"A Grand Night for Singing" is Rodgers and Hammerstein great and small.
It's great because it's a revue of music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, probably the most important songwriting team in the history of American musical theater. And it's small because it has a cast of only five, and, in addition to such Rodgers and Hammerstein standards as "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," it includes such little-known songs as "The Gentleman Is a Dope," from the unsuccessful musical "Allegro," and the revue's title song, which comes from Rodgers and Hammerstein's only original movie, "State Fair."
But besides the pleasure of re-encountering old favorites and discovering new ones, "A Grand Night" -- which opened last night at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre -- is delightful because of the contexts in which director Walter Bobbie places the songs and the accompanying arrangements by musical director Fred Wells.
Most of these alterations are relatively slight -- unlike the broad, innovative changes made to Kander and Ebb's songbook in "The World Goes 'Round," which played the Mechanic two years ago. Bobbie, who conceived "A Grand Night" in addition to staging it, bases the revue's structure on the theme of romance. The songs in the first act are about new love and courtship, and the songs in the second are about mature love, parenthood and lost love.
Within this context, Bobbie finds new meanings in old classics, and Wells creates some stunning medleys by combining unrelated numbers from separate shows. For instance, "Maria," a song written for a quartet of nuns in "The Sound of Music," is performed here by a man. When Kevin Ligon sings the lyric, "She's a girl," it refers not to Maria's youth, but to the gulf between men and women.
The juxtapositions begin when Ligon sings "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top" (from "Oklahoma!") to Connie Kunkle, after which the cast's other two female members, Terry Burrell and Cheryl Stern, sing the comic "Stepsisters' Lament" (from "Cinderella") with obvious envy.
Similarly, after Ligon and fellow cast member Joseph Mahowald deliver "Flower Drum Song's" cautionary "Don't Marry Me," the women respond with a spirited "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" (from "South Pacific").
The loveliest medley strings together three songs about children -- "When the Children Are Asleep" (from "Carousel"), "I Know It Can Happen Again" (from "Allegro") and "My Little Girl" (also from "Carousel").
"A Grand Night" also includes songs delivered in a straightforward manner, and several of these glow -- particularly Burrell's heartfelt "Something Wonderful" (from "The King and I") and Mahowald's poignant "This Nearly Was Mine," "South Pacific's" most beautiful number.
Although the ensemble is tight, Ligon, whose Nicely-Nicely was a standout in "Guys and Dolls" at the Lyric Opera House last spring, is also a standout here. In "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top," when he sings, "don't you wish it'd go on forever," he gives the words an onomatopoeic effect that sounds like a surrey whooshing by.
Burrell brings a bluesy feel to "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?" (from "Cinderella"). Mahowald, a suave leading-man type, demonstrates he can also be funny when he sings "South Pacific's" "Honey Bun." However, the other two cast members, Kunkle and Stern, are more adept at comic numbers than ballads; it's easy to picture either as Ado Annie in "Oklahoma!"
Tony Walton's stylish set features sliding panels painted to look like rigid theater curtains. The small pit orchestra, under Wells' baton, enhances the revue's overall fluidity. Only the unflattering dresses designed by David Toser jarringly detract from this sophisticated evening.
Although "A Grand Night" was nominated for a Tony Award for best musical last season, the nomination was generally regarded as category filler in an extremely weak year for musicals. But taken on its own merits -- and not competing with book musicals -- this small-scale revue is a joy. I can't think of a more charming way to usher in the New Year.
'Grand Night for Singing'
Where: Morris A. Mechanic Theatre, Hopkins Plaza
When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; matinees at 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays, through Jan. 15. Audio-described performances 2 p.m. Dec. 31 and 8 p.m. Jan. 3; sign-interpreted performances 8 p.m. Jan. 4 and 2 p.m. Jan. 7
Tickets: $17.50-$42.50
Call: (410) 625-1400; TDD (410) 625-1407