Goin' Up To New York- Part 2

Allright let me continue with my report of my New York trip of last week.

Saturday, I was finally able to get a hold of Sean McLaughlin and we made plans for dinner between shows, which was good, as I hadn’t seen him since my last trip up there.

My good friend Patrick got us tickets for the matinee of George and Ira Gershwin’s “Of Thee I Sing!” at Encores at City Center, with Victor Garber (AKA Spy Daddy), Jennifer Laura Thompson (of “Urinetown” fame) and Jefferson Mays (“I Am My Own Wife”). Since the bulk of our weekend was seeing 2 plays, I was really dying to see a musical and, boy did this fit the bill! OTIS is one of those typical 30’s musicals where nothing much really happens and people burst into song quite frequently, and oftentimes it reminded me of Gilbert & Sullivan.

Victor Garber plays the eligible presidential candidate who’s running on a platform of “Love” and, through a beauty contest, finds his wife. Well, the winner of said contest isn’t the one he falls in love with, it’s the secretary who makes wonderful corn muffins. Said contest winner then brings in the French Ambassador and tries to sue the president for her right to marry him. Jefferson Mays plays the Vice Presidential candidate who is so meek that he just fades into the background.

Besides the classic standards, the Gershwin catalog was all new to me and I’m so glad to have heard it in such a fashion. The book by G.S. Kauffman was pared down to a serviceable 2 hours but retained the biting satire of US government, quite a few good jokes and a couple of great running gags and had me smiling throughout.

I had never been to an Encores staging and I’m actually glad I waited until this opportunity, as it was fairly flawless and there was even a discussion afterwards (Thank You, SteveMR, for the heads up!), with many anecdotes and stories from the topmost Gershwin scholar and Kauffman’s daughter (who looked to be about 80).


The leads were fantastic and the direction, by Urinetown’s own John Rando was tight and Randy Skinner’s choreography classic MGM-style. Mr. Garber was a hoot and I was glad to see a non-dramatic side to him after all these ALIAS seasons and Ms. Thompson was hysterical and called to mind a young Madeline Kahn with her comedic timing. Mr. Mays looked and played the part of the VP in such period-perfect tones that I was tickled.

And, actually, the best part of the afternoon was watching a couple of old ladies in front of us swaying to the music and even mouthing the words to the songs. Corn Muffins for everyone! Grade: A+