of the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Theatre Guild juniors has inspired a strictly professional show of the same dimensions. J. P. McEvoy, newspaper satirist and author of The Potters, wrote the sketches, and a vast variety of folk, including George Gershwin, Con Conrad, Philip Charig and Henry Souvaine, the music. Roy Atwell and a vaudeville performer named Lew Brice are the leading performers and the show appears at the tiny Belmont Theatre. It is a small but wiry show, often immensely entertaining.
Normal revue humor on large stages usually depends on the comedian’s ability to shout: “That was no lady, that was his wife.” In a miniature, satirical show like Americana the attack is subtler. A satire on Rotary Club speeches, a burlesque jazz opera, a tabloid newspaper number, and a burlesque Hamlet done in the manner of The Student Prince are the major features. There are only a handful of chorus girls; each in her time plays many parts. The scenery is by the briskly amusing John Held Jr. Charles Butterworth, Notre Dame 1923 and utterly unknown to Broadway fame, was the funniest performer. The hesitant and quizzical polish of Mr. Atwell is agreeably employed in ballyhooing the show’s progress between scenes.
Finally the piece will attract wise playgoers if but to hear Gershwin’s rhythmic “Lost Barber Shop Chord” melodiously sung by a negro quartet.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- L.A. Fires Show Reality of 1.5°C of Warming
- How Canada Fell Out of Love With Trudeau
- Trump Is Treating the Globe Like a Monopoly Board
- Bad Bunny On Heartbreak and New Album
- 10 Boundaries Therapists Want You to Set in the New Year
- The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder
- Nicole Kidman Is a Pure Pleasure to Watch in Babygirl
- Column: Jimmy Carter’s Global Legacy Was Moral Clarity
Contact us at letters@time.com