Stage Door: The World Goes 'Round (2 reviews)

Stage Door Theatre Company opened its production of The World Goes 'Round at its Coral Springs location on December 28, 2012.

Enter the world of distinguished and celebrated writing team Kander and Ebb.

In this outstanding retrospective of their work, your favorite songs such as "Mr. Cellophane," "Maybe this Time,"  "Cabaret," and "New York, New York" are seemelessly interwoven into a passionate, harmonious, up-tempo evening of musical theatre.

Dave Campbell directed a cast that featured Jerome Doerger, Laura Lacara, Liz Fallon, Erin Pittleman, and Matthew Montana.  Musical direction by Dave Nagy.

Christine Dolen reviewed for The Miami Herald:

With deft onstage accompaniment by musical director-pianist Dave Nagy, bass player Rupert Ziawinski and drummer Roy Fantel, three women and two men largely deliver the musical pleasures, laughs and razzle-dazzle moments that The World Goes ‘Round demands.

Campbell gets his cast dancing too, showcasing Liz Fallon and Matthew Montana in work that doesn’t look as quite as effortless as it should in the space circled by Tim Webb’s backdrop set, which references Kander and Ebb’s music-and-words collaboration. The incorporation of Bob Fosse-style choreography on All that Jazz doesn’t work either, as no one quite pulls off Fosse’s signature moves.

The five singer-actors change costumes frequently, sometimes looking great, as in the blue-toned outfits they wear at the end of the show. But some of the costumes provided for the women by Raquel Carles are unflattering or ill-fitting.

Erin Pittleman delivers many of the revue’s highlight moments... Lacara shines on Maybe This Time from Cabaret, Fallon on A Quiet Thing from Flora, the Red Menace. Both guys have strong voices, and the five-performer blend is truly fine. But in terms of getting this World spinning and mining its delights, the Stage Door production is powered by its women.

Michelle F. Solomon wrote for Florida Theater On Stage:

...collaboration ends up being the key here, too, as this particular group of performers fare better as an ensemble, or in a duet or trio, than they do as soloists.

LaCara’s swagger carries her through, but when the big finish requires bravado, her voice isn’t up to the task. She’s more at home showing off her comic timing in two duets with Pittleman...

Pittleman channels a young Barbra Streisand for three numbers... She is one of the more successful soloists, handily nuancing her performances with drama or comedy when called for, but she struggles vocally when the score calls for a range of higher notes.

Fallon, the third female in the group, is given some of the more difficult numbers that require a strong dancer as well as a singer... Fallon appears less than confident in the dominant dance numbers, and the choreography is made to look more difficult and cumbersome than director/choreographer Dave Campbell surely intended.

Doerger does some fancy pushups... and plays a diva-esque choreographer browbeating his charges in Pain, but his big showcase number, Kiss of the Spiderwoman in Act II, which should leave the audience breathless, never quite hits its stride.

The stand out is Montana who outshines at every turn... He can sing, dance and act, and does all with a smooth finesse.

The showstoppers, though, are the ensemble numbers. Here, the individual talents come together as a company, and where their weaknesses show as soloists, the group numbers bring their strengths to the fore.

Stage Door Theatre has a knack for knowing what makes the world go ’round for its dedicated audience base — recognizable musical numbers that will leave them humming a familiar tune or two on the way out of the theater. The World Goes ‘Round offers more than a generous dose.

 The World Goes Round plays at the Broward Stage Door Theatre through January 20, 2013.