Oh, Lady! Lady!

Saturday, December 8th will live on in my memory for a long time. As part of my birthday gift, my wife and kids (God bless their souls) bought tickets to the musical "Oh, Lady! Lady!". It was very thoughtful and wonderful of them to do it. It was simply fascinating!

The musical was staged at the Eureka Theater in San Francisco. This is a small theater with a seating capacity of 225 (Plus space for 6-8 wheel chairs). The seating was very intimate and cosy (Read uncomfortable seats!).

But the show was simply an experience out of this world. The story line was pure Wodehouse Mayhem and the songs were spectacular -- I wish I had recorded the songs, but they would not allow it. The actors/singers excelled in their roles. The pure Wodeusean gags had us laughing all thru the show -- for eg." "Love is like a sweet dream" says Hale and Watty responds "Matrimony is the Alarm Clock" . Molly Farringdon, the socialite (Meghann May) is getting married to the shy and sweet gentleman Willoughby "Bill" Finch (Michael Cassidy), under the disapproving eye of her formidable mother (Darlene Popovic) -- Her reaction to Bill's "Mother" has to be seen to be believed!. Bill's friend and best man is the affable bohemian bachelor Hale
Underwood (Bill Fahrner). Bill's former (or should we say childhood sweetheart and still engaged to be married to Bill) is the stylish, Paris returned lingerie supplier to the bride, May Barber (Stephanie Rhoads). Who can forget the ex-graduate of Sing-Sing and Bill's valet Spike (Greg MacKellan). The pearl necklace that is Bill's gift to Mollie attracts Fainting Fanny Welch
(Lesley Hamilton) -- a precursor to the later Soapy and Molly of Wodehouse fame. Throw in the socialite hostess Miss Clarette Cupp (Cynthis Rogers Baggott) who kept things moving, Watty the elevator man (Ken Boswell), Russel Sprout a Bohemian artist (Tyler Kent), Parker the maid (Piper LaGrelius) , and the incompetent detective Cyril Twombley (Sean Sharp) and you have pure mayhem for 2 hours!

The scene shifts from Mrs.Farringdon' s house in the suburbs to Greenwich Village (Where the air has something to do with it) Bohemian revels.

The staging included the song "Bill" which was cut from the original show 2 days before it went live. Both Bolton and Wodehouse were unhappy with the deletion, and Kern included it in "Show Boat" 9 years later. But it was included in the proper place in yesterday's show.

I am told that the "Eureka" theater resembles the original "Princess Theater" in New York. I think I am love with the theater now and am looking forward to more Musicals in the future!