Mastervoices presents George Gershwin's "Let 'Em Eat Cake" - New York City Article

Mastervoices presents George Gershwin’s “Let ‘Em Eat Cake”
Carnegie Hall
57th Street & 7th Avenue
Thursday November 21

Other than Porgy and Bess, virtually none of George Gershwin’s actual shows are regularly revived or even staged in concert - which is why there are at least a half dozen Gershwin “catalog” productions (My One and Only, Crazy For You, Nice Work If You Can It, An American in Paris). A large portion of his canon is devoted to political satire-driven musical comedies that are, if not exactly dated, very, very specific to their era. George and Ira Gershwin wrote at least three of these, but only one was a resounding hit - Of Thee I Sing (1931) - indeed, one of the most successful shows of the entire Depression era and the composer’s entire career. Two years after that blockbuster, the same team (George and Ira doing the songs, with a book by George S. Kaufman & Morrie Ryskind) tried something unusual - one of the first “sequel” shows. (No, there had never been Son of Show Boat.) The received wisdom regarding Let ‘Em Eat Cake is that overall, it’s every bit as good as Of Thee I Sing, but that in 1931 audiences were more inclined to laugh at the Depression, whereas by 1933, with fascism overtaking Europe, somehow the usual antics just didn’t seem funny any more. Still, it was an excellent show, with tons of wonderful choral writing, and some especially witty Gilbert-&-Sullivan-esque patter lyrics from brother Ira (especially on “Union Square”), as well as political gags (the book is being adapted by Kaufman historian Laurence Maslon) that undoubtedly come off as more relevant than ever in this current age of political quid-pro-quo. And there’s also “Mine,” an Irving Berlin-influenced contrapuntal duet that shows how Gershwin, already deep at work on Porgy, was already thinking operatically. Lastly, there’s also an excellent cast, with Bryce Pinkham, Mikaela Bennett,Christopher Fitzgerald, Fred Applegate, Chuck Cooper, and Lewis J. Stadlen.

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