By Annette Hinkle
There have been times in the history of American theater when it was easy to see why audiences were in dire need of escapism through entertainment. And perhaps no population needed “theatrical release” like Americans in the 1920s and ‘30s.
Decades of prohibition were met head-on by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 followed by the Great Depression. Soon to come would be unrest in Europe and Asia, and by the ‘40s, a second war to end all wars. So it should come as no surprise that in that era of bootleggers and lost fortunes Broadway audiences reveled in musical productions that represented the antithesis to “real life.”
And no one did that better than Cole Porter.
Perhaps it’s a sense of parallel times, or just the chance to bring some great song and dance numbers to life in the depths of winter — whatever the motive, the folks at Center Stage at the Southampton Cultural Center have dusted off Porter’s “Fifty Million Frenchmen” and given the musical comedy new life in a run that goes through this weekend. Directed and choreographed by Michael Disher with production supervision by Lee Davis, the play stars a range of local talent and is a great diversion for a cold January day.
Be forewarned, though, this is not a heavy hitter. As story lines go, the production offers a rather banal and wholly predictable script by Herbert Fields. Frankly, it would be totally forgettable by today’s standards were it not for the memorable music and lyrics of Porter, including the well known “You Do Something To Me,” which keeps this musical humming along quite nicely.
The play also percolates with a dash of moral naughtiness and historic perspective, depicting, as it does, a time when average Americans flocked to Paris in droves to refine their palettes and escape the puritanical finger-wagging of the prohibition proponents back home. Is “Fifty Million Frenchmen” relevant by today’s standards? Well, maybe not completely. But it is a nostalgic look back, all in good fun and still well worth seeing, even by the most jaded denizens of 21st century life.
Set in Paris in early summer 1929 (just months before the Wall Street crash that changed everything) the plot follows the exploits of millionaire Peter Forbes (played nicely by Jack Seabury) who is staying in France with his friends, Billy Baxter (V.J. Chiaramonte) and Michael Cummins (Adam Fronc). While hanging out in a Paris bar frequented by Americans, it’s love at first sight for Peter when he catches a glimpse of Looloo Carroll (Erin Clancy-Balsamo), a young woman from Indiana traveling with her wealthy parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carroll (Karen Hochstedler and Center Stage veteran Ken Rowland) and her best friend, Joyce (Anita Boyer).
But just as he’s getting ready to make his move on Looloo, Peter’s wily friends propose a bet. Michael and Billy take all his money and challenge Peter to live by his wits alone in Paris for a month, no easy feat, all the while attempting to convince Looloo to marry him. A deadline is set — at a fourth of July party, where Peter and Looloo must announce their engagement by midnight.
So Peter takes up the challenge and takes on a series of odd jobs in Paris to make ends meet, among them as a tour guide for American Express and a dance partner for lonely women at the Hotel Claridge where Looloo and her parents are staying. Of course, without money to wine and dine Looloo in the manner in which she will one day become accustomed, and with little time for romance, to say nothing of his propensity to dash off to dance with other women, Looloo is less than charmed by Peter through much of the play.
The rest of the plot is easy enough to figure out, and while Peter and Looloo’s volatile courtship make up the centerpiece of the play, it’s really the secondary characters who provide the spark here as they pursue their own romantic and hedonistic interests. As Joyce and Michael, Boyer and Fronc respectively are the show’s star dancers, and offer some quite fine tap numbers.
Lauren Rowland (daughter of Ken Rowland and a very good singer in her own right) plays the bawdy Violet Hildegarde, a loose American woman (and fur dealer) searching for shock value on the seediest sides of Paris. She eventually hooks up with Peter’s friend Billy, but not before delivering one of the play’s most delightful number’s, “Where Would You Get Your Coat?” Similarly, Bethany Dellapolla, who plays May DeVere, an aspiring singer with eyes for Peter, offers a fun-filled rendition of “Primitive Man” to explain what she’s looking for in a mate, complete with an apropos Congo beat.
If the music and lyrics weren’t so much fun, it would be easy to dismiss this musical as a dated one-note piece of boy-meets-girl fluff, but credit Porter with writing songs that are timeless and endearing. And the supporting cast offers performances that keep the music and good times flowing. Mike Canestraro is a scream as Louis Pernasse, the stuffy manager of the Hotel Claridge with a penchant for the ponies, and Karen Hochstedler (in her SCC debut) does nice work as Mrs. Carroll. Her most memorable musical number comes after a failed attempt at arranging a marriage between Looloo and a European count, which leads Hochstedler to sing about her status as “The Queen of Terre Haute.”
Making up the rest of the cast is Michael Contino as the waiter, and the ensemble featuring Anika Hochstedler (Karen’s real-life teenage daughter), Christine Martinez, Thomas Pandolfo, Amy Rowland (the second daughter of Ken Rowland in this show) and Kieran Siao.
Musical direction is by Robert Peterson, and with just three musicians, Bobby Peterson on piano, percussionist Matthew Fitzgerald and Matthew Suprina on reeds, the balance and style is perfect — the music never overwhelms the vocalists on stage.
The production is capped off by a very simple, yet effective, set by Ken Rowland that relies on screen shots of vintage Paris in black and white. Though basic, it really does convey a sense of the city in the ‘20s, from the Eiffel Tower lit up with the words “Citroën” (which is “French for Ford” as the tourists note in the song “Do You Want to See Paris”) to shots of famous cafés from the day and even the American Express office.
Sure, at the end of the day, “Fifty Million Frenchmen” feels like a throw-back to a more naïve era. But Porter still connects, and given all that this country has endured in the first decade of the 21st century, maybe we are all in need of a little escapism ourselves.
Center Stage at SCC’s production of Cole Porter’s “Fifty Million Frenchmen” continues through January 16, 2011 at the Southampton Cultural Center, 25 Pond Lane, Southampton. Showtimes are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. General admission is $22 ($10 for students). For tickets call 287-4377 or purchase tickets online at www.scc-arts.org.
Top: The cast of "Fifty Million Frenchmen" (Tom Kochie photo).
