Broadway's Puttin' on the Ritz

Although not a musical per se, I thought this revival of Terrence McNally's comedy "The Ritz" might be of interest to the Matinee blog's readership. American playwright McNally is famous for many brilliant theatre pieces, most of which have gay themes. He has won four Tony's, Broadway's highest honor, two of them for his collaboration on Broadway musicals "The Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Ragtime". His very controversial play "Corpus Christi" in which Jesus and his disciples are homosexuals, had an on-again, off-again start in 1997 due to death threats against the producers who withdrew the play early on. Several other playwrights stepped up to the plate and threatened to withdraw their plays if "Corpus Christi" was not produced and the board members of the Manhattan Theater Club who produced it finally relented. The play opened with 2,000 protesters besieging the Theatre. When it opened in London, the Defenders of the Messenger Jesus, a British Muslim group, issued a Fatwa (death sentence) on McNally.

But I digress. "The Ritz", currently in previews on Broadway at Studio 54, will open this week for a limited engagement until December 2. This is a comic farce about mistaken identity and general confusion. It's the story of a midwest mobster, Gaetano Proclo played by Tony nominee Kevin Chamberlin of "Seussical" fame, whose dying Mafia chief father-in-law orders a hit on him. Proclo flees to Manhattan and hides out in a gay bathhouse thinking its a Turkish bath, not knowing the sexual orientation of the place. Eventually, with the help of his newfound "friends", he pretends to be a big-time Broadway producer to avoid being discovered. What ensues is hilarious mayhem. Rosie Perez, the nasally Brooklyn actress known for such movies as Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing", "White Men Can't Jump" and "It Could Happen to You" plays Googie Gomez the role originated by Rita Moreno on Broadway in 1975 and then in the 1976 movie. Googie is the starstruck bathhouse performer with visions of Broadway in her eyes despite her very noticeable lack of talent and her very pronounced Puerto Rican accent.

"The Ritz" is directed by Joe Mantello who also directed "Wicked" and won a Tony for his direction of "Assassin". I can't imagine this melange of McNally, Mantello and Perez being anything but fun and fabulous.

So, if you're New York City-bound in the next two months why not give it a go. Who knows, it might even make it to London's West End or perhaps even Manchester and Tameside. And there's always the movie which is ridiculously entertaining. In fact, writing this blog has whet my appetite. It's been a while since I've seen it. Think I'll take a ride over to Blockbuster.