In 1957, the same year Sputnik launched,
the Edsel flopped and the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles,
two Bensonhurst boys, Marty Joltin and Steve Judanger formed
the doo-wop group, Marty and the Joltineers. A short while later,
John Cipriani of Red Hook joined them to form The Vocal Lords.
A year later, just as the group was gaining momentum with the
recording of their first single, "At Seventeen," Joltin
left to pursue a career in printing. It was 30 years before Joltin
and Judanger saw each other again.
This real-life story is the basis for Eric Winick’s "The
Vocal Lords," now on stage at the Theatre at St. Clement’s
in Manhattan, directed by Floyd Rumohr and presented by Fort
Greene’s Chekhov Theatre Ensemble.
Winick, who was the membership and marketing director for The
Drama League, first met Joltin about five years ago when he began
dropping off work at Joltin’s 42nd Street print shop. One day,
Joltin told Winick that he had cut a record when he was a kid,
and the playwright became fascinated with the dramatic potential
of his story.
After hundreds of conversations at the print shop and a three-hour
interview with Joltin and Judanger, Winick had not only uncovered
their story, but also discovered the inspiration for his own
play.
When Winick, who had worked with the Chekhov Theatre Ensemble
as a dramaturge in the 1999 production of "The Good Lover,"
pitched his idea to the ensemble’s artistic director, Rumohr,
there was an immediate connection. Together they brought the
play to life.
In "The Vocal Lords," the elder Marty (Joe Ragno) and
Steve (Philip Levy) are reunited in Marty’s print shop through
a strange coincidence. In a series of reminiscences, reflections
and awkward moments, the two review those dazzling days in Brooklyn
when doo-wop (nonsense words sung in harmony) ruled.
Scenes in the present alternate with flashbacks in which young
Marty a.k.a. Butchie (Ethan James Duff) and young Steve a.k.a.
Tudie (Fred Berman) argue, lust after girls, form their group,
and most of all, sing in perfect harmony. "The Vocal Lords"
happily features many fresh arrangements of doo-wop hits that
topped the charts in the ’50s: "Silhouettes on the Shade,"
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Why Do Fools Fall
in Love?"
Slowly and tantalizingly, both the older men and the young boys
reveal the rift that led to their parting company and following
their own paths – Marty to a house and family on Long Island;
and Steve to the Four-Evers, the background vocal group for Al
Kasha, Dan Crewe, Tracy Day and Vic Thomas, and later to singing
the jingles for hundreds of products including Mounds Almond
Joy, Lifesavers, Lollipop, Toyota and Summer’s Eve Disposable
Douche.
Set designer Russell Michael Schramm has created a very detailed
and realistic print shop, complete with desks, piles of boxes
and file cabinets in a general mess, which dominates center stage.
The flashbacks take place mainly off to the side by a lamppost
on top of a low brick wall, and sometimes downstage.
Andrea Huelse has dressed both old and young in clothing fresh
off the streets of New York City, circa 1958 or 2001.
Together they set the stage for the combination of dream, memory
and harsh reality that inform "The Vocal Lords." But
it is the lords themselves who rule.
Philip Levy, in stance, looks, and tone seems to be much like
someone Rumohr discovered on the subway on his way to work and
convinced to act in the play. Ragno looks and acts as if he were
born in a print shop. Both have that same natural believability
that made Jimmy Stewart so effective and affecting.
Duff and Berman in the younger roles are a bit more polished,
as they should be, but every bit as convincing. Add to this their
youthful exuberance and their perfect pitch, and the result is
a powerful performance and a counterpoint to the older men that
is never counterfeit.
"The Vocal Lords" plays for an hour and 45 minutes
without intermission. That’s a long time for an audience to sit
still, especially for a play that has many scenes with little
or no action and much slow dialogue. Despite a theme that was
personally significant, excellent acting and memorable music,
this reviewer found herself occasionally looking at her watch
– dangerous moments in the life of a play.
Rumohr and Winick would do well to re-evaluate some of the dialogue
and the delivery in "The Vocal Lords." Realistic conversation
on stage is not the conversation of our everyday lives, but rather
conversation made to sound like those in our everyday lives,
minus the repetitions, non sequiturs and extraneous content.
And pauses, no matter how effective, need to be used sparingly
or the slow pace will try the patience of even the most sympathetic
audience.
Nevertheless, most people will be happy to bear with these minor
flaws. "The Vocal Lords" is excellent theater – entertaining,
moving and meaningful for audiences of all ages.
The Chekhov Theatre Ensemble’s production
of "The Vocal Lords" plays in Manhattan through June
9 at the Theatre at St. Clement’s [423 W. 46th St. between Ninth
and Tenth avenues], Tuesday through Saturday at 8 pm, with 2
pm matinees on Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets are $24 and $18
for students and seniors. For reservations call Ticket Central
at (212) 279-4200. For further information visit www.chekhovtheatre.org.
