Review of Fiorello

Chicago Free Press
By Lawrence Bommer
May 11, 2006

Winner of the Pulitzer and Tony awards, this unjustly neglected 1959 gem from the creators of “She Loves Me” and “Fiddler on the Roof” is the first musical I saw—in 1962 at the Shubert Theatre, with Tom Bosley in the title role. I gratefully recall every song and set as if yesterday. Happily, everything old is new again (except, perhaps, people.)

Perfect anytime but especially during an election year, Harnick and Bock’s charmer unashamedly celebrates the convulsive career of Fiorello H. LaGuardia, New York’s most colorful mayor. A happy warrior, he was a reform Republican who made a difference and a lawyer who fought for sweatshop workers. After serving in Congress and in the Army during World War I, he waged war on the Jazz Age corruption of his Tammany Hall predecessor James J. Walker and went on to tout Roosevelt’s New Deal at the top of his large lungs. But he’s perhaps most famous for using the radio to read the comics to kids during a newspaper strike.

Cunningly contrasting the simmering private Fiorello (“little flower”) with the brash public figure, this incisive script by George Abbott and Jerome Weidman traces LaGuardia’s climb from pro bono obscurity to his unexpected victory in New York’s heavily Democratic 14th district. Flummoxed by success, the Republican ward heelers and grafters realized that this maverick owed nothing to them and everything to the people. And LaGuardia delivered more than just the airport that’s named after him.

Director Nick Bowling delivers too, in this warmly wrought and surprisingly intimate venture, TimeLine’s first musical. Thanks to Doug Peck’s awesome musicianship, the score soars, especially the Damon Runyon-like choral classics “Politics and Poker” and “A Little Tin Box.” If the story’s larger than life, the characters are achingly human, beginning with PJ Powers’ bulldog LaGuardia. If Powers comes perilously close to making the private Fiorello as overwhelming as the public LaGuardia, better too much energy for this role than not enough.

The glory here are the richly shaped supporting roles. As Fiorello’s right-hand woman and frustrated admirer, Rebecca Finnegan knocks the stuffings out of “The Very Next Man,” a love anthem fueled by desperation but crowned with success. As Fiorello’s first wife, Cassie Wooley makes the most of “Till Tomorrow,” an exquisite “war waltz.” Enough. Amid 150, there’s not one dull minute. Don’t wait, like me, nearly a half century to see this treasure again.