On the Twentieth Century in Bloomington, MN

The 1978 Broadway musical
On the Twentieth Century
is an adaptation of
Twentieth Century
, the 1932 straight play and comic farce by
Ben Hecht
and
Charles MacArthur
(in turn based on the unproduced play
The Napoleon of Broadway
by
Charles Bruce Millholland
) about
Oscar Jaffe
, a flamboyant theatrical producer on his uppers, who boards the 20th Century Limited train for a cross-country trip during which he hopes to lure his former protege, the film star
Lily Garland
, also on board, back to the stage, and thereby return to solvency. The 1934 film version directed by
Howard Hawks
, and starring
John Barrymore
Carole Lombard
, was a classic, and lyricist/librettists
Betty Comden
Adolph Green
transfer much of its tone to the musical. They are well suited to do so, as veterans of sketch comedy and also the screenwriters of the similarly toned movie musical
Singin' in the Rain
, another send-up of Hollywood. This is broad comedy requiring larger than life, over the top performances, and it gets them from
John Cullum
, channeling
Barrymore
, and
Madeline Kahn
, who is both a remarkable soprano and a remarkable comedienne. Another veteran is composer
Cy Coleman
, although he has not worked with
Comden
Green
previously.
Coleman
is a highly adaptable writer, and he mixes operetta with some '30s jazz styles effectively in his music. This is not the sort of show that an audience is going to think much about after leaving the theater, and this is not a cast album of songs that will be memorable outside the context of the show. But when it's going on, the show works like gangbusters, and the album serves as a good souvenir. ~ William Ruhlmann