2002-11-19
Variety
Jack Zink
Short-fused, bombastic and undisciplined in its infancy, the stage musical version of "Urban Cowboy" has been cobbled together anew since the death of director and co-author Phillip Oesterman in late summer. With new director Lonny Price at the helm and musical director Jason Robert Brown ripping up the score, the show wants to be "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and "Fool for Love" all at once. Doggone if it doesn’t come close.
The new book by original author Aaron Latham and the late Oesterman (with some uncredited assists by Price) closely follows the dramatic blueprint of the 1980 film vehicle starring John Travolta, Debra Winger and Scott Glenn. But before the book gets into their boots, Brown and choreographer Melinda Roy devise an elaborate prologue that’s an act in itself, setting up the legendary Gilley’s bar as a leading character, able to reassert itself whenever dramatic tension needs release.
Once the star-crossed lovers meet over a long-neck Budweiser, Latham’s original romantic tale kicks in. The book hits firmly on most of the film’s plot points (with a few minor alterations) in between choreographer Roy’s sizzling production numbers. Ellis Tillman’s costumes are built mostly around tight-fittin’ jeans and other titillating accoutrements. James Noone’s set is a Texas evocation of the Alphabet City scaffolding of "Rent," with a series of panels on which projections add photographic renderings of a trailer park, a country church, a fancy high-rise apartment in downtown Houston and other locales.
Most of the first week of previews was canceled, and one performance stopped after the first act, due to "safety issues" involving the mechanical bull, which figures as prominently onstage as it did in the film. But the real scrap is going on over the music, as Brown injects his big-city jazz and Broadway musical persona into the country-boogie milieu.
Early performances, once they began, were rocky, but by final previews the package took on a seriously crowd-pleasing demeanor. Even if "Urban Cowboy" isn’t a country "Mamma Mia!" in the making, touring prospects are as good as or better than the pre-Broadway "Jekyll & Hyde."
The overhauled "Urban Cowboy" score has a total of 26 songs (including just one reprise) — only three of which are carried over from the movie: Anne Murray’s "Could I Have This Dance"; the Charlie Daniels Band’s "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"; and Johnny Lee’s "Lookin’ for Love," here the finale as Bud and Sissy reconcile.
Songwriting credits stretch to three dozen writers, including three tunes by Brown since he came aboard in early autumn. "Houston Hustle," the second-act curtain-raiser, is by former music director Louis St. Louis, who was replaced by Brown shortly after Price came aboard.
Otherwise, the stage musical has followed the movie’s cue by cherry-picking more modern country-pop tunes whose lyrics fit comfortably in the mouths of the show’s characters. Where some songs fit the mood but not the plot, Brown carves holes in the arrangements to allow the interjection of appropriate dialogue.
The songs include a few hard-to-find country items as well as a roster of chart toppers like Shania Twain’s "Honey, I’m Home," Clint Black’s "The Hard Way" and "Something That We Do" and songwriter Jerry Chesnut’s oft-covered "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" (first done by Elvis Presley in ’75). Two from the Dixie Chicks’ collection are "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Sin Wagon," with Brooks & Dunn represented by "Boot Scootin’ Boogie" and LeAnn Womack with "Buckaroo." Brown’s instrumental backup, and even some of the vocal lines, will seem alien to dedicated country fans. The composer of "Parade" and "The Last Five Years" adds a sophisticated jazzlike undercurrent to country boogie and ballad alike.
Matt Cavanaugh essays the Travolta role of Bud, an ornery hayseed whose stubbornness chases his girl, Sissy (Jenn Colella), into the arms of escaped convict Wes (Marcus Chait). Cavanaugh and Colella fit their acting roles snugly, but their vocals are edgy and lack color. Colella’s pretty ballad instrument turns shrill and awkward in adrenaline-packed numbers.
The musical’s ace in the hole is Rozz Morehead as nightclub manager Jesse. Morehead opens the show with a blazing "Long Hard Day" and takes 11 o’clock honors with the gospel-bluesy "Better Days," staged effectively by Price as a pep talk for the jilted, emotionally devastated Sissy.
Chait scores as bad-boy Wes on a trio of dour musical turns. One is a duet with Jodi Stevens as the classy big-city girl who tries to pick up Bud on the rebound. Chait is "Urban Cowboy’s" Thenardier, Stevens its Eponine, choice supporting roles with musical highlights. Leo Burmeister and Sally Mayes deliver sympathetic turns as Bud’s Uncle Bob and Aunt Corene, respectively.
Production numbers figure prominently because there are so many — too many, but the indulgence is understandable. Choreographer Roy, a former ballerina who’s gone heavily into country line dancing, makes a career-establishing musical theater debut with sinewy, hypersexed adagios and ensemble combinations.
Credits: