A Review

From SpeakEasy Stage Company

What He Did For Love

By R. J. Donovan

Mention the name Edward Kleban to most people and you'd probably get a blank stare. Mention the name Edward Kleban to a theater fan, and you still might not get a look of immediate awareness.

The late Edward Kleban was lyricist for the Tony Award winning "A Chorus Line." And while the show brought various degrees of recognition to people like composer Marvin Hamlisch, director Michael Bennett and dancer Donna McKechnie, Kleban never quite achieved the household-name fame he might have -- or should have.

Born in the Bronx, Kleban attended the High School of Music and Art and Columbia College before going to work as a producer for Columbia Records. He was also a member of Lehman Engel's BMI Musical Theatre Workshop where he developed many of his songs.

Immensely talented, Kleban was hounded by any number of demons and phobias, many of them self inflicted. Quirky, emotional, crazy and lovable, he wrote beautiful words and music. But somehow, his career never reached the heights it should have, despite enormous passion and insight.

Prior to "A Chorus Line," he fretted that he would never be a success. After it, with a Tony, a Pulitzer and assorted other honors in hand, the worry was that he would never be able to top himself. (Even with the success of "A Chorus Line,” he was still disappointed that he was forced into a collaboration with Marvin Hamlisch and couldn't write both music and lyrics on his own.)

A host of compositions from his vast songbook make up the score of "A Class Act," directed by Paul Daigneault in its New England premiere from SpeakEasy Stage Company through March 22.

"A Class Act" originally debuted at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York in 2000, transferred to Broadway and subsequently earned itself a bundle of Tony nominations including one as Best Musical.

While none of the songs were originally about Kleban, in essence, they are all about Kleban in that they came from his prolific heart. He lived in his compositions. Here they have been lovingly fashioned together to tell the story of his life -- not in a "and then I wrote" manner," but as true illustration and storytelling.

We begin at a memorial service for Kleban -- which Kleban attends as an invisible guest. From institutionalization through workshop sessions, to shows that never made it to the stage, to his relationships, his success with "A Chorus Line," his failures, his firings and his premature death at the age of 48, the man's life is examined as one giant flashback -- warts and all.

Aside from the fact that the show is brightly and thoughtfully presented, the most intriguing aspect of the piece (to me anyway) is the sly way the show subtly comments on itself from start to finish.

As one example, there's a BMI workshop discussion of "charm songs" and how they are utilized. Before you're aware of it, there's one being used on you.

As Kleban lays dying near the end of the show, he sings “Self Portrait,” a song from his hospital bed about how he wishes he had let people know him better. He acknowledges that his song comes too late in his life, mirroring how it also comes late in the evening's story.

Jon Blackstone (below right) plays Kleban, employing just the right combination of tormented artist and endearing nebbish misfit. His "Self Portrait" finale is very moving, but I also enjoyed his touching delivery of “Paris Through The Window” as well as the relaxed way he sailed through the upbeat “Gauguin’s Shoes.”

SpeakEasy favorite Kerry Dowling (left) once again turns in a warm performance, here portraying Sophie, Ed's childhood sweetheart and friend for life. Dowling gets the best ballad of the show, “The Next Best Thing To Love,” and she makes the most of it.

Coming off her success as Fosca in last season's "Passion," Leigh Barrett brings a powerful voice to the role of Lucy, based on Kleban’s actual companion (and co-creator of the show). Emily Swanson, a student at Boston Conservatory making her SpeakEasy debut, adds a nice quality to the alluring Mona, with whom Kleban has a dalliance. (Swanson also has that undefinable quality that draws you in whenever she's onstage.)

Rounding out the ensemble cast is: Joe Siriani as Lehman Engel, mentor and gentle tormentor; Will McGarrahan as Kleban's dimwitted friend Bobby and later as a slick Michael Bennett; Andrew Miramontes as friend Charley and later in a quick spot as an impetuous Marvin Hamlisch (who will have a coronary if he ever sees Miramontes spoof of him); and Gretchen Goldsworthy who's a little over the top as Felicia, initially Kleban’s colleague and eventually his employer at Columbia Records.

Musically, the show has many nice moments. Among the stand out songs: the bouncy "Light On My Feet," the multi-purpose "Don’t Do It Again," the witty "Better" and a touching "Say Something Funny."

As the evening draws to a close, time shifts back to the memorial service and the reading of the will. Ultimately, Kleban wished that his songs be sung and enjoyed after he was gone. And with the creation of "A Class Act" by Linda Klein and Lonny Price (the show’s original director and star), he got his final request.

His other major posthumous achievement comes by way of The Kleban Foundation. His royalties from "A Chorus Line" fund the Foundation which has distributed grants totaling more than $3 million to support and encourage new composers.

In he end, it's a pity we all didn't get to know Edward Kleban better. He was, indeed, a class act.

“A Class Act” is at The Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street in Boston through March 22. For information, call 617-426-2787.

Production photos: Craig Bailey/CBE Photo

-- OnStage Boston

3/3/03

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