TOVARICH
by Steve Weinstein
EDGE Editor-In-Chief
Monday Nov 3, 2008

Once upon a time, Broadway existed for tired businessmen, blue-haired ladies from Queens and bug-eyed young'uns. In those days, composers, book writers and lyricists churned out musicals by the yard.

One of the many forgotten shows from this period, which ended in the mid-'60s with the triumph of rock-'n'-roll, was an adaptation of a classic Hollywood comedy, itself adapted from a French play. Tovarich was originally conceived as a vehicle for Vivian Leigh, who won a Tony for her performance as a Czarist grand duchess reduced to poverty as an exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution.

As those lucky enough to have seen the Claudette Colbert-Charles Boyer film know, the couple takes job as maid and butler to an eccentric American family sojourning in Paris. As expected, madcap complications ensue, involving a fortune hidden in a Swiss bank, a Soviet commissar dedicated to ferreting it out, and the Americans' bored son's and daughter's infatuation with their sophisticated servants.

If Musicals Tonight! presents a bare-bones production (the costumes much more opulent than the non-existent scenery), it doesn't affect the audience's enjoyment. In fact, the spareness probably helps appreciate the essence of the play, which is light entertainment. Don't pooh-pooh that; it's one of the most difficult genres to do well.

Composer Lee Pockriss and lyricist Ann Croswell may not have written any standards. But the songs are a lot of fun, in a way that reminded me of another French-based farce, "La Cage Aux Folles." Some of the songs have that "out of left field" feeling, but others are integrated into and further the plot. There are also some numbers cut from the original production, which is of historical interest only, but still adds to the fun and the sense that Musicals Tonight! is making a real contribution to theater lore by mining this rare little gem.

The cast is uniformly charming. Many of them are New York stage veterans having a lark. Barbara McCulloh is regal and brings wit to the role of the grand duchess in reduced circumstances. As her prince consort, Al Pagano brings a great stage presence. Ronald Hornsby and Dana Domenick are especially good; they bring an inherent sense of musical comedy as the spoiled American kids.

"Tovarich" isn't the kind of musical that wants to show a whole revolution on a revolving stage. It doesn't blast you away with helicopters or crashing chandeliers. All it does it entertain--which, as this revival makes us aware--it did superbly.