MATING CALL

By T.E.Kalem

THE FIVE O'CLOCK GIRL Book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson; Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby The Goodspeed Opera House of East Haddam, Conn., loves to rummage in the attic of the U.S. musical. Working with old and all-but-forgotten shows, the Goodspeed team, under Michael P. Price, displays the devotion and skill that a master restorer lavishes on a great painting.

The Goodspeed's latest New York entry, 1927's The Five O'Clock Girl, is as perishable as a butterfly's wings and possesses the same gossamer enchantment. In this never-ever land, a laundry-girl slavey, Patricia Brown (Lisby Larson), develops a crush on a bachelor socialite, Gerald Brooks (Roger Rathburn), and telephones his penthouse every afternoon.

Before AT&T ever thought of it, Patricia has reached out and touched someone. Gerald, who looks as solid as Wall Street before the '29 crash, is love smitten. With a generous helping of comic relief, including Timothy Wallace playing a musical saw, omnia vincit amor.

Of course, the plot is not the point. The savory core of this musical is song and dance. The tuneful seductiveness of the score, especially Thinking of You, Any Little Thing, Up in the Clouds, is not to be found in Evita, Barnum or 42nd Street. Choreographer Dan Siretta sculptures stage space with stylized forms, and his Dancing the Devil Away is a New York prairie fire kindled with tap shoes. The show is not for worrywarts who want to cure the world's ills with a $25 donation.

Just pretend you're a tired businessman and have a darling time. --By T.E.Kalem

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