By Matt Windman It's time to reconsider "I Love My Wife," the 1977 Cy Coleman-Michael Stewart musical comedy about wife-swapping that has not received much attention in recent decades. Reprise did a production in LA this season with Lea Thompson and Jason Alexander, but I didn't hear much about it and it's certainly not transferring. Until I finally got the chance to see a production courtesy of Opening Doors, I had been listening to the cast album for years wondering exactly how the book worked and where the songs fit in. Anyhow, I must say right off the bat, that this was the best production I've seen produced by Opening Doors in the two years that I've been attending their work. And it also the most different by far. Opening Doors, which you might consider to be the non-Equity Fringe Festival alternative to City Center Encores, features only a handful of actors and piano on a tiny stage in a small cabaret space at the Duplex next to Christopher Street. The majority of the musicals they have previously done - "Fade In, Fade Out," "Whoop-Up," "Superman," "Bring Back Birdie" - have been super-condensed versions of originally large-scale musical comedies
"I Love My Wife," on the other hand, is not a large show to begin with. And that's why it worked so well for Opening Doors. I was not watching a pleasant but silly reduction of a big show, but a genuinely great and theatrically convincing production of a much ignored but extremely fun musical. Plus, this is a show that already has a sense of winking irony at the audience. Considering how this premiered 25 years prior to "The Producers" and "Urinetown," it was really ahead of its time. While the show requires a band of four guys who also play small roles and sing, Opening Doors had only a piano player and bassist - and also guitar-player for one scene. But that didn't matter. The score still sounded great, and a really funny cast was on hand. I particularly enjoyed director/ choreographer Marc Tumminelli's purposely corny choreography. It's really a shame that the production is no longer running. I would absolutely go back and see it again. Well, perhaps "I Love My Wife" will eventually receive the revival it deserves. And in any case, I look forward to attending the next Opening Doors production. And on that note, I've been mulling in my mind what musical the company should do next. And while there are many worthy musical comedies, I'd like to suggest Ahrens & Flaherty's "Lucky Stiff," a similarly small-scale but comedically delicious show that would work very well in their small space. |