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State Fair
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Directed by Joe Leonardo
Musical Direction by Doug Peck
Choreography by Marc Robin
At Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire
Rt. 22 & Milwaukee Ave
Lincolnshire, IL
Call 847-634-0200, tickets $42
Wednesdays at 1 & 8 PM
Thursdays & Fridays at 8 PM
Saturdays at 5 & 8:30 PM
Sundays at 1 & 5 PM
Running time is 2 hrs, 20 min with intermission
Through July 2, 2006
Sweet nostalgia piece waltzes on Marriott stage
If Oklahoma! was Oscar Hammerstein’s picnic then State Fair was his barn dance. The 1946 film with music (later developed for the stage) was designed as a fable to help a war torn America return to the quaint, basic mythical Midwest farm values. This ‘feel-good’ puff piece is so sweet and vanilla reminding one of those Sunday trips to the Dairy Queen. Marriott Theatre, under the snappy direction of Joe Leonardo with Marc Robin’s choreography, unfolds as Andy Griffith meets Hew Haw but with 1940’s style music. The show is delightful, easily engaging with cornball down-home humor, nicely staged and sung with energetic dancing. This is a decent show with high production values.
The love story unfolds at the Iowa state fair in 1946 that features the quintessential American farm family – the Frakes where Ma (Mary Ernster) attempts to win a blue ribbon for her mincemeat pie and Dad (Roger Mueller) covets the ribbon for his prized pig, Blue Boy. The son, Wayne (Matt Raftery) falls for the older jazz singer Emily (Roberta Duchak) and daughter Margy (Johanna McKenzie Miller) ends up in the arms of the smooth news reporter, Pat Gilbert (Bernie Yvon). Covering a few days at the State Fair, contests are won; lovers rendezvous and hearts are broken as they are played out in song and dance.
State Fair isn’t a great score, the film had only six songs necessitating that the stage version contains ‘trunk songs’ and reworked numbers from failed R & H shows like Allegro, Pipe Dream and Me and Juliet. “It Might as Well Be Spring,” Johanna McKenzie Miller’s lament and the terrific waltz (one of Richard Rodger’s best) “It’s A Grand Night For Singing,” a fine ensemble number, highlight act one.
The barn dance ode to farmers, “All I Owe Ioway” was so hooky it works as show stopper filled with energetic barn dancing featuring intricate movements and clever formations in a MGM style staging.
Bernie Yvon and Johanna McKenzie Miller were fine as the main love interest and Matt Raftery and Roberta Duchak were opposites—the naive farm boy and the slick worldly jazz singer. Roger Mueller, at his Andy Griffin styled best and Mary Ernster as the farm mother added down home charm.
This feel good sappy relic works as a fable from a time that nostalgia and MGM movie musicals attempted to sell to the American public during the Depression Years. The basic good intentions, though unrealistic, serves as model of what could be but not what was. It is serviceable piece of nostalgia well produced.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed May 3, 2006
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