By Michael Portantiere***Wildcat, which opened on Broadway in December 1960 with television icon Lucille Ball as its star, and closed the following June after a troubled run of 171 performances, is probably not on anyone’s list of the best musicals of the 20th century. But since the show has a score by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, it’s no surprise that it contains several wonderful items, even if the 
overall quality of inspiration is not the highest ever achieved by that terrific team (see Little Me).
Wunderkind producer-director-host Charles Kirsch and veteran musical director-pianist-musical historian Michael Lavine made a strong case for this score with their presentation of 54 Sings Wildcat—the third musical-in-concert that the team has offered at this venue; it was preceded by The Rink and Coco, and all three shows have been notable for the top-notch performers assembled by Kirsch and Lavine.
The first clear indication of the high level of talent on hand was the opening number, “Oil,” lustily delivered by Noah Barnes, Mike Cefalo, Quinn Corcoran and Bruce Landry, all so vocally gifted and bursting with stage presence that one could easily imagine any of them as the young leading man of many a golden-age musical.
This fabulous foursome continued as the show’s male chorus throughout the evening, and Kirsch and Lavine follow
ed the pattern of their previous musicals in concert by splitting up the songs of the principal and supporting roles among various singers, eschewing any dialogue taken from the show’s book: in this case a rather silly tale, concocted by N. Richard Nash (far more fondly remembered for The Rainmaker and its musical version, 110 in the Shade), about a female oil prospector hoping to strike it rich in a Mexican border town in 1912.
The only song from the Wildcat score that emerged as a fair-size hit was “Hey, Look Me Over,” and on this occasion, that plum was handed to Marilu Henner as “Wildy” and Jenna Lee Rosen as her sister, Janie. Both put over this socko show tune with tons of energy, and certainly Henner’s vocal was far superior to Ball’s as preserved on the show’s original cast album. (Parenthetically: the fact that “Hey, Look Me Over” is the best song in the show, combined with the fact that the lyrical content of the number is quite generic and not really tied to the plot, makes one wonder if perhaps this was a “trunk song” previously written by Coleman and Leigh for some other project.)
The res
t of the evening presented the bulk of the Wildcat score, presumably cutting only some dance and incidental music (as well as the overture) but including a few songs that were eventually dropped from the Broadway production to lighten Ball’s vocal load, as well as one or two numbers that were cut from the show entirely. Among the highlights: “You’ve Come Home,” persuasively performed by Ryan Andes, grandson of Keith Andes, who originated the role of Wildcat’s love interest/nemesis, Joe, in 1960; “What Takes My Fancy,” deliciously delivered by Broadway vets Lenny Wolpe and Luba Mason; a lovely version of “Angelina/Far Away From Home” by Seth Sikes and Nicolas King; the challenge duet “You’re a Liar,” played for all its worth by John Bolton and Eve Plumb (yes, Jan from “The Brady Bunch”); “One Day We Dance,” beautifully sung by Ben Jones and Jenna Lee Rosen; and the male quartet’s stirring renditions of “Tall Hope” and (with Ryan Andes as soloist) “Corduroy Road.”
Other memorable moments were provided by Sara Zahn (“Bouncing Back for More”), Ilene Graff (“That’s What I Want for Janie”), Ruth Gotschall and the male quartet in the show’s title song, and the dynamic duo of Paula Leggett Chase and Joe Newsome in “Tippy Tippy Toes.” A non-vocal highlight of the evening was a video message from Paula Stewart, now in her late 90s, who created the role of Janie on Broadway and who here shared some of her memories of the experience.
Wildcat will likely be Charles Kirsch’s last production at 54 Below or elsewhere for some time, as this young savant is off to college at Harvard in the fall. How nice that the show went so very well, thereby leaving us in great anticipation of many more pleasurable evenings to come.
Photos by Maryann Lopinto
