BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS
San Jose Rep presents….. BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS
When you’re happy, you don’t count the years.
Ginger Rogers
San Jose Rep has launched an ambitious attempt to recreate the spectacular excess of the “Golden Age Of Hollywood”. Their production of Backwards in High Heels has the costumes, the dancing and all the glitz of the era. Yet, despite a lavish presentation with elaborate cosuming and choreographed lighting and movement, it isn’t quite there…yet. Anna Aimee White is Ginger Rogers and although she plays her part well, she does just that…she hasn’t yet absorbed her character and she doesn’t ring true. Her mother Lela (Heather Lee) is right on the mark and must be especially complimented because so often she carries the scene. She is the prototype of a mother who cares, ambitious for her daughter but wary too of the influences she will have to understand and the obstacles she must overcome. Matthew LaBanca is Fred Astaire down to the last slicked hair on his head. When he dances with White, the couple does indeed recapture the glamour, grace and elegance that was theirs alone back in the golden Age of Hollywood.
The scenes move from Texas to Broadway to Hollywood and follow Rogers from her roots in Independence, Missouri to that glorious day she won an Academy Award for her dramatic leading role in Kitty Foyle even though she did the movie against everyone’s advice. That was the film that proved she was more than a singer and dancer…she was an amazing dramatic actress who went on to win a Golden Glove nomination for her role in Monkey Business. Rogers became Hollywood’s highest paid star in 1945.
The script, written by Lynnette Barkley and Christopher McGovern manages to weave in all the old Gershwin, Kern and Berlin favorites into the flimsy plot, but it all seems a bit contrived. Still, each number is beautifully presented. The dancing, the costumes, the energy of each ensemble number is memorable and you can’t beat that wonderful music. Songs like Fascinating Rhythm and Shall We Dance can never be bad and no one cares if they fit into the story. They are wonderful to watch and marvelous to hear.
The biggest problem with this particular production is that several members of the cast play multiple roles and with few exceptions, they cannot carry it off. Christianne Tisdale is amazing as Ginger’s secretary assistant and manages to do very well in many of her other roles but she simply cannot make Ethel Merman look like more than a joke that doesn’t quite work. James Patterson has an magnificent voice and is perfectly cast as Jack Culpepper, Roger’s first husband, but as he progresses through his other roles as Hermes Pan, Jimmy Stewart and others, you are never sure who he is although there is never a doubt that this man can sing and dance.
You will love the melodies and thrill to the production itself: wonderful, creative choreography, superb costuming, energy and pace. Just don’t pay too much attention to the story…it simply isn’t there. The script doesn’t do justice to the talent on stage, but have no doubt the talent is there and every member of the cast puts their best foot forward. See it for the spectacle …you won’t be sorry.
BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS continues every night but Mondays through December 19, 2010 at San Jose Repertory Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose. Tickets $35.00-$74.00 by phone: 408 367 7255 or online www.sjrep.com or in person.