Lemon Tree Productions at
the Oak Room at the
Algonquin Hotel
Cute. That's all Glimpses of the Moon, a musical crafted for the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, aspires to—and generally it gets the job done. It's a particular type of cute, too. Not unlike a Meg Ryan flick, Moon is sweet, artificial, and conceals numerous flaws with a disarming blonde. In this case, the flaxen-haired ingénue is Patti Murin, a sensational young actor who sings with gorgeous clarity. More than the site-specific conceit, she's the reason for sneaking a glimpse at this Moon.
A surprisingly frothy Edith Wharton novel provides the source material, a Jazz Age intermingling of glitterati and literati. "Tired of paying for good dinners with good manners," Nick (Stephen Plunkett) and Susy (Murin) resolve to stop being their rich friends' token bourgeoisie buddies. Their solution: Marry for money—twice. First to each other, snagging and selling off some choice wedding presents, and then, after a well-timed divorce, to socialites who can support them in perpetuity.
It's not a particularly good plan, but, yes, it's a cute one. And the seductive power of the period is palpable. If Nick isn't being pulled by Gatsby's orgiastic green light, the swell surroundings of the Oak Room are a fine substitute. They even figure into the plot, with a romantic dinner set at the venue and featuring the performance of a rotating special guest (KT Sullivan at the show I attended). It's another cute touch.
But cute inspiration, gimmicks, and staging (director Marc Bruni does a spry, admirably unfussy job) can't quite camouflage that this is a musical made of unremarkable music. Composer John Mercurio and book writer and lyricist Tajlei Levis have constructed a jazz pastiche score that's pleasant enough in the up-tempo numbers but wholly unpersuasive in its ballads. The pseudo standards made me pine for the recent Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, whose underrated score sports a moonstruck love song, "Nothing Is Too Wonderful to Be True," far more beautiful than the title song here despite sporting lines like "They held up that midget with Krazy Glue."
Matters aren't helped by the leading man. Plunkett seems too slick for an academic yet strains both with his vocals and some (admittedly awful) period dialogue. Rake-cum–romantic rival Glenn Peters is more assured, making you almost wish Murin's Susy would opt for money over love. (I hope it's not spoiling much to let you know that a romantic comedy turns out otherwise.)
Still, you can't help but want whatever Susy does. Murin negotiates each period trap and romantic cliché with sparkling sincerity. She's a delightfully fresh sip from a classic vintage and ensures your evening at the Oak Room provides something substantial to drink down with all that cute.
> Presented by Lemon Tree Productions
> at the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, 59 W. 44th St., NYC.
> Jan. 28–March 10. Mon., 8 p.m.
> (212) 419-9331 or www.algonquinhotel.com.
> Casting by Geoff Josselson.
Reviewed by Adam R. Perlman