Pins and Needles, Harold Rome’s 1937 musical revue pushing for unions, the rights of the poor, satirizing the reactionary right, is a lot of fun for an old “Lefty” like me. Rome has written some of the cleverest lyrics in town, with tunes that bounce as they sing about being shackle-free, about love ("Union for Two"), depression problems and stirring up the workers.
A rich woman sings “It’s Not Cricket to Picket,” there’s Don’t Sit on the “Status Quo,” and the old hit, “Sing Me a Song of Social Significance.”
The very inventive director/choreographer Eleanor Reissa has put delightful life, action and movement into the numbers performed by the seven-member cast in this light satire of conditions long ago that we see reflected today. Mimi Stern-Wolfe’s piano accompaniment is clear, crisp, lifting and supporting the whole show, which I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.
