Some Fanatics (Old Globe)

'Some Lovers'Credits: A Vintage Globe presentation from the musical in one act with book and lyrics by Steven Sater and music by Burt Bacharach. Directed by Will Frears. Musical staging, Denis Manley. Music supervisor, Lon Hoyt. Orchestrations, Jonathan Tunick. Vocal design, Annmarie Milazzo. Ben - Jason Danieley Molly - Michelle Duffy Youthful Ben - Andrew Mueller Youthful Molly - Jenni Barber"Some Fanatics," the completely new Burt Bacharach-Steven Sater vestpocket tuner, took its inspiration within the dual irony of O. Henry's "Gift in the Magi": Husband sells watch to buy wife hair hair combs, while wife sells tresses to buy spouse watchfob. There's irony within the Old Globe, too, because octogenarian composer Bacharach brings youthful quality for the project, because the youthful man's work (Sater written "Spring Awakening") is lifeless and dull. The show has some sparkle, but it's a meandering romance. Blocked, heavy-consuming tunesmith Ben (Jason Danieley) uses Christmas Eve becoming an chance to try and reunite with ex-g.f. and muse Molly (Michelle Duffy). Maybe they've both caught the Gotham revival of "Follies," since they conjure their youthful selves (Andrew Mueller and Jenni Barber) to go to lower a musical memory lane and deal with what went awry. The cast is sensational. Danieley and Duffy are confident pros to whom, inside an earlier theatrical era, original musicals might have happened every season. The kids match them step for a part of charisma and brio. Bacharach -- within the first stage tuner since "Promises, Promises" in (could it be?) 1968 -- provides sweet, soaring tunes for past and provide incarnations from the mismatched pair, while eschewing his once-signature tricky time signatures (naturally, since the figures are very square). Nevertheless the writing! "Some Fanatics" plays being an extended bout of couples therapy, in which the participants sing around their problems while never exactly interacting anything germane or interesting. As near to you can create, NYU business major Molly falls deeply deeply in love with Ben because of his capacity to create fine tunes she inspires. But she'll get pissed off when his creative mania causes him to miss visits and acquire distracted around the vacation. Does she esteem his gift -- his "ghost," she grimly calls it -- or doesn't she? He starts turning out hits once he shacks up by getting an not named singer. It's strictly professional, but Molly rapidly demands he give "that girl" up, after which it his career falls apart. Then she keeps nattering he should get yourself a "real job," marry her and supply her a baby. The bottom line is, a bigger portrait from the jealous, controlling, castrating harpy is tough to visualize. Sater sways on strained parallels while using O. Henry story instead of grounding the figures in specificity. When Molly supplies a very pointed laugh line in regards to the Nativity Magi, you'll be able to literally start to see the audience awaken from the torpor. Meanwhile, his lyrics wallow in past tense expressions of generic pop sentiment, the near-rhyming of "Spring Awakening" absolutely abnormal among precise thinkers like Ben and Molly. (Sooner or later Sater really rhymes "summer season/other/lover" right back to back. Paging Hal David.) Helmer Will Frears and musical stager Denis Manley are capable of doing little using this material except hold the cast saunter across the arena stage. In the final irony, Takeshi Kata's untidy set can be as cluttered with naturalistic detail as Sater's script is bereft from this.Versions, Takeshi Kata costumes, Jenny Mannis lighting, Ben Stanton appear, Leon Rothenberg. Opened up up 12 ,. 7, 2011. Examined 12 ,. 13. Running time: 95 MIN. Musical Amounts: "Molly," "Aren't We?" "Some Fanatics," "Aren't We?/Another Start," "Love Me with an Hour," "Dealing With a Ghost," "Popular to suit your needs,In . "Window Shoppin' and Dreamin' Dreams," "Really The Only Music I Recognize,In . "The Woman Who Sang My Tunes," "Hold Me," "A Thousand Items That Had You Been,Inch "Thank you for going to My World," "Ready to Be Accomplished Together With YouOrA 1000 Items That Had You Been (Reprise)," "Every Other Hour," "Just Leave,Inch "This Christmas," "Hush," "This Christmas" (Finale). Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com