A Little Bit In Love

Wonderful Town, currently playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre, is, in a word, fantastic. (You thought we would go with “wonderful,” didn’t you? Yeah, not this time, buddy.) Seattlest caught the show last Saturday night, and we genuinely enjoyed it.

We were pulled in from the first jazzy notes of the orchestra’s overture. Frankly, we’d forgotten how wonderful a Leonard Bernstein score can be. We’d also forgotten how over-the-top musicals can be, in general, but the staging and singing were both top-notch and we found the production to be full of wonderful moments.

The story is based on a book by Ruth McKenney, all about her sister Eileen’s adventures. On stage, Eileen is the beautiful ingénue, and Ruth is her funny fat sister. (Which led us to ask: why must the fat one be the funny one? But then Ruth got a love interest, and we were satisfied.)

Ruth (Sarah Rudinoff) and Eileen (Billie Wildrick) move to Greenwich Village from Small Town, Ohio, both trying to make their way in the big city (Ruth as a writer, Eileen as a singer/dancer). Both are repeatedly rejected, which leads them to harmonize over why-o, why-o, why-o they ever left Ohio (“Ohio”). Eileen attracts men like it’s going out of style (which, in the 1930s in Greenwich Village, it might’ve been), but Ruth can’t seem to attract a man to save her life (and numerates the ways to lose one in “One Hundred Easy Ways,” one of the funniest moments of the show). As soon as she sings this, she meets the man who falls in love with her. Of course. Who she then loses. Of course. And then they both come to their senses and fall in love. Of course.

In general the first half was the stronger half. The second half seemed like an afterthought; just a way to tie up all the story lines. However, because the staging and singing were so strong, moments which might’ve been boring were full of energy and still entertaining. Our favorite song appeared in the second half, too – “Swing” is full of humor, and showcases Rudinoff’s vocal and comedic skills.

The ensemble was terrific. Every time they joined the cast on stage – as Villagers, tourists, football players, cheerleaders, cadets and policemen – the show got more interesting. Especially the men who played the cadets who didn’t speak English – this scene was Seattlest’s (and our companion’s) favorite part. Who wouldn’t like to be chased across the stage by a group of eight uniformed men?

Wonderful Town runs through April 9th at the 5th Avenue Theatre. Buy tickets here.