Strike Up the Band – An Old Chestnut Made Fresh

In 1927, George and Ira Gershwin/George S. Kaufman’s anti-war satire Strike Up the Band ran in Philadelphia to mixed reviews and closed out of town. Kaufman had just co-written The Marx Brothers’ Coconuts. A touch of that wackiness was present, but perhaps not enough for an audience. “I’m not sure people were ready to laugh at war so soon after World War I.” (Ted Sperling.) Two years later, the otherwise occupied Kaufman stepped aside and its book was revised by Morrie Ryskind who rebuilt it around comedians Clark and McCullough. Broadway deemed the show a hit. “What I had to do, in a sense, was to rewrite War and Peace for the Three Stooges” (Ryskind)

Fletcher’s American Cheese Factory, Hooray, Wisconsin. Faced with the removal of a high tariff on imported cheese, gullible manufacturer Horace J. Fletcher (John Ellison Conlee) sponsors a war (bearing his name) against Switzerland. The U.S. president is never told because Colonel Holmes (David Pittu) has based his career on silence. Unable to find the enemy, soldiers knit. Fletcher is fast running out of money. Perhaps gung-ho society doyenne Mrs. Draper (Victoria Clark) can be induced to help.

As Fletcher, John Ellison Conlee is pompous, obtuse, and naïve i.e. just as the character should be.
David Pittu’s rubber face and low key drollery is pitch perfect. Victoria Clark is unsurprisingly simply marvelous. Every action and reaction arrives an imaginative delight – not to mention that glorious voice.

There are two romances: Joan Fletcher (Shereen Ahmed), affianced by her father to imperious general manager, C. Edgar Sloane (Claybourne Elder), is not convinced. She bristles at, then falls in love with newspaper man Jim Townsend (Bryce Pinkham) who, at the hands of Sloane, becomes a scapegoat for failure of the war. Miss Meade, Fletcher’s executive assistant (Lissa deGuzman), has long wanted to pin down foreman Timothy Harper (Phillip Attmore) whom she’s been dating for some time. He uses ambition as an excuse.

Shereen Ahmed and Lissa deGuzman both have terrific voices. Ahmed makes Joan believably spoiled and like her dad, somewhat boneheaded. Ms. deGuzman is additionally a vivacious and graceful dancer. Claybourne Elder’s Sloane is palpably cocky, though he could have more fun with an evil secret. Bryce Pinkham – great to see him on stage again – manages to inhabit a frustrated, somewhat passive role with quiet hero presence. Phillip Attmore is a zesty dancer, but the role offers little personality.

Laurence Maslon and Ted Sperling have seamlessly combined the two existing versions. In Ryskind’s, cheese became chocolate and much was re-imagined as a dream sequence; we’re back to cheese. The musical is innately silly, but outrageously so in the daffy character of “George Spelvin, an ambassador without portfolio” (the inimitable, multifaceted Christophe Fitzgerald who weaves in and out like Harpo, his voice serving as horn). Strike Up the Band remains uncomfortably relevant , though you may not realize it during this beautifully produced romp.

Ted Sperling’s high spirited direction is deadpan, each actor playing the truth of his/her character, just as farce is best presented. Comedic expressions are selectively employed. Effervescent dances emerge as if extension of song. Choreography by Alison Solomon is lighthearted fun, meeting the challenges of limited space with finesse.

Co-costune designers Tracy Christensen and Somie Park enhance every character with appropriate, aesthetically pleasing attire-Mrs. Draper and George Spelvin are particularly grand. Marc Salzberg’s sound design keeps everything sharp, not axiomatic at the Hall.

Chorus and Orchestra are familiarly excellent.

Photos by Toby Tenenbaum

Master Voices presents
Strike Up the Band
Music and Lyrics George and Ira Gershwin
Book by Laurence Maslon and Ted Sperling
Based on the original books by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
Restored by Tommy Krasker
Ted Sperling Conductor/Director
Master Voices/Master Voices Orchestra

Carnegie Hall October 29, 2024