Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – CSC presents a smashing, timely revival of I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE led by a sensational Santino Fontana

• By drediman
• October 31, 2023
• No Comments

Last night, Classic Stage Company’s production of I Can Get It for You Wholesale open Off-Broadway, and boy is it a knockout. Set during the Great Depression, the musical — which features a book by Jerome Weidman (based on his own novel; the revised book is by John Weidman, the author’s son) and a score by Harold Rome — charts the ruthless rags to riches rise of one Harry Bogen from a destitute shipping clerk in New York’s Garment District to a 7th Avenue mogul (the musical will likely draw comparisons to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Fiddler on the Roof). Perhaps best known for a then 19-year-old Barbra Streisand’s Tony-nominated Broadway debut as Miss Marmelstein, the musical has only been sporadically produced since its original 1962 production. 

Enter CSC’s smashing revival. Director Trip Cullman does an expert job of shaping this admittedly odd musical into truly compelling — often chilling, timely — theater. Taking his cue from former artistic director John Doyle, his staging is focused and elegantly stripped down, emphasizing emotional specifity over of painstaking physical representations of setting. His beautifully calibrated production delivers a spirited first act that’s simply musical theater heaven. Cullman handles the second act’s somber turn tastefully, coloring the show’s unsavory aspects and its overarching attention to Jewish culture with great care and nuance. Additionally, Rome’s rich score — informed largely by Jewish music traditions — sounds fantastic, thanks in large part to a small but excellent orchestra and CSC’s much improved sound system/design.

As for the cast, it can hardly be bettered. Led by the sensational, immensely charismatic Santino Fontana (a deserved Tony-winner for his leading performance in Tootsie) as Harry Bogen, the musical is in terrifically capable hands. Indeed, the production is filled to the brim with superb, carefully drawn performances — from Judy Kuhn’s devastating Mrs. Bogen, to Julia Lester’s scene-stealing Miss Marmelstein, to Joy Woods’ luscious Martha Mills, to Adam Chanler-Berat’s sensitive Meyer Bushkin, to Rebecca Naomi Jones’ unrequited Ruthie Rivkin, and so forth. All in all, CSC’s production is one of the finest revivals I’ve come across in recent memory. This I Can Get It for You Wholesale wholeheartedly deserves a future life.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE
Off-Broadway, Musical
Classic Stage Company
2 hours, 30 minutes (including one intermission)
Through December 3