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Posted by english on 8/3/2006, 3:41 am, in reply to "Christmas in July" Jerry Christmas Time: 1962 Place: Hollywood, California The show starts with a vocalized overture that's instantly recognizable as a jazzy rendition of "Silent Night." Quickly, we segue into the first scene: husband and wife Jerry and Sonny Barron in their master bath, readying themselves for a night out. Sonny is checking herself in the mirror--tightening her earrings and adjusting her dress. Jerry, wearing a tux sans tie or cumberbund, is answering nature's call while humming to himself. She asks him to zip her up and he gets distracted by his own reflection in the mirror. He is obviously nervous and anxious and in her attempts to calm him down, Sonny reminds him that it's "Just a Movie." It turns out that tonight is the premiere of Jerry's new movie C Notes, a musicalization of a Rififi, a 1955 French film about a bank robbery. (random note #1: Rafifi is being remade with Al Pacino as the lead) Jerry is worried that he's no longer young or funny or talented or handsome anymore (as if). As Jerry enters the premiere, an entertainment reporter asks him if the world is ready to see Jerry Barron in a hit. It turns out he's had two flops. The audience soon sees a glimpse of the third--C Notes is a painful musical whose opening song ("Shhh...We're Robbing the Bank") includes tap dancing franc notes; an unfortunate rhyme of guillitine, aubergine and nectarine; the lyric "a hole is a lofty goal;" a bank robber named Mordechai Lipschitz, and the line "Oy va voir" which is Oy va voy in French (for us musical nerds, there's also the box step from Les Miserable, which made me giggle). This is Jerry's style of humor--think Mel Brooks meets Jerry Lewis with a healthy dash of Milton Berle. He's a hold out from the Borscht Belt era and that's not playing very well with Middle America. Opening weekend of C Notes garners $87. Even accounting for inflation, that would be $542 in today's terms. Another unmistakable flop. His agent tells him he's "crossed the J-line:" too ethnic, too Jewish, too unmarketable. Jerry realizes he needs to "Change [his] Spots" in order to stay in movies and stay famous. He's joined by Hamlet, Spartacus, and Abraham Lincoln, who encourage him to become someone other than himself. Meanwhile, back in the Barron mansion, Zaephonia is humming music from C Notes as she reads the paper. She loves her boss--sought him out after a painful employment with "that b###h" Lillian Hellman--and believes his work is misunderstood. Zaephonia appreciated C Notes for its sophisticated wit and erudite lyrics. Now, the audience is left with two possibilities here--either Zae is blindly devoted to Jerry and cannot recognize a bad lyric if it bit her on the nose, or she knows a bit about pretending to be someone else. More about that later. It is true that Zaephonia nearly worships Jerry. She has information about every member of the household and she isn't afraid to use it if she thinks it will make her boss happier. After manipulating both of the children to stay for dinner, Zae gives a list of things she would happily do "For that Man." This list includes, but is not limited to: curing tuberculosis, building a mausoleum, taking a bullet, moving to Argentina, and answering a subpoena. I do believe several women in the audience added a few more lyrics to this song: travel to Poughkeepsie, sign over our lives to Visa, and play hookey from work. We're just waiting for Lippa to find a word that rhymes with Poughkeepsie. During dinner, Jerry gets a phone call offering him a television special. At first, Jerry wants to hang up--television is for washed-up has-beens. But the producer paints quite the picture, describing what he calls "reality television." The idea? Film a live Christmas special that the entire country will watch. This appeals greatly to Jerry's vanity, but he isn't sure. Hamlet and Sparticus aren't much help, but Abe Lincoln tells Jerry there's nothing more American than Christmas! All that's left is to convince the wife and children. Sonny is less than thrilled--she can't believe he'd even consider this and flat out tells him "No." ("Do You?") She shudders to think of everyone in temple seeing her and her family celebrating Christmas on national television, with a Christmas tree ("a symbol of the crucifixtion") in her living room. But Jerry charms her into agreeing, promising the kids will not be dragged into this, so she lists all the ways they'll feign being Christian ("Let's Pretend"). Jerry is apparently quite tone deaf--never hearing the caustic sarcasm dripping from his wife's every line. Sonny also realizes that her entire house will need to be redecorated--all the books and chachkas will need to be removed, not the least of which includes her son's bar mitzvah picture. Her ironic bemusment turns to wistfulness as she realizes her husband's desperation. Meanwhile, Scott and Marilyn--the teenaged children of Jerry and Sonny--share something they have yet to share with their self-obsessed father ("Finally Found My Thing"). Scott has dropped out of school and plans to go to Isreal to plant trees in the desert. Marilyn, on the other hand, is engaged to a Gentile boy. These are the secrets Zae alluded to earlier: Marilyn is running away from her heritage, while Scott is embracing his cultural identity. Neither teen has a good relationship with Jerry, and by extension, their mother. At breakfast the next morning, Jerry cheerfully tells his children that they're going to star on TV with him. The children are horrified, but neither more so than Sonny who begs Jerry to keep his promise and not put his children through this embarrassing sham. She curtly reminds him "It's About [You]." Jerry wants his family there with him, oblivious to anyone's desires other than his own, agreeing that "It's about me.". He even invites Zae to join them on tv. Zae ends up coercing the family to agree to starring in the show. The TV writers (who just happen to be Jewish as well) start putting together the Christmas special. They visualize the room in plaids and pastels, suggest a huge tree, and even tell Jerry that he will be giving Sonny a pair of diamond earrings. What Jerry wants, however, is for it to be all about him. He doesn't just want to give the earrings and react to Sonny. He wants the camera to zoom in on him, focus on him, follow him. Jerry reveals even more of his true colors--the pompous performer is quite the narcissist. Even when the kids come to him with concerns about their impending humiliation (17 year old Marilyn is to wear a Brownie uniform with her hair in pigtails; 16 year old Scott is in short pants), Jerry tersely reminds them "On the Show" they will be the picture-perfect American family, do everything they are told, and generally make him look good and likable. Act 1 ends with the full company singing about their expectations for the show, which will be the subject of Act 2 and my next post.
68.126.219.146
Vassar and New York Stage & Film
Powerhouse Summer Theatre
Season 2006
Music & Lyrics by Andrew Lippa
Book by Daniel Goldfarb
Cast
Jerry Barron
..Douglas Sills
Sonny (Sonia) Barron
Janet Metz
Scott Barron
.David Reiser
Marilyn Barron
Leslie Kritzer
Zaephonia
Adriane Lenoz
Nell/Pepper Mintz
....Jessica Stone
Man # 1
Christopher Fitzgerald
Man #2
.David Costable
Man #3
.
Lee Wilkof
Ensemble
.Kim Brownwell, Tiffany Haas
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