Roaring Twenties Broadway lives again in Candlelight Pavilion’s bubbly revival of the musical comedy chestnut No, No, Nanette, a nostalgic change of pace from the season-opening stunner that was Titanic, a sweet bit of fluff before the upcoming dramatic fireworks of 2016’s Bright Star, and a tuneful reminder that where songs are concerned, they don’t write’em like they used to.

Take for instance “Tea For Two” and “I Want To Be Happy,” a couple of Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar, and Otto Harbach gems that made their Broadway debut a grant total of ninety-six years ago.

They also don’t write plots like No, No, Nanette’s anymore with its trio of couples meeting by chance in an Atlantic City cottage as a blackmail scheme and oodles of ensuing misunderstandings unfold around them. (Dear Evan Hansen this is not.)

Frank Minano plays wealthy Bible publisher Jimmy Smith, husband to penny-pinching Sue Smith (Tracy Ray Reynolds) and guardian to their ward Nanette (Erin Dubreuil), a sheltered teen who’s grown sick and tired of always being told “No, no!”—including by her straight-laced boyfriend Tom (David Šašik).

Unfortunately for Jimmy, the flighty fellow has gotten himself into a bit of a pickle by agreeing to become “benefactor” to a trio of comely gold-diggers—Betty from Boston (Drew Lake), Winnie from Washington (Erin Tierney), and Flora from Frisco (Catie Marron), aka “The Big One,” a trio of floozies who decide to turn to blackmail to up their “earnings,”

And so Jimmy’s lawyer Billy Early (Michael Milligan) steps in to help a friend in need, upon which somehow or other, all of the above characters, plus Billy’s wife Lucille (Colette Peters), grouchy maid Pauline (Mary Murphy-Nelson), and a dozen of Nanette’s closest, dearest friends, end up at the Smiths’ Atlantic City home-away-from-home, better known as Chickadee College. Farcical complications ensue.

Since No, No, Nanette’s original book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel was considerably revised for its 1971 Broadway revival by Burt Shevelove of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum fame, one-liners, gags, and snappy comebacks abound as do songs (music by Vincent Youmans, lyrics by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel) that have almost nothing to do with the plot let alone make much sense. (“Too many rings around Rosie will never get Rosie a ring.” Say what?)

Still, though No, No, Nanette is unlikely to appeal to millennials raised on Spring Awakening, In The Heights, Fun Home, Hamilton, or the aforementioned Dear Evan Hansen, for boomers and older, it makes for sweet, silly, squeaky-clean, and above all melodious fun.

John LaLonde directs his all-around terrific cast with abundant verve, Milligan showing off accomplished song-and-dance chops as Billy, Šašik proving a boy-next-door charmer as Tom, and Minano making for an effervescent Jimmy.

Still, it’s No, No, Nanette’s women who end up the evening’s major scene stealers, from Murphy-Nelson’s pitch-perfect channeling of of Mary Wickes to Marron’s boop-oop-adorable Flora, Lake’s take-no-prisoners Betty, and Tierney’s squeaky-voiced treat of a Winnie.

Best of all are Peters’ sensational, smoky-voiced Lucille, vivacious triple-threat Dubreuil’s engaging Nanette, and a revelatory Reynolds giving revival star Ruby Keeler a run for her money in “Take A Little One-Step.”

No, No, Nanette’s more than half-a-dozen production numbers may be about as context-free as its songs and the show’s singing-dancing ensemble may appear out of absolutely nowhere to back up whoever is warbling at the moment, but who’s complaining, not with John Vaughan choreographing one taptastic number after another and chorus boys-and-girls Cody Bianchi, Ruben Bravo, Deborah Fauerbach, Max Herzfeld, Julia Iacopetti, Katie Jurich, Fisher Kaake, Colden Lamb, Kristin O’Connell, Aaron Shaw, Libby Snyder, and Helen Tait acing every move.

Musical director Douglas Austin elicits mellifluous vocals expertly mixed by sound designer Jonathan Daroca of 4Wall Entertainment with prerecorded tracks that sound almost live.

Chuck Ketter’s colorful Art Deco set features scenic painting by Colleen Bresnahan and original artwork by Hilary Knight, with The Theatre Company’s flapper wear, argyle sweaters, and shoulder-to-knee swimwear coordinated by Mark Gamez and Michon Gruber-Gonzales’s array of ‘20s wigs completing a picturesque production design.

Caleb Shiba is stage manager.

No, indeed, they don’t write musicals like No, No, Nanette anymore, and rarely if ever do regional theaters revive anything at all from 1920s. (When was the last time you saw Good News, Oh Kay, or Tip Toes at your local theater?)

All the more reason to check out what Broadway was like two decades before the Rodgers-&-Hammerstein revolution and say “Yes, Yes” to No, No, Nanette.

Candlelight Pavilion, 455 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont. Through April 13. Fridays at 6:00. Saturdays at 11:00 a.m and 6:00. Sundays at 11:00 a.m and 5:00. Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre tickets include meal and show. Appetizers, desserts, beverages and waiters gratuity are additional. Cocktails, appetizers, entrees, and desserts are to die for and the service courteous and attentive. Reservations: 909 626-1254 ext. 1
www.candlelightpavilion.com

–Steven Stanley
March 10, 2019

Tags: Burt Shevelove, Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Frank Mandel, Irving Caesar, Los Angeles Theater Review, Otto Harbach, Vincent Youmans