New Musical in Manhattan

By the Beautiful Sea (music & lyrics by Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy Fields; book by Dorothy and Herbert Fields) is a cheerful spot, at least till the tide starts running out. A lavish musical about early-in-the-century Coney Island, it has a bright and diverting first act, and it has Shirley Booth all the way. Shirley Booth may not be to musicomedy what Ethel Merman or Mary Martin is, but she is one of the wonders of show business. Her personal warmth almost seems to constitute (or render superfluous) a style of acting: her Lottie Gibson seems a triumph of little more than charm, bad grammar and a sort of rented singing voice. But quite equal to her natural appeal is her brilliantly unobtrusive, indirect-lighted showmanship.

Actress Booth is well cast as a trouper who also runs a theatrical boarding house; and it is too bad that the raffish life of show folk is not oftener blended with the razzle-dazzle of the Midway. Instead, the uninspired libretto ordains that Lottie shall fall for a divorced Shakespearean actor with a troubled and troublesome daughter, and that their romance shall not only run on & on, but eventually trudge and finally creep.

The high jinks rather slow down, too. But while Shirley is dancing a clog and singing In the Good Old Summertime against Composer Schwartz's Coney Island Boat, or while she is riding with Wilbur Evans through the Tunnel of Love, or going up in a Fourth of July balloon, it is all very festive. And when Mae Barnes lets go with Happy Habit, or sparks the second act with Hang Up, it is all very fine. Arthur Schwartz's score is pleasant; there are some lively Tamiris dances and attractive Mielziner sets. The show needs more boardwalk and less book, but Shirley Booth makes amends, on the whole, for Shakespeare.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.