A Class Act

One of showbiz’s more prickly characters, Ed Kleban, lyricist of A Chorus Line, is eulogized in the new musical A CLASS ACT. Kleban would remind us of the endearing albeit neurotic Woody Allen were it not for this troll-like depiction by Lonnie Price who co-wrote the book and directs this production.

Told through Kleban’s own, never-before-heard songs, A CLASS ACT begins with his memorial service, a performance that he planned. In his own words, "I let them have one big laugh before it’s over, one more beautiful song". In spite of his attendant narcissism, the kind that led him to prepare his own eulogy and direct its staging "in a large building in a central part of town," Kleban apparently had the joy of remarkable friendships. Most importantly his long time companion, Rusty, portrayed by Randy Graff with warmth and lots of tenderness, his compatriots from the BMI music workshop where he trained and his colleagues, Michael Bennett and Marvin Hamlish, brilliantly caricatured by Jeff Blumenkrantz and David Hubbard respectively.

Unfortunately, the production and its message are just too amateurish. A musical about the unsung hero of A Chorus Line contradicts the singular sensation which made that musical a hit. And the search for humanity through the caricature of various Broadway personalities has got to be a misfit.

In spite of some tuneful numbers, A CLASS ACT is a "warts and all" musical biography that suffers from too many warts and too much self-consciousness. Add the crackle and pop of the faulty sound system, the bare staging and clumsy choreography and you have one more musical flop.

This is Isa Goldberg for Theatre Review.