STAGE REVIEW : ‘My One and Only’ Hangs on a Thin Reed

It seems fitting that Twiggy was one of the original co-stars of the 1983 Broadway musical, “My One and Only.”

Just as the skinny supermodel ushered in the human coat-hanger look for showing off clothes, so “My One and Only” celebrates a hanger kind of musical in which a skeletal story is used to hang a string of Gershwin songs (originally from the 1927 “Funny Face”), a lot of fancy dancing and flashes of bathing beauties dressed up as starfish and baskets of fruit.

The show, now being produced by Starlight Musical Theatre at the Starlight Bowl, does have an ostensible plot. Billy Buck Chandler, who hopes to become the first aviator to fly non-stop from New York to Paris, gives up potential fame for the Atlantic Channel swimmer he loves. The tension, such as it is, stems from his hesitation at doing so when he learns the girl of his dreams has “a past” in the form of lewd photographs that someone took of her.

Between “My One and Only” and “Me and My Girl,” it seems that Edward VIII’s abdication for the woman he loved may have had a greater impact on musical comedy theater than on history.

One of the most remarkable aspects of “My One and Only” is not just that this muddleheaded musical won three Tony awards in 1983, it is that the original co-creator, director, choreographer and star, Tommy Tune, actually thought he was improving on “Funny Face” by substituting a silly romance for the silly burglary caper that provided an excuse for Fred Astaire to dance in a top hat and tails.

Maybe on Broadway, it was a triumph of star over matter (Tune won for best actor, after all). But at Starlight, even a talented and spirited cast can’t keep the eyes from glazing over.

One could almost say that the frequent airplanes zooming overhead came as a welcome relief by freezing the action; except that the freeze, in turn, delayed the ultimate relief of an ending.

The best of the cast are also the most experienced. Harold Nicholas, of Nicholas Brothers fame, got a hand for his tap dancing Mr. Magix, a dispenser of fortune-cookie quality advice on love. It’s hard to resist Omar Hester, Tony Francis Moss and Jeffrey Polk, all old hands at playing The New Rhythm Boys, a hip song-and-dance trio that sails in and out of scenes with such stunning Gershwin numbers as “I Can’t Be Bothered Now,” and reprises of duets and solos like “ ‘S’ Wonderful” and “He Loves and She Loves.” They keep the steps, harmonies and timing fresh.

Kirby Ward and Cynthia Ferrer don’t exactly tear up the stage with their passion for each other as the aviator and the swimmer, but they pepper their performances with talent and charm. One of their best moments has them splash-dancing, bare-footed, in a strip of water, looking as if they are having a grand old time.

One wishes sweet and sour Peggy O’Connell, who originated the part of Billy Buck Chandler’s mechanic, Mickey, on Broadway, had more to do--she’s that funny at what she does. Charles Jackam is deliciously sinister, if hopelessly stereotypical, as the pre-glasnost Russian villain.

The direction and choreography of Don and Bonnie Ward, although pleasing, suggest too much confidence in this material. “My One and Only” sags when it tries to linger; the cast would be better advised to paddle furiously to get the waterlogged ship home before it sinks. The first time Kirby Ward (son of Don and Bonnie) breaks concentration to make a jibe at a plane sputtering overhead--”I don’t think he’s going to make it”--it’s funny. By the third time the cast makes reference to the aerial distractions, it’s as old as the airplane problem is to the Starlight Bowl.

The thinness of the costumes and sets by Rita Ryack and Adrienne Lobel fit the watery conception of a work that spits out a succession of platitudes and cliches like “It doesn’t matter what people think of you Billy, it’s what you think”--as if they could pass for wisdom on the basis of sheer quantity.

Maybe Billy Buck and his swimmer can “live on love and food for thought,” as they say here, but audiences need a bit more than the occasional song and dance to tide them through 2 1/2 hours of knee-jerk nonsense.

The relentless unfurling of American flags at the end--more numerous than one might expect to see in a George M. Cohan play--are fitting, only because they suggest the draping of coffins. This is one show which should consider it merciful to rest in peace.

‘MY ONE AND ONLY’

Music by George Gershwin. Lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Book by Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer. Directed and choreographed by Don and Bonnie Ward. Original staging and choreography by Thommie Walsh and Tommy Tune. Sets by Adrienne Lobel and Tony Walton. Costumes by Rita Ryack. Lighting by Barbara Du Bois. With Cynthia Ferrer, Kirby Ward, Harold Nicholas, Peggy O’Connell, Omar W. Hester, Dale E. Turner, Tony Francis Moss, Charles Jackam, Peter Morse and David Schrage. At 8 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday through Aug. 13. At the Starlight Bowl, Balboa Park, San Diego.