If Anything Goes on a 1930s luxury liner, what sorts of events might be taking place aboard a chic, first-class train of the same era? The answer is lots of railroading--and that's not just the mode of transportation--in the musical comedy On the 20th Century, by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, with a score by prominent
Broadway composer Cy Coleman.
The top-notch songwriting duo of Comden and Green proved their talent for capturing the sound of a bygone time with Singin' in the Rain, probably one of the most beloved musicals ever. With their 1978 musical On the 20th Century, Comden and Green do for the 1930s screwball comedy genre what they did for the advent of talkies: reimagine it in truly memorable style.
American Musical Theatre of San Jose brings comedy star JoAnne Worley and longtime AMTSJ favorite Jamie Torcellini all aboard for this production, which opens Oct. 31 and runs through Nov. 16.
This freewheeling musical is based on the play Twentieth Century, which also became a successful film in the '30s starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. The story for the play, film and musical is the same: Oscar, a down-on-his-luck producer, books a berth on the posh Twentieth Century Limited with hopes of cajoling his former protégée, Lily--now a big movie star--into coming back to work for him.
Lily is bunking with her current co-star and beau while Oscar woos her back with promises of a plum role in a lavish film that will be bankrolled by Mrs. Primrose, a rather eccentric fellow passenger. But it looks like it all will get derailed when it turns out that the funding for the movie may be phony.
American Musical Theatre of San Jose presents "On the 20th Century," Oct. 31Nov. 16 at the San Jose Center for Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose. Tickets are $44.50-$75.50. For more information, call 888.455.SHOW or visit www.amtsj.org.
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