An Embraceable Revival

Satire is what closes on Saturday night, according to the George S. Kaufman wisecrack, made within a reporter’s earshot in 1930. Who knows when he first said it, though? Surely the thought crossed his mind in 1927, the year a musical by Kaufman and George and Ira Gershwin--”Strike Up the Band,” now in a newly struck concert revival as part of the Reprise! series--tanked two weeks into its Philadelphia tryout.

Jazz Age audiences weren’t in the mood for a musically sophisticated jape, Gilbert & Sullivan with a sardonic American overlay, making fun of war profiteers and overheated patriotism. The infectious title march notwithstanding, “Strike Up the Band” left its first audience puzzling over the Gershwins’ operetta aspirations, as well as Kaufman’s story of a greedy cheese magnate pushing America into a war with Switzerland.

Three years later, though, a toned-down, cheered-up “Strike Up the Band” made it to Broadway and landed nicely. A year later, Kaufman and the Gershwins dared to satirize once more. The successful result--”Of Thee I Sing,” the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize--led to a darker, more despairing sequel (America under dictatorship), “Let ‘Em Eat Cake.” Let it close, said the public.

If there’s a lesson in the fortunes of these three shows--four, really, counting the two versions of “Strike Up the Band”--it is probably no deeper than: Satiric, fine, but make it snappy. Especially if a Depression’s just around the corner or already in progress.

A very snappy edition of “Strike Up the Band” opened Wednesday at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse. Many fine things pop up throughout. Such as?

Such as: “Hangin’ Around With You,” an up-tempo charmer assigned to the show’s auxiliary lovers, played by Troy Britton Johnson and Hope Levy. They are irresistible, as is the song, a lesser-known Gershwin item and one of this score’s happiest surprises (love that urgent melody line between the first two choruses). The song leads to a full-ensemble tap routine, choreographed by Gene Castle. When it’s over, you feel like saying: Whoa, where’s everybody going? One more time!

For the 1998 edition of “Strike Up the Band” prepared for New York’s Encores! series, writer David Ives went back to the ’27 original, made some trims and added some jokes. Wisely, Ives and company also made room for “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” which the Gershwins pulled out of a flop called “Treasure Girl” and interpolated into the 1930 version.

Horace J. Fletcher (Charles Nelson Reilly) is tickled to learn that America has slapped a tariff on imported cheese. Switzerland is angry. With visions of profits dancing in his head, Fletcher persuades a presidential advisor (Steve Vinovich) to let him finance a war against the enemy. Mission: to make “bigger and better citizens for the USA,” nourished by Fletcher’s Cheese.

Fletcher’s persistent love interest is the penniless Mrs. Draper, a randier version of Margaret Dumont. She’s played by Ruth Williamson, making hay as well as making her L.A. debut. Last spring Williamson played Mrs. Shinn in the Broadway revival of “The Music Man,” and it’s about time we got her out here. A splendid physical comic, Williamson could do a one-woman show based on her catalog of stage entrances and exits, essayed in various degrees of drunkenness, hauteur, dejection and lust.

Reilly’s character is supposed to be the show’s comic engine. On opening night the actor was waging his own mini-battles with his lines and his timing. He putters with material that should be raced. Yet this well-liked pro gets his laughs anyway. (Upon hearing that war has been declared by Iceland, Reilly takes a 1.5-second pause and then, aghast, cries out: “The skating rink?”)

Melissa Dye, so good in the recent Reprise! “Call Me Madam,” lends a velvety soprano to the role of Fletcher’s daughter, Joan, singing “The Man I Love” and “Soon” opposite newspaperman Jim Townsend (a rather stiff Michael Maguire). In an otherwise smooth and efficient staging, director Don Amendolia errs only in relying on familiar Groucho-Harpo shtick in a supporting role, fashioned by Ives and played by Joe Joyce. Natalie Nucci stands out in a better-than-usual chorus, mostly by not trying to.

Musical director Peter Matz’s charts, sweet and light, are heard via a 16-piece orchestra. I know, I know--money, money, money, not enough, not enough, not enough. The fact remains we’re dealing with a pit band about half the size of the New York Encores! counterpart.

Sixteen pieces do, however, ensure the sound of a genuine (if reduced) string section, as opposed to a synthesizer pretending to be a string section. For that, and for many other felicities afforded by this blithe revival, we can be grateful.

* “Strike Up the Band,” Reprise! Broadway’s Best, UCLA Freud Playhouse, UCLA near Sunset Boulevard at Hilgard Avenue, Westwood. Parking in UCLA Lot 3, near Sunset at Hilgard. Tuesdays through Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. (no 7 p.m. performance March 4). Ends March 4. $55. (310) 825-2101 or (213) 365-3500. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

Strike Up the Band

Charles Nelson Reilly: Horace J. Fletcher

Melissa Dye: Joan Fletcher

Michael Maguire: Jim Townsend

Ruth Williamson: Mrs. Draper

Hope Levy: Anne Draper

Troy Britton Johnson: Timothy Harper

Steve Vinovich: Col. Holmes

Stuart Pankin: C. Edgar Sloane

Joe Joyce: George Spelvin

Music by George Gershwin. Lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Book by George S. Kaufman. Concert adaptation by David Ives. Directed by Don Amendolia. Musical director Peter Matz. Choreographed by Gene Castle. Scenic design by Robert L. Smith. Costumes by Scott A. Lane. Lighting by Tom Ruzika. Sound by Philip G. Allen. Production stage manager Meredith Greenburg.