The introduction of Julie Taymor to big-time Broadway has inspired other experimental directors to go for a similar route. More and more restagings are headed up by people whose initial strength doesn't lie in musical theater. After Matthew Warchus' slapdash take on Follies, his first foray into such territory on Broadway, we now have Tina Landau's similarly lumpy Bells Are Ringing. Landau's background isn't unlike Taymor's, having worked with people such as Jose Rivera, Charles Mee and Ricky Ian Gordon, all downtown artists and proud of it. She does have some experience in musical theater and, for what it's worth, Bells is competently staged and appointed. But there's something missing to the whole affair, something too studied and rigid about it; it never breaks loose the way an old show like this should. The material still works, but Landau and company fail to find the right notes in it.
The first revival of this show on Broadway since its inception, this production stars Faith Prince (Guys and Dolls) as Ella, a telephone operator who works as an answering service for many New York companies. She takes much pride in her job but oversteps boundaries when she poses as an elderly woman affectionately titled "Mom" for the dashing, drunken young playwright Jeff Moss (Marc Kudisch). (This brings up some kooky Oedipal business, but Betty Comden and Adolph Green, are fully aware of it). Experiencing writer's block, she crosses over from a voice on the phone to a real-life figure in Jeff's life, without his knowing that she is the old voice he hears encouragement from daily. Meanwhile, Ella's office is being taken over by Sandor (David Garrison), a Hungarian con artist who uses the answering service as a way to field his illegal activities on the side, unbeknownst to the sweet owner (Beth Fowler) who is unaware of his real business needs.
The fundamental problem with the production is its miscasting. Except for Garrison's lively villain, the other roles do not mesh, and the show definitely suffers as a result. I really wish Kudisch would find a role that would exploit his imposingly sexy, Brando-dangerous persona instead of playing standard romantic leads. There are indications in his performance here that he would like to do just that, and he works hard to make the role varied and interesting, but he ends up pigeonholed by the material. (In last year's unfairly reviled The Wild Party, Kudisch refreshingly played a randy, bisexual partyboy and it worked like a charm.) Part of this can also be attributed to co-star Prince, who despite her indelible comic charm, is fatally miscast here. Not miscast in an unwatchable way (she stills sings lovely and her timing is remains sharp), but in a conceptual one. There just isn't enough personality imbued into this Miss Lonelyhearts woman, at least not like I've seen her in the past, and Prince's chemistry with Kudisch falters too; half the time she seems more like her alter-ego "mom" than a love interest.
Despite these major gaffes, the show works better than expected. Despite Jeff Calhoun's uninventive choreography (which seems lifted right out of his uninspired work in Grease!), the show sounds magnificent, thanks to Don Sebesky's potent orchestrations. It has a rich sound quality that has been missing from shows lately, and for the first time in a long time, I was more drawn to what was under the stage rather than on it. And there's a nifty opening sequence explaining the answering service that is used in the show, employing tons of old-time clips, a nice cinematic touch courtesy of Batwin + Robin Productions (also represented in The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway). A few of the numbers have spunk as well, including "I Met a Girl" and "The Party's Over," two of the more memorable songs in the first-rate Jules Styne score. If only Landau was really able to shape the affair into something as sturdy.
