It's unfortunate that younger generation theatregoers and theater critics never saw how the original version of The Pajama Game looked and sounded. If they did, they would never embrace Simon Callow's misguided "reinvention" of this popular work, a classic of the Broadway musical comedy. The Sleep Tight Factory's hunky plant superintendent, Sid Sorokin, falls for the brassy union rep, Babe Williams, who seeks a 7-1/2 cent raise. In love in their private lives, they are sworn enemies in their professional life. How Sid wins over the resolute Babe is the gist of the light libretto. Their escapades keep them, and a cast of adorable characters, on their toes dancing, singing and wisecracking their way into our hearts.
But from the first bleats of what is meant to be the overture to the final curtain, the original (Don Walker) orchestrations are replaced by music supervisor John Harle's wimpy, saxophone-dominated, Big Band sounding arrangements. The cast often appear adrift in the show's half-baked production numbers such as "Steam Heat" which -- without any semblance of its unique choreography by the then-unknown Bob Fosse -- does NOT stop the show. Ditto for the usually beguiling "Hernando's Hideaway," the exuberant "Once-A-Year Day," the haunting "A New Town" and comedic "Her Is."
Originally co-starring Janis Paige at her peak as Babe and virile baritone John Raitt as Sid, we get British stage star Graham Bickle's pretty-boy looks and less robust singing. Canadian music theater star Camilla Scott, as Babe, perfectly hits high notes musically and dramatically, with the warm, gutsy quality expected from the role. Most of the other principals are lackluster versions of their Broadway originators. (Doris Day as Babe on screen was the only principal not from the definitive original cast.) Although the show itself remains worthy of its Best Musical Tony Award, the hitherto celebrated Mr. Callow should not get away with this impetuous low-budget production.
