THE LIFE (2004-2005) – Miami Herald Review

Gary Waldman & Jamison Troutman, theater producers, presented The Life, a musical by Cy Coleman, Ira Gasman & David Newman at the Atlantis Playhouse, W. Palm Beach, FL (2004-2005) … the following is a review published in the Miami Herald, June 12, 2004:

 Sing a song about a prostitute

A musical melodrama recalls the seamy years before New York’s 42^nd Street got it’s tourist-friendly makeover

BY CHRISTINE DOLEN

cdolen@herald.com

ALL HANDS: The cast of THE LIFE sings ‘Use What You Got.’

First, the caveat: The brassy musical that has just opened at the Atlantis Playhouse isn’t one of the Jewish-themed shows the company’s audiences have come to expect. Not by a long shot.

The Life, a 1997 Cy Coleman-Ira Gasman Broadway hit, is a down-and-dirty singing soap opera, an ode to the flashy hookers and slick pimps who worked on the edge of Manhattan’s theater district before Rudy Giuliani and company made the 42^nd Street neighborhood safe for Disney shows, chain stores and restaurants.

Crucial to the success of any production of The Life are actors who can sick the heck out of Coleman’s score, a beguiling (if lyrically blunt) blend of jazz, blues and Broadway. Director Gary Waldman has found a killer 13-member cast, one that belts, brays and coos under Phil Hinton’s fine musical direction. They dance well too, working the Kevin Black-Jamie Cooper choreography with a tongue-in-cheek, provocative sass.

The quality of the acting is more erratic, though the melodramatic tone of the show’s script (by Coleman, Gassman and David Newman) makes both the weaker and over-the-top performances easier to forgive. The Life is an amusing, ultimately sobering fantasy about gals who work hard for the money and guys who never treat them right.

The show’s focal characters are Queen (the charismatic Jeanne Lynn Gray), a Georgia gal who’s turning tricks only until she can buy a better life, and her man, Fleetwood (Ben Bagby), a drug-addicted Vietnam veteran who’s increasingly (and exploitatively)pragmatic when it comes to his women.

Jojo (Dean Swann), the weasel of a narrator, is in cahoots with Memphis (Carl Barber-Steel), a fly pimp who works his girls hard and answers any rebellion with violence. Sonja (the wonderful Nadeen Holloway), his main gal, brings down the house with The Oldest Profession, an amusing take on just how wearying years of streetwalking can be. And Mary from Minnesota (Elizabeth King who makes way too many distracting faces), the just-off-the-bus “innocent,” proves that sleaziness comes in many guises.

As Queen, Gray turns her many solos (He’s No Good, I’m Leaving You, We Had a Dream)into aural gold. Her voice has ahoneyed warmth, and she projects the inherent dignity that makes Queen seem different from the other women.

Though it’s simple in design, with the actors moving against a graffiti backdrop on the raised platform of a stage, The Life at the Atlantis is an effectively escapist – if gleefully raunchy – piece of musical theater.

Christine Dolen is the Herald’s theater critic.

THE LIFE (2004-2005) - South Florida Tribune Review

Gary Waldman & Jamison Troutman, theater producers, presented THE LIFE, a musical by Cy Coleman, Ira Gasman & David Newman at the Atlantis Playhouse, W. Palm Beach, FL (2004-2005) ... the following is a review published in the South Florida Tribune, June 23, 2004 ...

Sensational New Musical showing at Atlantis Playhouse

By Al Price - TIMES ENTERTAINMENT WRITER

One of the great musicals of this -- or any -- season is the Broadway musical, "The Life," now showing at the Atlantis Playhouse. This 13-time Tony Award nominated musical was the hit of the Broadway 1997 season and earned accolades from the critics. At the time it was beaten out by “The Titanic” and “Chicago” but deserved to win as Best Musical – which it got from the Drama League and the Outer Critics Circle.

Producers Gary Waldman and Jamison Troutman fulfilled a dream for this show and have taken a giant step forward with this significant production for their small theater. The show never toured and has never been seen in South Florida.

Nadeen Holloway in THE LIFE at the Atlantic Playhouse

“The Life” was written by Cy Coleman (“Sweet Charity” fame) with lyrics by Ira Gasman and has some 25 driving songs about the degradation on Times Square and 42^nd Street in the ‘80s when pimps and prostitutes worked the streets. The music is brassy, jazzy and luscious and has a multi-ethnic cast of spectacular performers with exceptional voices that will thrill you.

The story is performed with stunning power and musicality. It’s about Sonja (Nadeen Holloway), a veteran hooker, who has seen better days and bemoans the wear and tear of her life with “The Oldest Profession” and her 15,000 tricks. Then there’s the younger Queen (Jeanne Lynn Gray) with her lover and pimp, Fleetwood, who dreams of power as he sings “A Piece of the Action” and she sings “Oh, Daddy, You Got Me.” He picks up the destitute Mary (Elizabeth King) with the help of hustler Jojo (Dean Swann) who sings “Easy Money” and the provocative “Use What You Got.” They’re at the bus station looking to turn Mary into a hooker.

Queen, resentful of Mary taking her man, Fleetwood, falls under the spell and control of Memphis (Carl Barber-Steele), a mean abusive pimp who sings the earlier dynamic showstopper “Don’t Take Much” and demands Queens work off $6,000 for a dress he gave her. He brutally sings and threatens her with its “My May or the Highway.”

Meanwhile Mary is being groomed for pornography and prostitution, which she readily accepts. It all comes to a tragic confrontation between Fleetwood and Memphis that Queen and Sonja can’t stop.

The show is full of show-stopping numbers that has audiences jumping out of their seats. Every song moves the action forward, and few musicals have the guts and grit of this production. The dark graffiti wall staging by Matthew Decker and the excellent accompaniment by Phil Hinton’s synthesized piano and recorded brasses give the production its full due.

The show has everything in humor, pathos and defiance. Waldman should tour it to other regional venues where a great show like this deserves to be seen.

“The Life” is at the Atlantis Playhouse, 5893 S. Congress Ave., Shoppes of Atlantis at the intersection of Lantana Road and Congress Avenue. It runs through July 11. For tickets, call (561) 304-3212.

THE LIFE (2004) Palm Beach Post Review

Gary Waldman & Jamison Troutman presented THE LIFE, a musical by Cy Coleman, Ira Gasman & David Newman at the Atlantis Playhouse, W. Palm Beach, FL (2004-2005) ... the following is a review published in the Palm Beach Post ...

WALK ON SEAMY SIDE BRINGS OUT BEST IN THEATER

Palm Beach Post, Jun 11, 2004

by HAP ERSTEIN Palm Beach Post Theater Writer

Rating: A-

Who would have thought it would take a show with pimps and prostitutes for the Atlantis Playhouse to go legitimate?

THE LIFE at the Atlantis Playhouse (2004-2005)

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The 2-year-old company that usually produces musical revues and other lightweight fare aimed at the senior market has switched gears - at least as a summer experiment - to present its first Broadway musical. But not just any Broadway musical. Artistic director Gary Waldman reached back to 1997 to the seldom revived The Life, Cy Coleman and Ira Gassman's melodramatic look at the hookers and hustlers of pre-Disney 42nd Street.

Perhaps the show was too downbeat for the Broadway tourist trade, but it inspired a terrific, tuneful, rhythm-and-blues score from Coleman (Little Me, City of Angels). Similarly, it has spurred Waldman to do his best work yet, staging a hard-edged yet potent production, populated by a powerhouse cast, most of whom are making their Atlantis debuts.

It will be interesting to see whether the audience accustomed to this theater's entertainment-rather-than-art philosophy, the escapist crowd that embraced such fare as Snow Birds or Pickles, can be persuaded to try something better, even if it happens to be sordid and seamy.

The rap against the show has been that there are no characters worth caring about and rooting for, but actually the script by composer Coleman, lyricist Gassman and David Newman is quite sympathetic to the plight of the working girls. In the free market economy, they happen to be supplying a much-in-demand commodity and as one defiant number reasons, "It's my body/ And my body/ Is nobody's business but my own."

The villains of the show are the men, who are either violence- prone pimps, drug addicts, two-faced weasels or pornographers. Most of the time when boy meets girl - the traditional territory of the musical theater - it is for him to abuse her, rough her up or send her back out on the streets to ply her trade.

So although The Life begins with an affectionate scene between Queen (Jeanne Lynn Gray), a prostitute up in The Big City from Savannah, and her Vietnam veteran boyfriend Fleetwood (Ben Bagby) making ambitious plans together, expect their happiness to be fleeting. Persuaded by a Machiavellian hustler named JoJo (Dean Swann) to find some new blood, Fleetwood discovers nubile Mary (Elizabeth King) arriving by bus from Minnesota and woos her into "the life."

Of course, there is instant animosity between Queen and Mary. The former leaves Fleetwood in a jealous rage and aligns herself with Memphis (Carl Barber-Steele), a truly nasty pimp. When she realizes what she has done, Queen tries to get out of town, helped by Sonja (Nadeen Holloway), a veteran hooker who has seen it all and knows that such attempts at escape usually end in bloodshed.

In a score full of full-throttle showstoppers, nearly everyone gets a bravura solo. Gray anchors the cast, scoring with her intense vibrato on We Had A Dream. She is well matched by Bagby, even if Queen has no future with Fleetwood, and Bagby oils his way through the mercenary A Piece of the Action.

Barber-Steele has a steely presence and an intimidating bass voice, which makes a rule-setting number such as My Way or the Highway all the more chilling. Holloway brings down the house with the sly lament (I'm Getting Too Old For) The Oldest Profession. And although King is not entirely convincing when Mary has to show her less naive side, she sells the bouncy Easy Money nicely.

Matthew Decker's set is every bit as grimy and dark as the show is, a compliment of sorts. The Life is not for those who think the word musical should always be followed by comedy, but the Atlantis has set a new level of production quality with the kind of material it should pursue more often.

hap_erstein@pbpost.com

REVIEW

The Life

A-

Where: Atlantis Playhouse, 5893 S. Congress Ave., Atlantis.

When: Through July 11.

Tickets: $26.50-$29. Call: 304-3212.

The verdict: A sordid musical look at seamy pre-Disney 42nd Street, with a cast that knows how to sell it.