Curtains up on Curtains

On Thursday night, the curtains go up on Curtains, a new Kander and Ebb (and Holmes) musical starring David Hyde Pierce and Debra Monk.  With a strong supporting cast, Karen Ziemba and Edward Hibbert among others, this rollicking musical rushes you from the opening night of a doomed out-of-town musical tryout to the eventual opening of the reworked show on Broadway. 

The journey is filled with old school laughs and giggles, and lots of almost muppet-esque jokes.  You have to enjoy this type of humor to enjoy the show.  Curtains sensibility is not modern day, and it was wisely set as a period piece so that the final product would be able to sustain such cheesiness.

Edward Hibbert is almost a scene stealer every time his voice booms out a nasty biting comment.  Every time I see him onstage, I enjoy his work, and Curtains is no exception.  David Hyde Pierce once again proves himself a strong stage actor as the occasionally timid detective who gets caught up in trying to save the show.  After all, the show must go on. 

The thing that occasionally slows down Curtains’ pace is the ballads and love songs that are almost too sad for a show this silly.  Obviously the show has to have its highs and lows, but putting the breaks on humor such as this for too long could kill the show.  Luckily, these songs reach there limits and just as they start to go over the line, they pull back and let the jokes start flying around the stage again.

Curtains is running at the Al Hirschfeld theater on 45^th Street.    If the reaction of the crowd last night was any indication, it will be running for quite some time.  Get your tickets now before the crowds get any larger.

tags: david hyde pierce  curtains  debra monk  theater  theatre  stage  new york  new york=city  broadway  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit