'50 Million Frenchmen' Review

Cole Porter’s lesser-known “50 Million Frenchmen,” now staging at the Southampton Cultural Center, is a frothy musical perfect for a talented ensemble.

The song- and dance-heavy production—a classic boy-meets-girl setup in Gay Paree, circa 1929—is packed with individual talent, nearly all of whom get their chance to shine in the spotlight in the Cultural Center production, staged as a “concert version” collaboration between director/choreographer Michael Disher and author, theater critic and radio host Lee Davis.

Two of the standout songs in the 1½-hour show, which includes a whopping 20 musical numbers, plus an overture and entr’acte by the orchestra (great job on all counts!), are “The Queen of Terre Haute,” sung by Karen Hochstedler as Mrs. Carroll and “The Tale of the Oyster,” sung by Lauren Rowland as Violet Hildegard.

In fact, those two characters were this reviewer’s favorites. The character of Ms. Carroll, winsomely played by Ms. Hochstedler (who also wore a to-die-for period-style dress), encapsulates perfectly the “vulgar American” sentiments of the time but with a splash of wink-wink “I’m in on the joke” self-knowledge. And Ms. Rowland’s Violet can really sing! Plus, that character has hands-down the best lines of the show. “Mind if I smoke?” Violet is asked by Billy Baxter, to which she drolly replies, “I don’t care if you burn.”

The leads, ably played by Erin Clancy-Balsamo as Looloo Carroll and Jack Seabury as Peter Forbes, mesh nicely, particularly in their first song together, the playful “You Do Something to Me.” Individually, Mr. Seabury’s best song was the slightly mournful “You Don’t Know Paree” and Ms. Clancy-Balsamo’s was “I’m In Love,” complete with clever feather fan choreographic backup by the other ladies in the cast.

Other strong performances were given by Anita Boyer as Joyce Wheeler—that girl can tap—and Mike Canestraro as the over-the-top and amusingly entertaining French hotelier. Bethany Dellapolla as the sassy May DeVere also had great choreography and was game for all kinds of lifts. Her song “Find Me a Primitive Man” was a crowd-pleaser, though she needs to sing out more over the heavy drumbeat.

But it was the “Company” numbers that were the strongest in the show, particularly “The American Express,” “At Longchamps Today” and “Paree, What Did You Do to Me?” where all members of the chorus really hit their musical stride. And, of course, much credit goes to Bobby Peterson and his two-man musical crew of Matthew Fitzgerald and Matthew Suprina for really nailing their numbers.

Additional cast members included Adam Fronc as Michael Cummins, V.J. Chiaramonte as Billy Baxter, Joey Giovingo as Mr. Carroll, and chorus members Michael Contino, Anika Hochstedler, Kasia Klimiuk, Christine Martinez, Amy Rowland, Ken Rowland, Thomas Pandolfo and Kieran Siao.

Overall, the show was well-paced, moving quickly and entertainingly, thanks to the supervision of Mr. Davis. As always, Mr. Disher’s clever choreography was a real standout, as was the use of a blank screen filled with changing backdrop images, thanks to Ken Rowland. And the lighting by Peter Eilenberg definitely added great graphic dimension to many of the musical solos.

Remaining showtimes are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, January 13 through 15, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 16, at 2:30 p.m. at the Southampton Cultural Center. General admission is $25 and the student 
rate (under 21 with ID) is $12. For tickets, call 287-4377 or 
visit scc-arts.org.