Giving La Douce her due
A review of Encores! concert revival of IRMA LA DOUCE
New York City Center – May 11, 2014
by Moshe Bloxenheim, Guest Reviewer
IRMA LA DOUCE is a fairy tale of Paris: a very adult and amoral fantasy set in the underworld of Le Milieu where everyone has a descriptive name, socializes around a zinc bar and assumes a happily cynical sang-froid about the seamier side of life. This shady place is brightened by the optimistically down-to-earth Irma La Douce, who is the carnal and emotional outlet for all the men of le Milieu. That is until a young law student by the name of Nestor-Le-Fripe (or Nestor-the-Shabby) falls passionately in love with sweet Irma. Jealously Nestor tries to keep Irma to himself, adopting the disguise of Monsieur Oscar an alleged elderly millionaire who hires Irma exclusively. Meanwhile Irma’s boss Polyte-Le-Mou and his associate the Police Inspector do not care for Nestor’s upsetting of their financial and sexual applecart and would be delighted with any pretext to remove the young student from the scene. Of course the young man supplies them with a reason, when, tired of being his own rival, Nestor decides to have Monsieur Oscar disappear and everyone assumes that he has murdered the wealthy man in a fit of lover’s rage.
Like the storyline, the credits for IRMA LA DOUCE are a bit complicated having an original French book and lyrics by Monsieur Alexandre Breffort and an English adaptation by Messrs. Julian More, David Heneker and Monty Norman. This was then adapted for the Encores! stage by Mr. John Doyle who also directed the current revival.
The music by M. Marguerite Monnot is a delight in any language whether proudly sardonic as in “Noble Sons of France” or giving us a defiantly sentimental finale with “Christmas Child.” Under Conductor Rob Berman, the Encores! Orchestra certainly makes the most of Mr. Andre Popp’s orchestrations (augmented by Mr. Robert Ginzler).
All the same the Encores! revival of IRMA LA DOUCE seems to me to be at something of a loss on how to effectively juggle the many requirements of a story that often demands point blank acceptance from the audience. While I appreciated the gleefully raffish presentation of a bourgeois underclass that gave a sort of Gallic “3-Penny Opera” flavor to IRMA LA DOUCE, I could not enjoy the show with the same zest experienced by several discerning friends of mine: I kept feeling that something vital is missing.
For the most part I cannot blame the cast for this. The denizens of the underworld are as amusing a group of charmers as one could desire. Polyte-Le-Mou (‘Le Boss”) might be a bluff bully and the Police Inspector is as corrupt as they come, but excellent Messrs. Chris Sullivan and Stephen DeRosa keep them well in the realm of make-believe villains who can be unnerved by words of legal Latin or brought to tears by the slap of a working girl. Even more enjoyable are the likably comic cutthroats Jojo-Les-Yeaux-Sales, Roberto-Les-Diams, Persil-Le-Noir and (I kid you not) Frangipane. These fellows, played with wonderful enthusiasm by Messrs. Zachary James, Ken Krugman, Ben Crawford and Sam Bolen respectively, are both delightfully self-serving, yet charmingly familial.
Living respectably on the wrong side of the law as they do, it would take some doing to disturb such a crew’s peace of mind. So it is all the funnier to see Mr. Rob McClure’s Nestor-Le-Fripe naively wander into Le Milieu and turn their world upside-down. Mr. McClure exhibits a gee-whiz sort of sensibility that would usually be found in a character who puts on shows in a barn or rises to the top of a corporate ladder by following a paperback manual. And what with delivering numbers like the romantic “Our Language of Love” with Irma or Nestor’s hilarious lament to a double life “Wreck of a Mec” it is only natural for this Nestor-Le-Fripe to win over the girl, the gang and the audience. But Mr. McClure doesn’t stop there. As the bearded elderly Monsieur Oscar, Mr. McClure is wickedly droll, playing the self-created rival of Nestor and soon the jealous competitors are practically acting each other off the stage – not a bad feat for a single actor to carry off. Yet Mr. McClure never forgets that Nestor is a man truly torn by love and jealousy and his eventual separation from Irma rises touchingly above the farcical complications and comic turns.
With the storybook nature of the show, it would be quite right to have a Narrator who keeps everyone and thing in order and Mr. Malcolm Gets performs this vital role of Bob-le-Hotu, the proprietor of the Bar des Inquiets in which the story unfolds. Mr. Gets gives the air of one who has seen it all and who knows what has to be done, whether he is introducing characters, setting up a scene or handing over props. Perhaps Mr. Gets is being low-key, but I just wish he would be a little more amused and invested in the world he offers us. After all, the opening song “Valse Milieu” is not a song sung by a man who is losing his taste for dance.
But what of Irma, the sweet one, herself?
Ms. Jennifer Bowles is a singing, dancing powerhouse who is an admirable part of the ensemble. Her bouyant rendition of the big number “Dis-Donc” and her sweet performance of “The Letter” are highlights of the show. But to me, Irma’s being one of an ensemble is a problem. I understand the rightness of Irma being very matter-of-fact in the aspects of her life (being both a hooker and a nice girl), but Ms. Bowles and Director John Doyle seem to forget that Irma is the title character – the only female lead – with her own streetwise rules and standards. In a show where several chairs placed atop bar can become a ship or we can delight in the hallucinated Arctic ballet, why can’t this Irma completely impose her vision of the world on the audience: whether to convincingly demonstrate her prerogative to buy a man a drink or to maintain her faith in the reality of Monsieur Oscar (even if it is just Nestor in a beard)? I think Ms. Bowles could be far more effective if she would remember that Irma is supposed to be the Princess of this Fairy Tale: the déclassé Darla Hood to this mature Our Gang Comedy.
The rest of the Ensemble well earns their praise as they roam and cavort across the stage in the persona of various low-lives, officials, and clientele and so on.
Mr. John Doyle’s direction is often very good. Whether we are in the lowest dive or watching prisoners in Devil’s Island, Mr. Doyle always keeps it on an endearingly cartoonish level so that the brutal reality never intrudes on the whimsy and romance of the tale. His staging of Nestor’s murder trial is a delightfully flippant depiction of judicial corruption and breaks Nestor’s heart as effectively as would the most sinister indictment of the legal system. But as I have said before, something seems to be lacking with Irma and I wonder if Mr. Doyle could not find a satisfactory balance between the wholesome, healthy girl and the ma’amselle of the streets on which he could root Ms. Jennifer Bowles’ performance. Whatever the reason, I feel that Irma deserved to be stronger and the show itself better.
Still Mr. Chase Brock’s choreography is very imaginative and makes for some wonderful moments on a stage evocatively set by Mr. John Lee Beatty to be the all-encompassing Bar des Inquiets. With Mr. Paul Miller’s clever lighting and Mr. Scott Lehrer’s sound designs, Messrs. Doyle and Beatty are able to let the audience leave the bar and travel around Paris and even across the world.
Ms. Ann Hould-Ward’s costumes are nicely atmospheric with the gentlemen looking quite understated in their scarves, trench coats, sweaters and suits (save for Polyte-Le-Mou who contrasts with them nicely in the checked jacket and saddle shoes that seem appropriate for a small time boss). Irma’s red dress with its heart-patterned bodice is both suitably alluring and amusingly reputable.
I am always grateful when Encores! gives me the opportunity to discover a show I know nothing about. But by the final curtain of IRMA LA DOUCE, I was left wondering why I felt so unmoved after so much effort and imagination had been expended.
About the reviewer:
I am a computer programmer, wannabe writer who loves theater and just got into the habit of inflicting my theatrical opinions.
I live in New York.
Moshe can be reached at MB1224@aol.com
Cantor David Werdyger was an important part of that upstairs minyan. I would see him all the time and we would always exchange pleasantries as I was a friend of his son, Mordechai the famous Jewish pop singer, and we had come to know each other over the years.
