Quality Hill "Make Someone Happy" review by timlovestheatre

Quality Hill Show Likely to Make Someone Happy

Rating: 3

Make Someone Happy
Quality Hill Playhouse

I have always been a believer that you have to make your own opportunities. Sometimes those opportunities are made from hard work, sometimes by sheer luck, sometimes by great talent and sometimes through a little conniving.
Aspiring actors Betty Comden and Adolph Green were introduced by mutual friends in 1938, and soon thereafter they formed a comedy troupe called The Revuers. (That's people who perform musical revues, not people who review performances which Quality Hill's J. Kent Barnhart archly pointed out.) The group played in Greenwich Village and included then-unknowns Judy Holliday and Leonard Bernstein. (That's pretty good company!) In 1944 they collaborated with Bernstein and fellow Broadway newcomer Jerome Robbins on their Broadway debut "On the Town", for which they wrote the book and lyrics. Being smart as well as funny, they slyly created featured roles for themselves, thus making their Broadway debut as actors as well as writers.

Quality Hill Playhouse has less conniving in mind with their presentation of "Make Someone Happy: The Songs of Comden and Green", a part of their current season devoted to artistic partnerships. Despite winning seven Tony Awards, the duo are not as well known as many other Broadway writers or lyricists. In fact many probably know them better as the screenwriters for the famous musical film "Singing in the Rain". Although many will be hearing these songs for the first time it does not diminish the lively songs that run through a variety of styles. "Just In Time", "One Hundred Easy Ways", "I Can Cook Too", "New York, New York (It's a Helluva Town)", and the revue's title song "Make Someone Happy" are great songs with plenty of meat for the performers to dig into and they do.

Lauren Braton tears into numbers like "The Party's Over" and "If You Hadn't But You Did" with great gusto. Molly Hammer gives great life to the number "Repent" that energizes the whole performance space. Cary Mock brings great pathos to "Lonely Town" and a nice quality to the number "The Usher from the Mezzanine". Pianist and Quality Hill pivot J. Kent Barnhart doesn't have a solo in this show but has nice moments with both ladies in "Long Before I Knew You" with Hammer and "Carried Away" with Braton.

"Make Someone Happy" runs through April 1 at Quality Hill Playhouse. Single tickets are $29, with discounts for students, seniors and groups. For tickets, call 816-421-1700. To purchase tickets online or for more information, visit www.QualityHillPlayhouse.com.