A successful Rodgers and Hart musical from 1938, I Married an Angel has been lovingly brought to life for one week as part of the Encores! series. George Balanchine was the original choreographer of this show. Vera Zorina was Angel and married Mr. Balanchine during the run. The piece is decidedly old school (and dated) but this fine glossy production allows musical theater fans an opportunity to revisit this silly chesnut.
In Budapest, Count Willy Palaffi (Mark Evans) is a successful banker but is having difficulties with women. His sister, the Countess Palaffi (Nikki M. James), is trying to find him a spouse. Willy decides that he will only marry an angel. Miraculously one arrives from heaven and wedded bliss unfolds. Unfortunately on Earth and in the real world, a truth-telling perfectionist can cause all sorts of problems. Those slips include insulting an older woman with honesty about her appearance as well as disclosing problems at her husband’s bank.
Mr. Balanchine had been actively participating in the evolution of the Broadway musical at this time. Two years earlier, he had a smash hit with On The Town which featured the “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” ballet. Incorporating dance and storytelling on Broadway would advance further in the 1940s with Agnes DeMille and Jerome Robbins. I Married an Angel is firmly part of important musical theater history. The show features creative dances such as the geography traveling “Honeymoon Ballet’ and the multiple fantasy sections in the second act.
Storytelling purists might wonder why a show set in Budapest celebrates and pokes fun at New York’s cavernous Roxy Music Hall. This was the time when Radio City first opened. The Roxyettes became significantly more famous when they switched venues and were renamed the Rockettes in 1935. Any opportunity to find space for dance is embraced in this show. The serious research employed in producing this revival (including original music, scripts, notes and footage) transports the audience back to another age.
Not all of the humor is appropriate for today. There are certainly jokes about women and what the phrase going for a “walk in the garden” really implies. The sexual innuendo overall seemed generally harmless. A subplot between the Countess (formerly a young teenage actress) and the wealthy Harry Szigetti (Tom Robbins) references a prior relationship when she was fifteen years old. It’s a tad icky but well handled and, frankly, shines some insight on that era.
Directed and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, his wife (New York City Ballet’s Sara Mearns) is an en pointe Angel. All of the dancing in this show was extremely entertaining. The scene stealers Hayley Podschun and Phillip Attmore lead the first act showstopper “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Tap and ballet share the stage with more humorous vignettes. There is a real feeling of being transported back to an entertainment style from long ago. I Married an Angel is a perfect choice for the 25th anniversary of this series. Where else can you see such magic resurrected with this level of quality and polish?
As Count Willy, Mark Evans (The Play That Goes Wrong) confidently joins the ever-increasing list of outstanding male leads who deliver a great character performance at Encores! His singing and acting were very strong and nicely fit the period. Broadway does not create enough roles (and traditional Broadway song styles) for these talented individuals. Watching them excel in breathing life into these old theater treasures is a major reason to enjoy these revivals.
The creative team has given this show a beautiful staging, notably with Alejo’s Vietti’s costumes. For dedicated fans of musical theater who embrace the rare opportunity to see a hit show exhumed from 1938, I Married an Angel is catnip. As a bonus, there’s even an opportunity to learn a few things about women. The question posed: “Are all women bad?” The answer: “Only the good ones.”
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