By Marilyn Lester***And now for something completely different, as the Monty Python’s were given to saying. This statement was certainly true for the latest edition of Lyrics & Lyricists at 92NY: Cockeyed Optimist: Where Hammerstein Found His Hope. Cleverly written by actor Malcolm Gets and lyricist Dick Scanlan (and neatly directed by Scanlan), the show was a 
superb take-off (with suitable permission) of the Broadway hit, The Drowsy Chaperone.
Playing Man in Chair, Scanlan the actor, hit all the notes of a man fascinated by his topic and eager to share with an audience as rapt as he is. In this case, the characters who came to life did not spring from the record album of the fictitious 1928 musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, but from the published works—a pile of books—about of the iconic lyricist-librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The select tunes that five talented actor-vocalists (Kerstin Anderson, Mikaela Bennett Eddie Cooper, Omar Lopez-Cepero Katie Mariko Murray) performed helped bring the material to life.
Serving as this enthralled narrator of back story and Hammerstein biography, Scanlan was historically informative and very often wonderfully humorous in setting up the musical numbers presented. These tunes were taken mostly from the big hits, written mainly with composer Richard Rodgers, with a very few from the lyricist’s lesser-known works; but in that, there was relevance and attention paid to present the entire picture of the lyricist’s 
body of work. In brief, Hammerstein (1895-1960) wrote all or part of 45 musical dramas for stage, film or television, beginning with Always You and ending with The Sound of Music. He was also an activist and advocate possessed of a brilliant mind—so brilliant, it was argued by the Man in Chair, that his extraordinary lyrics could be taken for granted in their consistency of greatness. Plus, Hammerstein had a talent for choosing superb source material to translate from book or play to the musical stage: i.e. Lynn Riggs’ 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs, became Oklahoma! and South Pacific was based on James Michener’s 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Tales of the South Pacific.
With Jerome Kern and Showboat, Hammerstein broke new musical theater ground. Cooper’s delivery of the aching lyric to “Ol’ Man River” was impactful and wrenching. But in the realm of revolutionizing theater, it was Hammerstein’s collaboration with Richard Rodgers that brought drama firmly to the musical, often with subject matter that was “dark” and which sometimes represented a musically iron fist in a velvet glove. When Oklahoma! opened in 1943, there were both light-hearted, popular numbers such as “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'” brightly sung by Lopez-Cepero, but also “serious” songs, such as “Lonely Room,” dramatically sung by Cooper.
It was 1945’s Carousel in which hard themes of complex psychological motivation were tackled: “What’s the Use of Wond’rin'” had Bennett resigned to love a flawed man. And then there was “Soliloquy,” one of the most complex numbers ever written for musical theater, with chord/tempo and mood changes galore. Lopez-Cepero, in exceptional voice, executed it flawlessly. Although not part of the show’s narrative, a line could be drawn between this number and the subsequent work of Hammerstein’s protegé, Stephen Sondheim, another revolutionary of musical theater and flag-bearer of the complexities pioneered by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Advocacy was addressed in 1949’s South Pacific. Murray sang “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” with great conviction. Similarly, 1951’s The King and I was sweetly represented with Anderson’s “Hello, Young Lovers.” Other Hammerstein shows, in brief, that were represented were Carmen Jones (1943), Pipe Dream (1955), Cinderella (1957) and Flower Drum Song (1958). The entire cast, including the now mobile Man in Chair, closed with The Sound of Music‘s “Edelweiss/Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” rousing and inspirational to the max. But that boffo ending was upped in joyousness and verve with a full-out rendition of the title song, “Oklahoma!”
Making a case for the depth and brilliance of Hammerstein’s body of work was certifiably accomplished, with a lesson learned in not taking genius for granted. This reviewer’s one note about the show is that it was overly long, though beautifully paced. What didn’t add to the evening in quality, but did add in time ,was each of the singer’s personal stories, with a connecting thread to the topic. Their elimination would have effectively moved Cockeyed Optimist forward with even greater impact.
Choreography/movement was designed by Richard Stafford. A fabulously talented mini orchestra was led by music director-arranger-pianist Joey Chancey, with Gorge Farmer (bass), Jason May (reeds), Christian Marrero (trumpet), Sylvia D’Avanzo (violin) and Adele Stein (cello).
Photos by Richard Termine.
Top to bottom: Dick Scanlan; Omar Lopez-Cepero, Eddie Cooper; Omar Lopez-Cepero, Katie Mariko Murray, Mikaela Bennett, Edddie Cooper, Kerstin Anderson; Omar Lopez-Cepero, Mikaela Bennett
