Theater Reviews

Jan 17, 2009 - Hey there, "The Pajama Game" still has stars in its eyes!

By Jack Neal

Some things get better with age.

With just the right words mixed with just the right ear-catching tunes by Jerry Ross and Richard Adler, the score of “The Pajama Game” still thrills fans of the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory peeping in on the action.

A revitalized “The Pajama Game” opened Friday night (1/16/09) at Reno’s Pioneer Center before a large audience that was charmed – as it should have been - by what it saw and heard.

With such hits as “Hey There,” “Hernando’s Hideaway,” “Steam Heat,” and “Once a Year Day,” an excellent twenty-member cast breathes all kinds of new life into a show that made its Broadway debut in 1954. It could be dated, but here we are a half-century later still dealing with unions asking for more money and companies doing their best to hide profits. It’s deja vu all over again, especially given this wonderfully tight production that has all its ducks in a row – or pajamas on a rack - and raring to go.

Handsome Sid Sorokin, the new superintendent of the Sleep-Tite Factory, falls for gorgeous Babe Williams, chair of her union’s grievance committee. The argument between management and the union revolves around a seven-and-one-half-cent hourly raise. It takes a fast-moving two-hours-and-fifteen-minutes of upbeat entertainment filled with great songs exuberantly sung and danced, to resolve the dispute. It’s a bargaining time that’s worth it. This classy "The Pajama Game” production is a happy reminder of the good-old-days when musical comedy was both musical and comic.

Michael McFadden is the director and he has whipped his troupe into first-rate performances that please at every turn. Mark Minnick is the choreographer and his stylish movement blends song and scene with seamless abandon. “Steam Heat,” the number that introduced Bob Fosse and the Fosse style, is still a showstopper.

Jim Kronzer’s scenic designs are consistently handsome and attractive to watch as scenes flow past. Chris Lee’s lighting is a major boost to the production’s visual illusions. The costumes, based on designs by Martin Pakledinaz from the original Broadway production, are as chisel-sharp and period-right as ever. In an era when deafening audiences seems to be in, Craig Cassidy’s sound design is about as perfect and near-natural as amplified sound can get. Steven M. Bishop’s musical arrangements, a reduction to a largely synthesized six-piece orchestra from Robert Russell Bennett’s original orchestrations for full orchestra, are excellent facsimiles.

Playing handsome Sid is a young-and-restless Jason Winfield. Winfield sings a memorable “Hey There,” dances well and has magnetism plus, as does Crystal Kellogg as the lovely Babe Williams. Kellogg and Winfield are a winning romantic team. Thomas Demarcus is a terrific Hines, the show’s major comic relief. When he teams with Mabel, played by the exceptional Kathy Halenda, for “I’ll Never Be Jealous Again” it’s a moment from two old pros that won’t soon be forgotten.

Jennifer Elise Davis, Yoav Levin and Roderick Kennedy score nicely with a “Steam Heat” that sizzles enough to please. The delightful Loriann Freda (Gladys) vamps her way through a memorable “Hernando’s Hideaway.” When Gladys and Prez (a rather Puckish Jason Elliott Brown) sing “Her Is” they deliver with flying colors - as does this entire aim-to-please cast.

“The Pajama Game” plays Friday (1/16/09) at 8 p.m. (the performance reviewed), Saturday (1/17/09) at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday (1/18/09) at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada. For information call 775-686-6600.