A talented cast do their best to breathe life into Musical Theatre West’s Yankee Doodle Dandy, a well-intentioned but ill-conceived look back at the life of George M. Cohan, the father of 20th-century musical comedy.

Film buffs may recall James Cagney’s Oscar-winning performance as Cohan in the 1942 Hollywood classic of the same name, a movie the stage musical references as a 64-year-old Cohan (David Allen Jones) rails to longtime friend Lou (Bryan Dobson) about the mockery the movies have just made of his life before launching into “the real story” that Hollywood opted not to tell.

 Flash back to 1903 where a 20something George (Adam Wylie) is busy writing the latest Broadway show to star Cohan, his parents Jerry and Nellie (David Engel and Cynthia Ferrer) and his older sister Josie (Tro Shaw) in what he intends to be the first modern “musical comedy,” i.e., one to meld story and song into one cohesive whole.

 Yankee Doodle Dandy’s first act follows George from show to show, its best sequences those that recreate song-and-dance scenes from Cohan classics like Little Johnny Jones, the musical that introduced the world to “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “Give My Regards To Broadway.”

Along the way, George weds vaudeville star Ethel Levey (Cassie Simone), then allows his workaholism and philandering to destroy their marriage before falling for entertainer Alice Nolan (Katie Marshall) and taking her as wife number two.

 If Yankee Doodle Dandy’s first act is standard bio-musical fare with book by David Armstrong, at the very least it features one big production number after another staged by director/choreographer James Rocco including a four-song “Sheet Music Montage” and the Act One finale “You’re A Grand Old Flag.” (Unfortunately, Albert Evans’ original song additions that come nowhere near the Cohan classics.)

 Act Two is substandard almost all the way, opening with a sing-along “Over There” (a salute to American intervention abroad that plays a lot differently in 2018 than it would have at the time of its writing) before “The Strike” has George not only opposing Equity actors on strike but refusing ever to stage a unionized Cohan show.

A brief Four Cohans reunion (music and lyrics by Evans) gives tappers Wylie, Engel, Ferrer, and Shaw one last chance to dazzle before an anachronistic fantasy sequence hammers in a point made early on: There’d be no South Pacific or A Chorus Line or Hamilton without George.

 Audiences familiar with Golden Era Broadway may wonder why Musical Theatre West didn’t just revive George M!, the 1968 show that scored Joel Gray a Tony nomination and won Joel Layton a Best Choreography statuette. True, the New York Times’ Clive Barnes called it “mediocrely written,” but the same words apply to Yankee Doodle Dandy, chosen perhaps for its title and “newness” alone. (Though this is the show’s seventh production since its “Broadway-bound” 2004 Seattle World Premiere, it has still not made it to Broadway, and in 2018 it’s hardly surprising George’s proud declaration that “everyone is welcome” in America has audiences members gasping at its patent falsehood these days.)

 At the very least, leading man Wylie proves himself a consummate triple threat, ably supported by musical theater treasures Engel and Ferrer, the lovely Shaw.

 Simone stands out as both Ethel and her amusingly untalented daughter Georgette (whose “That Harlem Melody” is one of Act Two’s few uppers).

 Matthew Kacergis’s peppy Sam Harris (George’s longtime producing partner) is another winner, Marshall and Devan Watring as Alice’s sister Agnes) make for a delightful sibling pair, and supporting players Rachel Beard (Young Georgette), Dobson, Jones, and David Pevsner (Erlanger, Stage Manager) do the best with the material they’ve been given.

There can be no quibbling about the show’s all-around terrific song-and-dance ensemble (Ricky Bulda as Chick Gordon, Joven Calloway as The Champ, Quintan Craig as Young Lou, Maggie Darago, Mia Davidson, Kenny Gary, Sylvie Gosse, Caleb Green, Christine Negherbon, Dylan Pass, Adam Stern-Rand, and Alissa Wilsey) except that they aren’t given nearly enough to do post-intermission except go on strike. (On a more positive note, director Rocco deserves a round of applause for diversity in casting.)

 Scenic designer Kevin Clowes’ simple but effective set keeps music director Jeff Rizzo and the orchestra onstage with modular units pushed on and off to create the show’s assorted locales. Cecilia Gutierrez scores high marks for her early-20th-century costumes in both real life and Broadway show mode. Additional design kudos are shared by Paul Black (lighting), Audio Production Geeks LLC (sound), Michon Gruber-Gonzales (wigs), and Melanie Cavaness and Gretchen Morales (properties).

Clowes is technical director. Matt Terzigni is production manager. Lora K. Powell is stage manager and Shay Garber is assistant stage manager.

A best-ever In The Heights opened Musical Theatre West’s 2017-2018 season with a bang almost equaled by the standing-ovation-worthy Guys And Dolls and the Gershwin entertainment bonanza that was Nice Work If You Can Get It. If only Yankee Doodle Dandy didn’t end the season with a fizzle.

Musical Theatre West, Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach.
www.musical.org

–Steven Stanley
July 7, 2018
Photos: Caught In The Moment Photography

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Tags: George M. Cohan, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre West