Another Great Start For Musicals At Richter

By Julie Stern

DANBURY — Musicals at Richter has opened its 25th season with a production that characteristically combines excellent acting, professional directing, choreography and musical leadership. The one area where it falls a bit short is in the choice of a show. Funny Girl, based on the life of the show-girl-comedienne Fanny Brice, is, in my opinion, not one of the all-time great musicals.

Like composer Jules Styne’s earlier work Gypsy, it is of the genre of stories about female stars whose private lives are not as successful as their showbiz careers. But in contrast to a vehicle like Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun, it lacks a memorable score, with catchy melodies and sly lyrics.

Having said that, however, let me emphasize the uniformly high quality of the production.

Shannon-Courtney Porper gives a charismatic performance as the awkward but irrepressible kid from the Lower East Side, who talks her way into a job as a dancer and becomes the star of the Ziegfeld Follies, then falls in love with the handsome gambler, Nicky Arnstein, only to see her marriage fail because he can’t deal with her good fortune.

Carl LePere is convincingly dapper as the smooth fellow in evening dress who sweeps her off her feet, but is morose and bitter when he can’t support the lifestyle with which he first dazzled her. He goes to jail for embezzlement, rather than consent to let Fannie use her money to back his schemes, for he can’t bear to live as a “kept” man.

Barbara Kessler does a wonderful turn as Fannie’s good humored saloon-keeper mother, along with her trio of friendly-competitive neighbors — Cat Heidel as Mrs Strakosh, Dolly Conner as Mrs Meeker, and Ruth-Anne- Ring as Mrs O’Malley.

And Brad Kimmelman does well as the long suffering hoofer Eddie Ryan, who takes the young Fannie under his wing and teaches her everything he knows, then stays around to pick up the pieces when her heart is broken.

To me, however, the real star of the show is the Ensemble. As befits a portrait of the Follies,  the dancing is  exciting and stirring and delightful to watch. Director Bradford Blake and choreographer Jen Turey have done a splendid job with the 15 young, eager, and talented players.

This is not a show to which I’d bring the kids — especially as it doesn’t start until after 8:30 — but for adults, it affords a pleasant evening for a picnic under the stars with quality entertainment at an affordable price.

(Performances continue until July 4, with shows Friday and Saturday evenings.

Call 748-6878 or visit MusicalsAtRichter.org for full details and reservations).