New Musical in Manhattan

Marinka (music by Emmerich Kalman; book and lyrics by George Marion Jr. & Karl Farkas; produced by Jules J. Leventhal & Harry Howard) is the cinema Mayerling in routine operetta form--which means Mayerling with a happy ending but some fairly unhappy flourishes en route.

This version of the love story of the Austro-Hungarian royal heir (Harry Stockwell) and his unroyal Marinka (Joan Roberts) furnishes a good deal more low comedy than high romance. It is told without style or period elegance, in a lurching effort to reconcile antics with atmosphere. As a result, the Alt Wien of 1888 and the Broadway of 1945 constantly collide, and neither wins out. The whole thing merely smacks of something in between the two--operetta the world over, circa 1912.

As such, Marinka has its points--such as: Composer Kalman's (Sari, Countess Maritza) tuneful if highly derivative music, and Albertina Rasch's conventionally pretty dances. In addition, both Howard Bay's sets and Mary Grant's costumes have a more than popular charm. But more than offsetting these assets is the fundamental fact that Marinka has been cast as limply as it was conceived. The two lovers have all the Old World grace of northern Indiana, and no one else in the cast, save for a comedy siren named Luba Malina, has a scrap of real personality.

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