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When the musical debuted in 1940, it broke new ground–and stirred controversy–with its cynical tone and seamy story, about a sexy young nightclub dancer who’s kept by a middle-aged, married Chicago society dame. The jazzy songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart have long since proved their staying power–especially “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” a wry ballad the society dame, Vera, sings about her boy toy (“I’ll sing to him/Each spring to him/And worship the trousers that cling to him/Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I”). And the role of Joey launched Gene Kelly.
Back in 1988, Falls put his own spin on the show, incorporating new material from O’Hara’s original stories and adding bits of his own. In that version (featuring choreography by Ann Reinking), Joey was a big band drummer, not a dancer. He was played by Steppenwolf member Kevin Anderson, and the supporting cast included Carlin Glynn as Vera, Del Close as a gangster, Barbara Robertson as Gladys Bumps, who sings the show-stealing strip number “Zip,” and Shannon Cochran as a hard-bitten chorine. I reviewed the production as a “near-total success”
