HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Hollywood, California
JANUARY 2005

ETHEL MERMAN’S BROADWAY

by ED KAUFMAN

Bottom line: Rita McKenzie’s musical tribute to Ethel Merman, Ethel Merman’s Broadway is a joy to behold.

Written by Christopher Powich (who also artfully directs) and Rita McKenzie (who also stars), Ethel Merman's Broadway is a captivating, compelling and lyrical solo tour de force salute to Merman, the Queen of Broadway, when Broadway was still king and ruled the world as far as musical entertainment is concerned.

She was a glorious and golden moment during the golden age of Broadway musicals. She was described once as "a doll from Astoria with a trumpet in her throat." When Merman sang, Irving Berlin once said, "You could hear her up and down Broadway." And George Gershwin warned her, "Never go near a music teacher."

With the talented McKenzie, it's as if Merman, who died in 1984, is once again among us. Not only does McKenzie look like Merman, she talks like Merman, walks like Merman, acts like Merman -- and belts a song like the brash, boisterous Merman.

Merman's legendary voice is easily recognizable, somewhere between a foghorn and a siren -- always with the volume ratcheted up. And so is McKenzie's as she goes from the fierce Annie Oakley (Annie Get Your Gun) to the unflappable Sally Adams (Call Me Madam) to the feral ferocity in her greatest 1950s triumph as Mama Rose in the classic Gypsy.

Still, the show is more than a revue. Powich and McKenzie have created a narrative structure that has Merman sitting in a chair in her living room entertaining a movie producer who wants to make a film of her life. And by "sheer coincidence," musical director Ron Snyder and his seven-piece orchestra are onstage.

As the show unfolds, McKenzie seems to blend more and more with Merman, especially the more mature Merman of the '50s. By then, she had starred in 14 Broadway shows, including Girl Crazy, Something for the Boys, Panama Hattie and DuBarry Was a Lady. All told, she introduced more than 100 songs by many of the great composers of her era: Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin, Berlin, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Herman. Twenty-three of them are in the show, including Friendship, You're the Top, Ridin' High, I Got Rhythm, Anything Goes, I Get a Kick Out of You, It's Delovely and the touching Let's Be Buddies.

As for Merman's personal life, it was something of a mess: four failed marriages (including a brief stint with Ernest Borgnine) and a daughter who died of an overdose.

Still, McKenzie as Merman doesn't dwell on the past as she wows and overwhelms us with Some People, I Had a Dream and Everything's Coming Up Roses, also from Gypsy, the ultimate story of a showbiz mother with ambition and chutzpah who is still something of a den mother. Very much like the Powich/McKenzie portrait of Queen Merman.

Ethel Merman's Broadway presented by Go Gi Go Prods. and Scott Sandler.

Credits:
Playwrights: Christopher Powich, Rita McKenzie
Director: Christopher Powich
Lighting designer: Peter L. Smith
Costume designer: Eric Winterling
Musical director: Ron Snyder
Cast: Rita McKenzie