"Betty Garrett--Closet Songwriter" at Theatre West

For anyone unlucky enough to not know who Betty Garrett is: she is a real American musical theatre gem of the old school. To watch her work is an education in how to do it right. I won't list her credits here--just go IMDB her now. Go ahead. Or better still, go to IBDB.com, the Broadway database.

OK? Good.

So it seems not a complete surprise that anyone who would live in a world of music for as long as she has would have tucked away at least a few ditties of her own making. And so she has put together a charming show at venerable Theatre West (which she helped establish many moons ago as a workshop for New York actors wanting to keep their chops up on the TV coast) where she gets to trot out these pieces and explain the whys and wherefores of writing them, cabaret-style.

First the bad news. First, she ain't really a songwriter--she's an amateur in the best sense of the word. What comes out is a fascinating amalgam of American songwriting through the majority of the 20th century. Having been soaked in the stuff, she can't help but have picked up the flavor of everything she has ever come in contact with. So as the evening goes on you hear bits and pieces of every major composer's style, so you can guess when a song was penned, as a result. This one's a little Rogers and Hammerstein, that one's a little Sondheim.... Imagine if Christopher Guest had made a movie about an ol' Broadway hoofer who secretly has been writing show tunes -- this would be the soundtrack. Comedy and all.

Next, sadly, this is Theatre West. In all my years as an LA theatre watcher, I have found Theatre West consistent in its inability to put on a "great" show. They can take great material and make it adequate. They can take second-rate material and mate it as good as it could be. But never "great". And this falls under the latter category. For starters, out of a company of nearly 200 members (according to their program) it seems they can't round up enough of them who can sing (and by "sing" I mean carry a tune well AND act it at the same time) to put together a musically respectable eight-person musical. Of the seven cast in this who weren't Ms. Garrett, really only four made the grade or squeaked by. The direction was solid enough to get the remainders past it, but still: *really???*

Now the good news: it's Betty Garrett! This woman is more entertaining on her worst day than most so-called celebrities on their best. She's not 100% solid on her feet anymore, and her voice has weakened with the years, but the woman knows how to perform! And yeah--the songs aren't great. But they're mostly fun, if a little ham-fisted. And yeah--the rest of the cast sings a lot, which as I stated above results in a very mixed experience. (VERY mixed). But at the end of the night I wasn't sorry I came. And they got to extend their run, so I guess I'm not alone in that.

Bottom line: B-/C+

'Til next time!
--HDSQ, Jr