Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 85

4 fc 4 4 It 4 ENTERTAINMENT 85 ITHEATERIREVIEWj IBR0ADWAYJ0E 1 iFV A Pumpkin of a Prince Play Still Work in Progress CINDERELLA Music by Richard Rodgers Lyrics by Oscv Hammeratein Orchestrations by Robert RusssMBennstt Book adapted by Steve Alton based on the original book by Hammeretoin Adapted for the stage (Erected and choreographed by Robert Johanson Set design Henry Bardon Costume design Gragg Barnes Lighting design Jeff Davis Sound design Abe Jacob Conductor Eric Stem Witti Crista Moore George Dvorsky Satty Ann Howes Nancy Marehand At the New York State Theater Lincofei Center Manhattan Seen at Tuesday evening's opening unaffordable coffee table book a Rainbow Stars lounge act at the Roundabout an postage stamp an encore Blaster broadcast of Sound of and another rerun of a documentary about the recording of an album of King and starring Julie Andrews in a production that never happened Punctuating this uninspiring cavalcade is the New York City a ramshack-' le event that makes us feel as if we are witnessing nothing less than the decline and fall of Rodgers and Hammerstein That the evening is also the annual Broadway musical offering in the own golden anniversary year only enhances the general air of calamity was a dubious affair when it was conceived in 1957 as a TV vehicle for Julie Andrews and then remade in 1965 with Lesley Ann Warren Sandwiched between the flop and their last stand Drum the score boasted a few decent candy-cane By Jan Stuart STAFF WRITER HEIN WE LOOK back upon the 50th anniversary of Richard Rodgers and Oscar collaboration we will remember above all the rhythmic tapping of our feet while we waited for that damn revival of to finally crawl into town from London It is a measure of regard for the arts that our own contribution to this memory of great composing duo amounts to an SL HE PETRIFIED PRINCE" the new I I Harold Prince-directed musical I I been in the talking stage for four or five I I years is going to take a while longer to get to the real stage It was announced for the spring season at the Asolo Theater in Sarasota Fla in a production that the Prince office here labeled It seems though a little more progress is needed and that been delayed reason is the piece needs work in both script and said producer John Flaxman from the Prince office realized we get it ready in time for the March opening! unless we put extreme pressure on it and that would be a disservice to the Asolo audience and to Flaxman said he found the unproduced Ingmar Bergman screenplay that forms the basis of Petrified Prince" and brought it to Prince's attention Edward Gallardo was chosen to prepare the book for the show and Michael John La- Please see CINDERELLA on Page 119 IMUSICIREVIEWj Studies In Browne And Blue JACKSON BROWNE Vulnerability as a power foal Tuesday evening at the Nedertander Theater 208 41 st St Manhattan die three-night sotd-out stand concludes tomorrow The Story playing as an acoustic duo opened Chiusa was signed on for music and lyrics LaChiusa is currently preparing two other musicals for production here before year's end: at Lincoln Center Theater and Lady Suite" at the Public Theater Prince has just finished directing a mgjor new version of to general acclaim in Toronto and leaves soon for Europe to stage his latest Broadway hit of the Spider in Vienna One Broadway report has Petrified in a workshop production here next summer But Flaxman said truth is we don't know what the next step will Is Asolo still a possibility? possible" he said Meanwhile he said he was working actively with the Florida theater to find a substitute production for the spring season On the Move When the Manhattan Theater Club added an extra week to its run of Dogs and a it sold out within hours If that doesn't point to a longer life nothing does So after the new John Patrick Shanley comedy closes Dec 5 at MTC's City Center home it will move downtown to the Lucille Lortel Theater for a Dec 9 opening One cast member Maiy-Ltuiw Parker will have to leave because of a movie date but MTC is hoping the rest of the company lairrn Dean Polly Draper and Tuny Roberts will make the move Nnyriwy Ari Minu By Ira Robbins STAFF WRITER OR SOME PEOPLE the admission of vulnerability is nearly impossible but California singer-songwriter Jackson Browne has made a career of it For 20 years his sensitive songs of confusion and wonder romantic surrender and disappointment have hit home to those unafraid to admit insecurity in such matters At the compact Nederlander Theater Tuesday all that collective emotional damage could have been a burdensome weight on Browne's finely turned creations Indeed between songs the crowd played an overly active role in the artist-audience relationship shouting things like and love and live with and to Wounded birds do tend to bring out the protective side in certain people But taking it all in stride with characteristic aw-shucks modesty Browne wasn't pushing those buttons Whether or not his level delivery was related to the lengthy travel delays ho described Browne invest the songs with any more emotion than they already contain During the two-hour set a mix of old hits and all but one song from his evocative new album (Elektra) his singing was fine but restrained rarely did his voice rise (or is that fall?) to reach the dispirited passion He delved into the empty realm of uncertainty for the venerable the piercingly beautiful Blue and the pleading Do and the hard-charging but elsewhere his evident lack of conviction undercut the soul in the songs Maybe enough of a release to have written them While the star held the crowd with his wry open charm is a desperate love song not like the last he said by way of introducing Do winch he explained was actually written for Albert Brooks to sing in a film) it was guitarist Mark Golden berg who provided the musical sparks The six-person band hindered a bit by Fritz skilled but unsubtle drumming served up straightforward arrangements that only occasionally flared up but Jackson Browne performs Tuesday at the Nederlander Theater diversely styled and tastefully delivered solos seared the emotional flesh in My the the Shape of a and Good During Many Gol-denberg nudged si tar-like sounds out of a nylon 12- Filling the Gap Brian Murray the veteran actor-director was all set to stage the US premiere of Gavin Koxtirk's for American Jewish Theater hut he had to leave unexpectedly for South Africa on a personal matter Into the vacuum stepped AJT's artistic director Stanley llrechner who is now rehearsing the cast for the Dec 4 opening Kostick's play is about three Jewish brothers who leave Poland in the mid-'30s on their way to New York They end up instead in Dublin where the two unmarried brothers meet Irish women who become their wives The brothers are played by Joseph Siravo who portrayed gangsters in with My on Broudway and the just-opened movie Michael Countryman Few Good and Andrew Polk The wives are Jenny Conroy Rosemary Fine and Terry Donnely all of whom have appeared in Irish Arts Center productions MORE ENTERTAINMENT STORIES ON PAGE 119 string his perfectly placed notes on Blue and amplified the angst that let voice go a little ragged around the edges Browne carried the forcefulness of that piano chords into the majestic coda of and an invigorated full-blooded rendition of on punctuated by articulate slide solos As Browne sang Problem Is a gently agonized diatribe obviously about someone real he stared into the distance connecting with an unseen presence somewhere in space Having revealed so much of himself while keeping it all hid the Pretender inhabits a no-man 's-land between the images in his mind and those the audience receives from his music i Ji i Mixed Bill Dan Goggin's comedy about those Little Sisters of Hoboken has been playing OIT-Broadway for almost nine years and has been seen on Please see KOENENN on Pkge 119.