Dancing in the Dark

(Mara Davi and Scott Bakula. Photo: Craig Schwartz)

Dancing in the Dark, a new stage musical adaptation of the classic MGM movie musical The Band Wagon, is packed with all sorts of today's Broadway-level talent. But the show plays very, very old fashioned - creaky old fashioned. There's nothing particularly wrong with a cheesy backstage musical in the style of the 1950s golden oldies, but I guess its just not really my thing. I knew going in that it was going to be an adpatation of The Band Wagon, but usually with a show like this, it can be interesting if its fun enough, or if the dance numbers are good enough. Dancing in the Dark had neither of those to its credit.

The stage adaptation heaps all sorts of extra material on The Band Wagon's admittedly pretty thin story, which more has the effect of weighing down the proceedings with lengthy book scenes. And considering the film's sensational dance numbers - with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse no less - it's disappointing that these dance numbers never quite achieve the sort of euphoric glee that a really good old-fashioned musical song and dance number really can. Some songs start to get there, including the title song at the end of the show, but then usually the song either ends too soon, or in the title song, it segues into a book scene that completely deflates the number.

I have to say, though, it wasn't an altogether terrible afternoon in the theater: it was perfectly pleasant, just mostly pointless. Beth Leavel, pictured left, was the best part of the show, as a the show-within-a-show's lyricist (what an original character type, huh?). Her performance had a lot of the character quirks of her Tony-winning Drowsy Chaperone performance, but still she was one of the show's bright spots. Scott Bakula was this show's celebrity cast member as the leading man - he was just fine, though I wasn't feeling the leading man vibe. Mara Davi was the sweet-voiced ingenue. The chorus was energetic and great to watch in the brief moments that they got to dance.