This past Sunday evening's performance of Minnie's Boys, the first show in The York Theatre Company's summer line-up of Musicals in Mufti, was postponed nearly forty minutes while we waited for the fire-department to save the people trapped in the elevator. Those of us sitting in our seats during those forty minutes, anticipating the final concert performance of this Larry Grossman/Hal Hackady musical starring Pamela "Another Hundred People" Meyers, certainly thought ourselves fortunate not to be the ones stuck in the elevator. But not necessarily for reasons one might assume.
It can't be much fun being stuck in an elevator, and I hope never to find myself in that predicament. But the folks at The York know how to take what could have been an annoyance for those of us sitting and waiting and turn it into a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
When, at about ten minutes after the intended curtain, player Jim Walton (Broadway's original Franklin Shepard, Inc. in Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along) bounded across the stage and sat at the piano, I was confused. Frequent York actor and musical director Matt Castle (most recently of another Sondheim/Furth collaboration, the John Doyle revival of Company) was to be the MD for this performance, no? Perhaps this was a fun gimmicky thing to--finally--start the show?
Then Producing Artistic Director James Morgan anounced news of the elevator crisis and told us that in the interim, Jim Walton would be taking requests. He began with what I can only describe as an intentionally dubious and utterly hilarious rendition of "The Man on the Flying Trapeze." He then asked for requests. As I sat in my seat wondering if I should ask for the Kander and Ebb song "Sara Lee" that he sang in And the World Goes 'Round, someone else beat me to it. We all got to join in for the chorus, as well as sing-along renditions of "On the Sunny Side of the Street" and "Ain't Misbehavin'" (as per my father's request for some Fats Waller, which resulted first in a delightful Jim Walton original melody set to the lyric "Fats Waller"). The real highlight for me was when he began the opening vamp from "Good Thing Going," a favorite from the ill-fated Merrily We Roll Along, and almost directly segued into my personal favorite, "Not a Day Goes By." The performance was peppered with anecdotes about the original production, including a story about Lonny Price whispering "There are actually people in the balcony!" at the top of the second act during a preview performance. He was not joined by any of his fellow Minnie's Boys castmates, but they seemed to enjoy heckling him from the wings.
Then the heroes of the evening came in. No, not the firemen, the brave people who took one for the team in that elevator so the rest of us could listen to the glorious Jim Walton. They received a huge round of entrance applause--almost as much as Pamela Meyers received upon her entrance.
After the show--which was wonderful--I asked Jim Walton if he does birthday parties. He said, "No, but I can." Just something to keep in mind if you have a birthday coming up!
Edit: I've just learned from Jim Morgan at tonight's Mufti performance of Goodtime Charley that there is a video of the heroes themselves in the elevator, and it's been posted on YouTube. So, here it is, folks:
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