On a recent sopping wet dreary day in New York City, in the elevator to the York Theatre Company space at Saint Peter’s in midtown Manhattan, a few female sixtysomething Enter Laughing: The Musical patrons were kvetching about this and that. The weather. Mother’s Day. The weather. “Well,” said one, “with this show, we’ll exit laughing.”
And she’s right. Even if you’ve seen Enter Laughing before—the York is bringing back the 2008 hit in honor of its 50th anniversary—you’re bound to get a few good giggles from this old-fashioned–and–proud musical, an ice-cream soda–laced coming-of-age tale/theatrical valentine.
Here’s the skinny: David Kolowitz (played by Chris Dwan) dreams of being an actor. Never mind that he can’t distinguish a stage direction from actual dialogue and at his audition for the slightly drunken director Marlowe (David Schramm) and he reads the bit in parentheses, “Enter laughing.” Believe it or not, that’s not his worst offense. His mother (two-time Tony nominee and perennial scene stealer Alison Fraser), meanwhile, just wants him to be a druggist, and attempts to guilt her son into submission with the appropriately titled tune “If You Want to Break Your Mother’s Heart.”
But David has dreams beyond the pharmacy counter—most of which involve women. There’s his girlfriend, the pretty and wholesome Wanda (Allie Trimm); his vampy leading lady, Angela (Farah Alvin); his unattainable crush, secretary Miss B. (Dana Costello); and pretty much every Hollywood leading lady, all of whom get name-checked in “The Butler’s Song”: “He’s screwing Dolores del Río.… At five-thirty he humps Alice Faye/ Then Jean Harlow at seven/ Mae West at eleven/ And somewhere between, Fay Wray.… He shtups Sylvia Sidney at four/ Then Mae Murray, Mae Clarke/ And then, after it’s dark/ With Lamour and Lamarr it’s amor.”
The number of actress’ names that composer-lyricist Stan Daniels, an Emmy-winning producer of Taxi and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, packs into that tongue-twisting number—delivered drolly by Schramm at a strangely sluggish tempo—is actually pretty impressive. It’s also a reminder that Daniels’ lyrics are Enter Laughing’s best asset. (Joseph Stein’s book, based on his own 1963 play, which in turn is based on Carl Reiner’s semiautobiographical novel, is serviceable but a trifle stale—a criticism even back in 1976, in the musical’s earlier incarnation, the gone-in-two-weeks So Long, 174th Street.) In the torchy “The Man I Can Love,” a song about lowering one’s standards, Angela outlines the qualities she requires in a mate. “The man I can love must have a chin/ Some eyes some ears and, if possible skin”.… “The man I can love must have a spleen/ A bottom, a top, and some things in between.”
Perhaps another reason the audience exited laughing on the stormy Sunday I attended: an unexpected cameo by York artistic director James Morgan, whose character loses his pants for the sake of a punchline. Now that, folks, is dedication.
Enter Laughing: The Musical opened May 16, 2019, at the York Theatre Company at Saint Peter’s and runs through June 9. Tickets and information: yorktheatre.org
