Danny Kaye is alive and well and performing in North Hollywood!  Well, if not the
genuine article, then at least an amazing facsimile. Giving one of the most
memorable performances of this or any year, Brian Childers IS Danny Kaye in the
just opened The Kid from Brooklyn, now wowing audiences at the El Portal Theatre.

Danny Kaye, for the uninitiated, was a top comedic movie star for 20 years,
beginning with 1944’s Up in Arms.  He scored major hits with The Kid from Brooklyn
and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (both opposite Virginia Mayo, his costar in 5
films), as well as The Court Jester, The Five Pennies, and of course his most revived
hit, the perennial White Christmas (opposite Bing Crosby). He had his own network
variety show from 1963 to 1967 and later became ambassador-at-large for UNICEF.

The Kid from Brooklyn (The Musical) tells Kaye’s story (in biopic fashion) from 1938 to
1968, beginning with Kaye’s discovery by Billy Rose, and continuing with his rise to
Broadway stardom in Lady in the Dark, which led to Hollywood.  We see Kaye falling
in love with future wife Sylvia Fine, who wrote many of the witty, tongue-twisting
songs he became famous for, and his subsequent romance with his radio costar
Eve Arden. The show also gives us a hint of his reported 10 year affair with
Lawrence Olivier and, more significantly, a glimpse into Kaye’s complex and
troubled personality.

However, it’s not the biographical aspect that makes The Kid from Brooklyn a must-
see, but rather the stellar performances and the array of musical numbers for
which Danny Kaye became famous, and which the dazzling Childers performs with
charm and uncanny accuracy.

The evening's fun  begins even before the curtain rises as we hear (performed live
by the actors backstage) Kaye’s famed comedy sequence from The Court Jester:
“The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the
palace has the brew that is true! Right?”  (This is just the first of many of the
tongue-twisting songs and routines that became Kaye’s specialty and which
Childers has great fun recreating.)

We see young Danny performing a crazy comedy sketch in the Catskills and later
singing his very own Eastern European rendition of “Dinah,” retitled “Deenah”
(with the rhymes changed appropriately). In the Straw Hat Review, Kaye performs
opposite Imogene Coca and Alfred Drake singing the very funny a la Yiddish
Mikado parody “Three Little Jews from Schul.”  There’s also the tongue-twisting
“Anatole of Paris,” the show stopper that made Kaye a Broadway star, upstaging
above-the-title Gertrude Lawrence. And then it’s off to Hollywood!

Childers so becomes Danny Kaye that it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. 
In his (very realistic) curly red wig, he not only looks the part, he’s got Danny’s
speaking voice, gestures, and mannerisms down pat. Childers is also a fine singer
and dancer with a charismatic stage presence which makes it obvious from his first
appearance why Kaye was destined for stardom.  In Act 2 sequences, a newly
blond Childers shows us the doubts that tormented Kaye before his London
Palladium concert, and later, in a sensitively performed dramatic monologue at
Kaye’s psychiatrist’s office, reveals a man for whom nothing could equal the
laughter of the crowds.

Karin Leone does excellent work as Sylvia Fine.  She’s got that special brand of New
York chutzpah, but also shows Fine’s pain at the realization that Kaye’s heart was
no longer in their marriage. Leone has a belt that recalls Merman’s but she can
also go soft and sensitive, as she does in “It Never Entered My Mind,” in which we
see Fine’s disillusionment at her soured marriage.

Childers and Leone have performed The Kid from Brooklyn to critical and popular
acclaim in various cities across the country, but their costars, Joshua Finkel and
Christina Purcell, who portray all the other roles, are new to the Los Angeles
production and both are first-rate.

L.A. favorite Finkel becomes (among others) Kaye’s agent Eddie Dukoff, film mogul
Sam Goldwyn, Broadway’s Billy Rose, the legendary Lawrence Olivier, and
playwright Moss Hart, distinguishing each with his own voice and manner, even in
the fast changes that are sometimes required.  Lovely Christina Purcell brings to life
many characters including Eve Arden, Kitty Carlisle, Imogene Coca, Vivien Leigh,
and Kaye’s daughter Dena.  In one of the evening’s highlights, Childers, Finkel (as
Olivier), and Leone (as Leigh) perform a delightful rendition of “Triplets” (“We look
alike, we dress alike, we walk alike, we talk alike. And what is more we hate each
other very much.”)

The Kid from Brooklyn was written by Mark Childers (Brian’s brother) and Peter J.
Loewy, and deftly directed by Loewy. Musical directors David Cohen and Charlie
Harrison (on piano) lead a fine onstage 4-piece band, which features Michael
Benedict on winds, Ernie Nuñez on bass, and Glenn Ochenkoski on drums. Shon
LeBlanc’s costumes are especially effective at evoking the 30s, 40s, and 50s,
complemented by the many excellent wigs designed by Howard Leonard and Rick
Burns. Choreographer Susie Paplow does fine work at recreating the original Danny
Kaye dance numbers.

With White Christmas DVDs being played in countless L.A. households this holiday
season, this seems a particularly appropriate time for the Danny Kaye Story to
arrive in our fair city, though with the rave reviews and enthusiastic word of mouth
The Kid From Brooklyn is sure to generate, it’s likely that Angelenos will be able to
enjoy this musical treat, and Childers’ inspired performance, well into the new year.

El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.
Through February 24. Thursday – Saturday at 8pm; Saturday & Sunday at 3pm.
Tickets and information: 818-508-4200 or 1-866-811-4111
www.elportaltheatre.com.

--Steven Stanley
   December 20, 2007
                                                                           Photos: Ed Krieger