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The Kid From Brooklyn: The Danny Kaye Musical
Written by Mark Childers & Peter J. Loewy
Directed by Peter J. Loewy, SSDC
At the Mercury Theatre
3745 N. Southport
Chicago, IL
Call 773-325-1700, tickets 442.50 - $48.50
Wednesdays at 2 pm
Thursdays & fridays at 8 pm
Saturdays at 2 & 8 pm
Sundays at 2 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 30 minutes with intermission
Through August 24, 2008
Sound and book problems mar Danny Kaye show
“The Kid From Brooklyn: The Danny Kaye Musical” is a mixed affair at best and an untruthful whitewash of a controversial man at its worst. Terrible sound system at the Mercury Theatre that placed a mic close to the percussion together with Brian Childers’ (Danny Kaye) mic going on and off and this musical suffers. Kaye, the comic genius, singer/actor, made fast singing a trade mark of his manic act. When Childers constantly got drowned out, the comic magic of his songs, especially his “Tchaikovsky” where Kaye where he names 54 Russian composers in 38 seconds. The muddled sound in act one hurt this show greatly. The story of Danny Kaye glosses over many key events and character traits that defined the superb entertainer. The musical numbers aptly depicted Kaye’s style as a comic and stage persona. Too bad the sound system blighted the singing. Brian Childers, Karin Leone, Christina Purcell and Adam LeBow worked hard to tell Kaye’s story.
Amazingly, Childers, despite his best efforts, fails to captures Danny Kaye’s mystique. Few in the audience laughed a Kaye’s shtick. Fewer responded to his audience involvement efforts to have the audience sing along with him. Childers fell flat as Danny Kaye at the performance I attended.
The book portrayed Kaye as a womanizer and it featured his long affair with actress Eve Arden. The show barely mentions his 10 year affair with Laurence Olivier. It also glosses over his bipolar condition. Better that this show just try to be a Danny Kaye revue rather than a biomusical. The dialogue is filled with corny Borsch belt routines. We get a tainted and untruthful portrait of Kaye. Add the poor sound and the flat humor and The Kid From Brooklyn became a tedious bore. Audience members vocalized their dislike for this show as they left the theatre. I think the weak book and the cliché ridden biography hurt this show. But this show just isn’t funny—maybe Kaye’s material is dated? I think Childers failed to connect as Danny Kaye with the audience. Strange because the show I attended was full of seniors who would have known Kaye’s work. Surly, the sound problems contributed to the failure of the show. This show needs to be re-thought and it needs a dose of truth. As a musical, it fails to deliver.
Not Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: June 8, 2008
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