'No, No, Nanette': Positively Silly, but Fun to Watch

The cast in the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre production carry on in the musical's inanely sweet style. Below, Dan Cullen and Kathleen J. McCormack in the leading roles of Nanette and her fiance, Tom. (Photos By Kevin D. Mccormack)

After a hearty meal, you like something light and sweet, right? Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre has just the thing for you. It's "No, No, Nanette," billed as "the New 1925 Musical," and it will beat you over the head with light and frothy sweetness.

It may have been the Roaring Twenties for most, but it was the Snoring Twenties for the writers of this confection, five guys you've never heard of who strung together a bunch of mostly forgettable tunes, linked by the flimsiest of plots, and managed to make a mild hit out of it in 1925. (Maybe theatergoers needed a break from all that roaring.)

Except for two songs that developed lives of their own, the peppy "I Want to Be Happy" and the slyly lilting "Tea for Two," which is a much lovelier song than you may realize, this show might have been forgotten except for a revamped 1971 Broadway version that was a bigger hit than the original.

Lazy Susan is using the 1971 version, which takes quite a while to generate momentum. Eventually the hardworking cast gets it moving, taking the audience rapidly through the tunes, terrible jokes and insipid story, while stopping occasionally for some fun-to-watch tap dancing.

Director Kevin D. McCormack embraces the silliness, pasting inane expressions on the faces of his two dozen cast members and pushing them to cartoonlike performances.

Act 1 remains flat and enervated, however, its 45 minutes passing

v . . . e . . . r . . . y slowly in a deluxe Manhattan apartment despite the first of several versions of "I Want to Be Happy."

Act 2 begins in Atlantic City with a long but entertaining musical interlude called "Peach on the Beach," featuring a wide range of oceanside dance high jinks choreographed by Pamela M. McCormack. The cast has so much fun here that its energy remains high through the rest of the act and carries over into Act 3.

The slender story has Jimmy Smith (Devon D. Clark), a well-to-do publisher of Bibles, financially assisting three lovely young ladies, none of whom is his wife. This being the 1920s, it's all perfectly platonic, of course, but Jimmy becomes nervous that his wife, Sue (Dena Ariel Kolb), may not understand.

He asks lawyer Billy Early (Brian Grudzinski) to pay off the girls and get rid of them. Meanwhile, the Smiths' ward, a flighty flapper named Nanette (Kathleen J. McCormack) wants to travel down to Atlantic City for some fun with her gal pals before marrying boring straight-arrow Tom (Dan Cullen). Everybody ends up by the sea and the story peters out somewhere in the second act, although the show coasts along nicely on songs and dance until the end of Act 3.

Kolb stops the show in its first explosion of tap dancing in "I Want to Be Happy," leading an ensemble of zaftig chorines. The song pops up again when Julie Wolf, one of Jimmy's three problematic lady friends, does a smoky, down-and-dirty version played for laughs and heats up the joint.

"Tea for Two" anchors Act 2, with goofy Tom and ingenue Nanette starting it off as a lovely duet before the ensemble expands the simple but elegant melody into a full-fledged dance number. It works well either way. Anne Stuecker makes her way through several vapid songs as Billy's wife, Lucille, before coming to the solid "Where Has My Hubby Gone Blues," showing she can master the stage when she has good material.

Kathleen McCormack may have the title role, but Nanette does not dominate the show. McCormack displays an easy charm and pleasant voice. But the main attractions are the dance numbers and the colorful, nicely detailed flapper-era costumes from Pat Koster, both making for good eye candy.

"No, No, Nanette" continues through Dec. 31 at Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre, Route 1 at Furnace Road, Woodbridge. Performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:30 p.m. Saturdays and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets, including dinner, are $36.95 Sundays and Tuesdays-Fridays, $39.95 Saturdays; $30, children 11-15; and $20, age 10 and younger. For reservations and dining information, call 703-550-7384 or visithttp://www.lazysusan.com.