By Joseph Hurley
SONG OF THE CENTURY: A benefit for the Irish Repertory Theatre. At the Broadhurst Theatre. Monday, June 5.
At first glance, the Irish Repertory Theatre’s organizing idea for its seventh annual benefit, which took place on Monday evening, June 5, at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre, might have appeared to be more than anyone could possibly chew.
That thorny notion, perfectly expressed by the event’s title, "Song of the Century," turned out to be the key to the doorway leading to what was probably the loveliest, most enjoyable, and, surprisingly, most moving evening the Rep has ever mounted.
The much-admired organization on West 22nd Street also got lucky in its choice of participating hosts. In the past, such memorable individuals as Katharine Hepburn, Angela Lansbury, Vanessa Redgrave, Rosie O’Donnell, Liam Neeson and Kevin Spacey have graced the event, but generally just one guest star per evening, and, in one or two instances, only for a very few introductory minutes.
This year’s bounty included two stellar hosts, Sinead Cusack and Gabriel Byrne, who opened the show and took part until the very end, and a third, Rosemary Clooney, who came onstage late in the evening, sang two beloved songs with brilliance and style.
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The overall endeavor was everything it should have been, plus more or less what that title, "Song of the Century," might have suggested: a musically strong canter through the years 1900 to 1999, with particular and relentless emphasis on the contributions of the Irish to the American theatrical legacy.
After a rendition of the Irish National Anthem by Christine McCabe, the Rep began its own, subjective century with a five-song medley of popular numbers by Chauncey Olcott, who, in 1900, was starring in "A Romance of Athlone," while James O’Neill, probably the American theater’s first matinee idol, and father of the playwright Eugene O’Neill, was touring the country in "The Count of Monte Cristo," a vehicle that both enriched and imprisoned him.
The little garland of Olcott songs, performed with grace and warmth by Melissa Errico, Frances Sternhagen, Kitty Sullivan, Marian Tomas Griffin and Terry Donnelly, included, among other numbers, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" and "My Wild Irish Rose."
It wasn’t long before the name of George M. Cohan was invoked, conjuring up a mention of a forgotten show called "Fifty Miles From Boston," and the memorable song it contained, "Harrigan."
The Broadhurst’s first occupant, George Bernard Shaw’s "Misalliance," in 1917, was celebrated with a skillfully performed extract featuring actresses Sternhagen and Errico.
The following year was marked by a performance of "Shine On, Harvest Moon," by singer Griffin as vaudeville immortal Nora Bayes.
An early Actors’ Equity strike was recalled by a musical parody, "Over Fair," based on "Over There," and sung by Griffin, Ciaran O’Reilly, Donnelly and Ciaran Sheehan, with an assist from Eric Stoltz.
The year 1927 was recalled by a scene from Sean O’Casey’s "The Plough and the Stars," with actress Donnelly as Rosie Redmond and Milo O’Shea as Fluther Goode.
O’Casey’s enduring "Juno and the Paycock" was cited with a number from Marc Blitzstein’s Broadway musical version, called simply "Juno." The song, "I Wish It So," was performed movingly by Sullivan.
Gov. Al Smith’s unsuccessful bid for the presidency was remembered by his campaign song, "The Sidewalks of New York."
The evening, excellent from start to finish, had at least two emotional highlights which will probably prove difficult for anyone in attendance to erase from memory.
The first came along with the year 1939, when playwright Paul Vincent Carroll’s "The White Steed" arrived on Broadway, with Barry Fitzgerald and Jessica Tandy in the cast. The dramatist’s daughter, Helena Carroll, who recently completed a Broadway run in Noel Coward’s "Waiting in the Wings," starred in "The White Steed" on television’s Play-of-the-Week 32 years ago.
For the benefit, she recreated, from memory, one of the play’s most powerful scenes.
In a touch of unintended irony, the next item was a salute to Texas-born Mary Martin, whom the Rep claimed as an Irish American, with Marian Tomas Griffin singing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," from Cole Porter’s pre-WWII show, "Leave It To Me," in which a then-unknown Gene Kelly was a chorus dancer.
The evening’s first half rounded out with a stirring mini-concert by The Prodigals, a much-admired local group whose lead singer appeared with the Rep while he was still a teenager.
Act II resumed with one of the Rep’s favorite nuggets, namely Musical Director Rusty Magee’s spot-on impersonation of James Cagney’s Oscar-winning performance as George M. Cohan in Warner Bros.’ "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
As the affable, unassuming Magee sang the film’s title song, a woman in the audience was heard to say "He’s so good. Is that all they’re going to let him do?"
Magee’s understated contribution to the Rep endeavor was, as always, largely invisible and entirely crucial, as he kept some of the performers musically above water, making sure the evening moved along at an acceptable pace. And, yes, maybe they could let him do a bit more.
Next came a delightful rendition of "Swinging on a Star," a Burke and Van Heusen number eternally associated with Bing Crosby, who introduced it on film.
Immediately following was another of the evening’s great moments, as actor Donal Donnelly, unannounced and unintroduced, strode onstage and recreated the moment when G.B. Shaw, in celebration of his 90th birthday, made an appearance on very early television. The moment, of course, is part of Donnelly’s one-man Shaw show, "My Astonishing Self."
To highlight the year 1956, Kitty Sullivan sang "Loverly," from "My Fair Lady," Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s musical adaptation of Shaw’s "Pygmalion," following which her husband, Milo O’Shea, performed "Get Me to the Church on Time," from the same rich score.
The following year, 1957, saw the first-ever revival of Eugene O’Neill’s "A Moon for the Misbegotten," with Wendy Hiller, Franchot Tone and Cyril Cusack, father of co-host Sinead Cusack, who commented slyly that "he showed great promise."
Close to the end of the evening came Melissa Errico’s sterling performance of "That’s Him," from "One Touch of Venus," the show that brought her a measure of stardom when she played the earth-visiting goddess when it was revived three years ago as part of the City Center’s "Encores!" concert series.
Nothing, perhaps, could quite touch the rush of pleasure generated by veteran songstress Rosemary Clooney, who walked onstage, took her position near the piano, and, accompanied by John Otto, sang "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" and "Our Love is Here to Stay," which she told the audience was "the last song that George and Ira Gershwin ever wrote together," which she should know, since she was Ira’s next door neighbor in Beverly Hills for a number of years.
The great Clooney carried her song lyrics and, without affectation told her hearers "I’m 72 and I don’t have to remember lyrics anymore," and then proceeded to perform the songs by Burton Lane, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg and the Gershwins virtually flawlessly.
Recognizing Rosemary Clooney as an exceedingly tough act to follow, the Irish Rep’s directors, Charlotte Moore and Ciaran O’Reilly, called it a night. And what a night it was.