‘Bullets Over Broadway:’ thanks to the chorus girls

The new touring production of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical “Bullets Over Broadway” opened at Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace Oct. 6 and ran until Oct. 18. The touring production starred Michael Williams as David Shayne, Jemma Jane as Olive Neal and Jeffrey Brooks as Cheech.

The tour, directed by Jeff Whiting, is filled with all the glitz, glamor and revealing costumes that are expected from a show set in the 1920’s. The music was exhilarating, the dance was energetic, but the plot development and characters leave much to be desired.

“Bullets Over Broadway” starts off with a bang. The opening number, “Tiger Rag,” featured the show’s ensemble of female chorus members, The Atta-Girls, and was a great start to the show. “Tiger Rag” showcased the flapper style of 1920’s dance and William Ivey Long’s Tony-nominated costume design. Every number that the Atta-Girls or the male ensemble of mobsters were included in was well-choreographed and wildly entertaining. These numbers include “Running Wild,” “‘Tain’t a Fit Night Out for Man or Beast,” “(I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead) You Rascal You,” “There’ll Be Some Changes Made,” and “Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do,”  The ensemble and their vast and impressive skills in period style dancing and tap shine through as the real star of the show.

During the “Tiger Rag,” we are introduced to Olive Neal, a vastly untalented chorus girl. Olive complains in her absurdly repulsive voice that her boyfriend, mob leader Nick Valenti, can’t get her a starring role on Broadway. Valenti then fully funds struggling playwright David Shayne’s new play with the stipulation that Olive must have a leading role. When rehearsals start, Valenti sends one of his cronies, Cheech, to make sure no one messes with Olive.

The show’s downfall lies in its irritable line of characters. Olive comes off as whiny, static and unredeemable. Her incessant complaints and endless greed certainly do not put her in the audience’s good graces. Shayne’s character was equally displeasing. His initial triumph, finally getting his play produced, and his playful relationship with girlfriend, Ellen, make him a likeable character at first; however as the show progresses he cheats on Ellen with glamorous star Helen Sinclair and loses control of his play. Shayne becomes rude and manipulative, removing any comradery the audience found with Shayne’s underdog status at the beginning of the show.

The character of Helen Sinclair is similarly unlikable. She manipulates Shayne into making her part in the play more sexual, therefore ruining its integrity. She also lures him to cheating on Ellen, even though she is not truly in love with him. The biggest testament to “Bullets Over Broadway”’s slew of irksome characters was the audience’s explosion of applause when one of the main characters was murdered. The disappearance of the seemingly useless presence of the character was relieving.

The only character that is even remotely dynamic or interesting is Cheech. The audience starts out disliking Cheech for being a mobster and having virtually no conscience, but grows to like him as he becomes interested in Shayne’s play. As Cheech is forced to watch over Olive at rehearsals, he begins to offer input on changes to the play. This angers Shayne initially, but once he realizes that Cheech’s changes make his play immensely better, he begins to take them as his own. Cheech allows this, wanting to maintain his ‘tough guy’ persona. As Shayne loses interest in the play and Cheech becomes more invested, the audience’s view of Cheech changes from villian to hero. By the end, Cheech is so invested that he would kill to save the play from embarrassment, because it has essentially become his play, and ceased to be Shayne’s. Cheech’s strong emotions make him the crowd favorite, despite his violent tendencies and rough-around-the-edges attitude.

Shayne’s girlfriend Ellen has a potential to be a likable character because of her earnest love and support for him through the failure of his previous plays. However, the plot forces Ellen’s character into a corner. After Shayne tells Ellen that he cheated on her, she tells him that she already ‘found a new baby’ in Shayne’s best friend. The confusing banter in the song “I Found a New Baby” completely crushes everything the audience thought they knew about Ellen. The plot betrays her character again when she takes Shayne back only two songs after brazenly announcing her new boyfriend.

Overall, “Bullets Over Broadway” was an enjoyable show, but only thanks to the chorus members. If it weren’t for the Atta-Girls and the tapping gangsters, “Bullets Over Broadway” would have been a hot mess of rushed plot lines, questionable heroes and contradicted characters. The lead actors of the “Bullets Over Broadway” tour owe their success and salaries to the 18 charismatic men and women whose parts aren’t even named in the Playbill. If it weren’t for these hardworking and talented men and women, this tour would have been benched far before its first performance.