Theater Review : ‘Nanette’ Brings Frivolity to Long Beach

Early in “No, No, Nanette,” the title character is warned to avoid flappers “who think life is one long giggle.”

Those flapper girls have nothing on “No, No, Nanette,” the 1920s musical so light and frothy it makes “42nd Street” look like Greek tragedy.

High kicks and soft-shoe, lame jokes and “Tea for Two”--these foolish things have sustained Vincent Youmans’ three-act lollipop, off and on, for the past 70 years. It is not the oldest musical in American theater history, but at times it certainly feels that way.

Long Beach Civic Light Opera has mounted a lavishly appointed, cheerfully acted revival of Burt Shevelove’s celebrated adaptation, an improbable hit on Broadway in the early ‘70s. Revised or not, “Nanette” feels very out of step with the dark, literary musicals of the Sondheim era. Whether that’s welcome depends on one’s need for one long giggle.

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Blind optimism reigns supreme in Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel’s book, a high-pitched Jazz Age farce that wasn’t embarrassed by its own fixation on the high life. “Go out and spend some money foolishly,” advises rich Bible publisher Jimmy Smith (Gavin MacLeod of “Love Boat” fame). “Then you’ll be happy.”

As with everything else in “Nanette,” Smith’s comment is not meant ironically. The piece, the program notes inform us, is about “what was (in the 1920s) topical, slightly racy and mostly sheer fun.”

Accordingly, teen-age Nanette (Elna Marie Binckes) grows restless under the tutelage of her guardians, the tycoon Smith and his frugal wife, Sue (Nanette Fabray). “I want to raise a family,” the girl tells her suitor, a dull lawyer named Tom (Michael Dotson), “but I want to raise a little hell first.”

Smith, meanwhile, has been making some mischief of his own, giving cash gifts to attractive young women who imagine his interest in them is more than platonic (it isn’t). For no very good reason, everyone winds up at the beach in Atlantic City as the show gives new meaning to the term “light opera.”

Director and choreographer David Thome has staged this nonsense with the right amount of pluck, even if the show never quite reaches “Hellzapoppin” levels of giddiness. Due to the immense size of the Terrace Theater, the action is broad and heavily amplified.

The show is at its best when the cast members shut up and dance. The superb tap routine for “I Want to Be Happy,” with Fabray and chorus, almost brings down the house; likewise the elaborate soft-shoe for the immortal “Tea for Two.” Sean McMullin’s period costumes--flapper hats, pleated skirts, golf sweaters--are definite pluses.

As a wisecracking maid, Kaye Ballard gets a lot of comic mileage out of a stock role. Fabray puts the right addled, oblivious spin on her aristocratic East Coast matron. MacLeod, who has an endearing way of talk-singing through numbers, is completely unconvincing as a slightly daffy tycoon. Which means, of course, that he’s perfect for the part.

* “No, No, Nanette,” Terrace Theater at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends July 24. (213) 365-3500. Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes.