Only once in his legendary career did Richard Rodgers write both the music
and lyrics to a show, and that was for the 1962’s No Strings. The original
production ran on Broadway for nearly 600 performances and Rodgers won
the Tony for his words and music. Audiences can now discover this rarely
performed bit of musical theater history in a new production at Reprise, on
the UCLA campus.

Why is No Strings so rarely revived? Having seen the current production,
which stars Scott Bakula and Sophina Brown, I can’t really give a good
reason. Rodgers’ melodies are hummable, his skill as a lyricist surprisingly good,
and Samuel Taylor’s book, while perhaps a bit dated, still does tell an
interesting tale—African American supermodel (though neither term had
yet been coined) living a life in Paris that would have been impossible in 60s
America falls for expat photographer and must decide where her future lies.

Bakula is best known for his TV work, but he’s a full fledged Broadway musical
theater leading man, and here he is dashing and charming and in very good
voice. Bets Malone is her usual scene-stealing self (taking a brief leave from
The Marvelous Wonderetttes) as Oklahoma heiress Comfort O’Connell (love
the name!).Speaking of scene stealers, there’s also Ruth Williamson who has
loads of fun as fashion maven Mollie Plummer. Finally there is delicious
discovery Sophina Brown in the role that won Diahann Carroll a Tony and
made her a star. Brown is a statuesque dazzler who captures model Barbara
Woodruff’s sweetness, her joy at finding an exciting new life abroad, and her
fears of returning to a less welcoming America. And Brown can sing too!

The production is gorgeous to look at, thanks to Bob Mackie and Joe
McFate's spectacular period gowns and Steven Young’s lush lighting. The
cast is full of tall and muscular (in the case of the men) or tall and slender
(the women) performers perfectly believable as runway models.

Most importantly there is the music, directed with his usual panache by
Gerald Sternbach. The Sweetest Sounds is the most recognizable song of the
bunch, and it’s one of Rodgers’ best as a composer (and this time as a lyricist
too). It begins the production on a note of hope and provides a bittersweet
coda at the end. (We all want to believe that the sweetest sounds are still
waiting to be heard.) Nobody Told Me has also become a standard, but
there’s also the frothy Loads of Love, the saucy La La La, and the cute Eager
Beaver, which Malone gets to perform with the hunkiest shirtless men you’ll
find on any stage these days.

Is No Strings in the same category as the Rodgers and Hart/Hammerstein
classics? Not really, but like his later Do I Hear a Waltz (which had lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim), it is proof that this was a master of musical theater,
more than 40 years after his first Broadway show.
MAY 2007, REPRISE, FREUD PLAYHOUSE, UCLA, LOS ANGELES.

--Steven Stanley