Review of: 110 in the Shade

I have always had a soft spot for the ugly duckling story so in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of 110 in the Shade, based on the classic ugly duckling play, The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash, it was difficult for me not to get choked up. Not because the production is a good one, mind you, but because Audra McDonald as the duck in question, gives one of those performances that elevates mundane material to a level of artistry.

During the droughts of the 1930's that made dustbowls of Oklahoma and Texas, the Curry family suffers with everyone else as their farm begins to crumble. The smart and energetic Lizzie Curry (Ms. McDonald) has just returned from her visit with relations where her hopes of finding a husband dry up faster than land around her. Even though the attraction between her and the town sheriff, File (Christopher Innvar), is apparent to everyone, File refuses to indulge in any kind of relationship since the loss of his wife. Only Lizzie's brother, Noah (Chris Butler), looks at things realistically and spells out the life that his sister is doomed to live - that of a spinster who will nevertheless be looked after. Lizzie's father, H.C. (John Cullum) and her younger brother, Jimmy (Bobby Steggert), refuse to let Lizzie's hopes get dashed. When a con-man, Starbuck (Steve Kazee), struts into town with the promise of making it rain, it's not the only miracle he has up his sleeve. Everyone knows where the story goes from there.

Harvey Schmidt's music never goes beyond mildly pleasant, the odd note occasionally catching one's ear, while the lyrics of Tom Jones don't tell us anything we don't already know. Lonny Price's direction is fluid but he has all of the actors, except for his star and Mr. Cullum, playing full tilt into stereotypes with Mr. Steggert's 'dumb' routine becoming especially annoying. Mr. Kazee's hair-tossing Starbuck reads like an audition for the musical of Jeckyll & Hyde and he has a tendency to go flat, while Mr. Innvar and Mr. Butler only register as far as the dialogue allows them. Mr. Cullum has the professional smarts to underplay, letting a few layers accumulate to form a full-bodied person.

Yet, it is clear from the start that this is Ms. McDonald's show. Along with Jonathan Tunick's lush orchestrations, she makes the score something more special than it is. Not a lyric or a note goes by without it having mean something worthwhile, and her acting finds the heartbeat that makes Lizzie tick. Plain she may be but who couldn't see the light that radiates from within her even when drenched with the long-awaited welcome deluge. Like her musical Roundabout predecessor this season, Kristen Chenoweth, Ms. McDonald takes a so-so show and manages to keep it afloat. How unfortunate that the Roundabout won't shell out to make the productions around them their equals. Even Santo Loquasto's set for 'Rainmaker' feels like a repainted version of John Lee Beatty's for 'Apple Tree' and to me a Broadway chorus should average more than 6 and ¾ people no matter how loud they're 'miked'.

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