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Gentleman Prefer Blondes
Music & Lyrics by Jule Styne & Leo Robin
Book by Joseph Fields & Anita Loos
Directed & Choreographed by Kevin Bellie
Music Direction by Allison Kane
At Circle Theatre
7300 W. Madison
Forest Park, IL
Call 708-771-0700 www.circle-theatre.org
Tickets $20 on Fridays, $26 on Sat & Sun
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 10 minutes with intermission
Through February 1, 2009
Cute, funny and danceable Gentleman Prefer Blonds is true to the original
Circle Theatre is quite adapt at mounting large scale old-time rarely produced Broadway musicals on their small stage in Forest Park. Kevin Belle keeps the action and the humor flowing in Jule Styne’s cute musical set in the 1920’s. This is a song and dance fest filled with nice light classic Broadway tunes. Belle has made it an innovative and clever dance show that features a continuous array of show stopping dances. It never fails to amaze me how many dancers Belle can place on his miniscule stage. He ambitiously designs sleek and rhythmic movements to Styne’s toe-taping score. Above all else, his Gentleman Prefer Blondes unfolds as a funny, charming and innocent ode to those vintage Broadway musicals of the 40’s. Here dance dominates; the Charleston, tap among other styles were nicely executed.
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The story (and the film featured Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe) centers on Lorelei Lee—the Monroe look-alike—Rachel Quinn and her companion Dorothy Shaw—the Russell clone—Brigitte Ditmars as they embark on a cruise to Europe. These two did nice work as the sexy gold digger ex-Follies girls. My only problem with them was their lack of projection and volume when singing. They both need to sing louder—especially on the lower registries. It seems that younger singers must not be taught to belt? Once this is corrected, Quinn and Ditmars will rule this show.
With terrific numbers like “Bye, Bye, Baby,” “Little Girls From Little Roc,” “When Love Goes Wrong’ and the memorable “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” Blondes is a funny crowd-pleaser that enchants audiences. This is light-weight escapist fare that is well sung and energetically danced. It has a heartwarming story with lovable characters in cornball situations. It is fun fluff with excellent work from Jeremy Myers as Henry Spofford, Scott Neild as Gus Esmond, together with the amazing work from Rachel Quinn as Loreli and Brigitte Ditmars as Dorothy. But the real stars are the ensemble dancers deftly performing Belle’s expert choreography. This is an entertaining old style Broadway musical comedy.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: November 19, 2008
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