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THEATRE GUILD PRODUCTIONS

The Musical Hit
OKLAHOMA!
Based on Lynn Riggs' "Green Grow the Lilacs" Music by Richard Rodgers - Book & Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein 2nd - Directed by Rouven Mamoulian-Dances by Agnes de Mille
Harry Stockwell Joseph Buloff Evelyn Wychoff Ruth Weston
St. James Thea. W. 44. Mats. Thurs. & Sat.

A New Musical Play
CAROUSEL
Music by RICHARD RODGERS
Book & Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, 2d
Directed by ROUBEN MAMOULIAN
Dances by AGNES de MILLE
with John Raitt, Jan Clayton, Jean Darling, Eric Mattson, Christine Johnson, Jean Casto 
MAJESTIC W. 44th St. Mats. Thurs. & Sat.

Tallulah
BANKHEAD
in PHILIP BARRY'S
FOOLISH NOTION
HENRY HULL DONALD COOK
Directed by JOHN C. WILSON
Martin Beck Thea. W. 45. Mats. Thurs. & Sat.

"BEST MUSICAL IN YEARS."-Lyons, Post
BLOOMER GIRL
with CELESTE HOLM
MARGARET DOUGLASS
JOHN McCRACKEN 
DAVID BROOKS
DOOLEY WILSON
Music by HAROLD ARLEN Lyrics by E. Y. HARBURG
Book by SIG HERZIG and FRED SAIDY
Based on the play by LILITH & DAN JAMES
SHUBERT Theatre, W. 44th St. Cl. 6-5990
Evgs. 8:30. Matinees Wed. and Sat. 2:30

BROCK PEMBERTON presents
Frank Fay 
in "Harvey"
A New Comedy by MARY CHASE
with JOSEPHINE HULL
Directed by ANTOINETTE PERRY [[image - rabbit]]
48th St. Thea., E. of B'y. Ev. 8:40 sharp. Mats. Wed. & Sat. 2:40

LELAND HAYWARD presents
FREDRIC MARCH
A bell for Adano
[[image - drawing of large hanging bell]] 
by PAUL OSBORN
from JOHN HERSEY'S 
(PULITZER PRIZE WINNING NOVEL)
with MARGO
Directed by H. C. POTTER
CORT Thea., W. 48th St. Evgs. 8:40. Mats. Wed. & Sat.

"THE HIT ICE SHOW OF THE CENTURY."
-Garland, Journal-American
75¢ $1.25 & $1.65 Plus Tax Sat. Nights Only 75c-2.40 Plus Tax
Sonja Heinie & Arthur M. Wirtz present
HATS OFF TO ICE
CENTER THEATRE, Rockefeller Center. Co. 5-5474
Eves. 8:40. Sun. 8:15 Always Comfortably Cool
Mats. Wed., Sat. 2:40. Sun. 3. Mail Orders Filled

New Plays

Merry Musical-Poor Play

Memphis Bound-(At the Broadway) This is bright, lively, vastly entertaining, and full of a tympanic charm that has been (you suddenly realize) missing in some of the more seriously booked and belled musical comedies of the season.

Whether you are a dyed-in-the-wool Gilbert and Sullivan fan, or whether you shy away from this school of operetta is not likely to color your feelings about Memphis Bound. For though it derives some of its notions from the G & S vehicle, Pinafore, that is neither here nor there, nor, may we add, Memphis Bound. Some of the broadened production numbers are done to music that may sound familiar, and some of the individual solos are more than familiar (to G & S fans), but the overall effect is one of a sprightly musical comedy in the old-style, not anxious to say anything in particular, but extremely particular about how it says nothing. Which all goes to prove that good music, dancing and individual performances are still a powerful force in the musical comedy field.

The book (by Albert Barker and Sally Benson) purports to tell the story of one Aunt Mel (Edith Wilson) who conducts a kind of drama school on board an old shelved river boat called the Calliboga Queen of Calliboga, Tenn. The idea seems to be that with a successful production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Pinafore, the company will have the dough to float the boat down river to Memphis. Production gets under way with Aunt Mel's jailbird sweetie (Bill Robinson), her wayward nephew Winfield (Avon Long)and various other dazzling characters in important roles. Winfield, late of New York, is more or less responsible for the jazzing up of the operetta (very loud and joyous jazzing, too). Musical purist Aunt Mell calls the rest of the production off, but through a series of minor and very uninspired plot sequences, the production gets under way again. That's all there is to the book as far as we could see. But there is always Bill Robinson. Turning 67 the very night the show opened, he taps, slides, grins, rolls his eyes and generally charms his way through the whole business. Avon Long is full of the same mean grace he exhibited as Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess; Sheila Guys, Ida James and Thelma Carpenter are pretty and sweet as the three-part heroine, and Ann Robinson brings a bold voice and a brash comic spirit to the river boat doings.  Billy Daniels handles most of the serious singing with a true but rather faint voice and there are lots of beautiful dancing girls, and a number of wonderful little children to round the thing out.

It is really Robinson's show...to the extent that it even includes one of his up and down a set of stairs tap routines. He never seems outdated, or even mildly winded. He sings, acts, and spins through dances with an ease and grace that few younger men could display. For us, it was a little disappointing to see that somebody decided you can't put on a Negro musical without having the star in a white nightshirt at some point. Robinson, it seemed to us, is certainly of a stature to have said nix on the nightshirt. But aside from this sequence, the book is pleasantly free of offense or pretention. Songs we were simply delighted with included Old Love and Brand New Love; Growing Pains; The Gilbert and Sullivan Blues; Love or Reason; and Things Are Seldom What They Seem.  And while credit for the whole of Memphis Blues can go to along list which includes John Wilberg, producer; Vinton Freedley who supervised production; Don Walker and Clay Warnick for lyrics and music; George Jenkins for lovely scenery; Lucinda Ballard for imaginative costumes; Mr. Robert Ross for fast direction; All White for the dances...we think Mr. Charles Sanford did a terrific job of conducting, and Don Walker's orchestrations contributed enormously to the success of the whole business.

Foxhole in the Parlor - (At the Booth) Montgomery Clift's acting is good and sufficient reason to see this play. As the psycho-neurotic returned veteran hero he manages somehow to impart validity and poignance to obvious situations and really trite dialogue. Elsa Shelley's play concerns a soldier who, like many returning Americans, has been so shocked by what he saw in war, that he is not only determined to fight for a good peace, but he is willing to forsake the traditional orthodox patterns of American society in order to fight. This determination couple with his inability to adjust easily, makes him an easy prey to his unimaginative sister. The sister, in a perfectly wonderful performance by Grace Coppen, is unfortunately not as hard to believe as you might hope. She tries to have the soldier committed to an insane asylum, almost succeeds. Unfortunately, Miss Shelley's handline of this important theme is not as skillful as the theme deserves. The play is a lot of talk, none of it very memorable or inspiring. Other characters (including the pretty young girl, played by an extremely pretty young girl named Ann Lincoln) are nothing more than devices against which the here bounces his lines. Nobody is ever there to bounce them back.

Lee Simonson's set is extremely clever...a kind of half-revolving business in which two Greenwich Village houses share the stage...but having known some painters we strongly doubt if even the most commercial of them would display some of the art Mr. Simonson has placed up there on view. -Irene Kittle

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