Photo Source: Dominick Totino
Wintersteller and Sally Mayes starred in the Richard Maltby Jr.–David Shire revue two decades ago at the Cherry Lane, and what a pleasure it is to have the distaff half of the original cast back at Queens Theatre in the Park, along with the original musical director, Patrick Brady, and bassist, Bob Renino. I don’t know what Wintersteller’s secret is, but she looks and sounds exactly as I remember. And by the time she soared through “Life Story,” which really is the complicated, bittersweet life story of a regretful friend of Maltby’s, and got to “I wish I’d stayed with him,” she had me and most of the audience weeping.
Mayes is something else again. Looking rather like Debbie Reynolds, she’s showing signs of vocal wear and tear; those shifts into head voice aren’t always pretty. Yet when assigned a big solo, like “Miss Byrd,” the tale of a staid real estate agent who “not 20 minutes ago was not wearing clothes,” she sounds fine and stops the show. Credit sheer willpower and perhaps the assistance of sound designer Maia Fedderly.
If we can’t have the buttery tenor of original-cast member Brent Barrett, Sal Viviano isn’t a bad compromise, and he does beautifully by “One of the Good Guys,” one of Maltby and Shire’s most affecting songs. And I prefer the understated baritone of George Dvorsky to his predecessor, Richard Muenz, who tended to ham.
The Maltby-Shire songbook remains literate, touching, tuneful, and a bit limited; as they were 20 years ago, these are almost entirely the songs of urban, sophisticated, upwardly mobile strivers—the sort of people who go to Maltby-Shire revues. Maltby has updated some lyrics, and he and Shire provide two new songs: “Something in a Wedding” is a generic all-hail-the-bride-and-groom ditty, but “Dating Again” is the marvelously funny lament of middle-aged singles who never expected to jump back into the dating pool. Its intricate rhymes, bluesy tune, and abundant wit are welcome reminders of how good Maltby and Shire can be.
Presented by Queens Theatre in the Park and Bristol Riverside Theatre, in association with Adam Friedson/Friedson Enterprises and Leftfield Productions/Neil Berg at Queens Theatre in the Park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Flushing, NYC. April 16–25. Wed. and Thu., 2 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (718) 760-0064 or www.queenstheatre.org. Casting by Michael Cassara.