=”mso-spacerun: yes”> Michael Gibbons does a charming about-face from recent serious roles as Luigi Gaudi, the mysterious and often-disguised hanger-on.
Sooner’s last clever trick is casting different personalities as dead, wheelchair-ridden Tony. Opening-nighters got the treat of seeing Barry Switzer himself pushed raucously all over the stage. Only once “? maybe twice “? did a live smile creep over the face of the “corpse,” but the audience was laughing too hard to care.
The musical score is lively and the production is a hoot. Even with comic sexuality and flashy showgirls, most will still consider this family-friendly.
“? Linda McDonald
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2008.