New Musical in Manhattan

One Touch of Venus (book by S. J. Perelman & Ogden Nash; music & lyrics by Kurt Weill & Ogden Nash; produced by Cheryl Crawford).

One touch of Venus does more for Broadway than the last two months of pushing and shoving did for it.

For though far from a magic touch, it is enough of a Midas touch to make most of Hollywood bid for it.

With wacky Mr. Perelman in on it, as well as Ogden Nash, whose rhymes are outre and even outrageous.

One Touch of Venus lets a lot of locked-up musicomedy ideas out of their cages.

Like Oklahoma!, it spurns ready-made formulas, but where Oklahoma! took the smooth, pleasant lowroad

Of picturesque folklore, Venus takes the highroad of sophisticated fantasy, which is an unpaved, bumpy, not-often-in-the-dough road.

The fantasy is about an ancient statue of Venus that comes to life in the far-from-contemptible shape of Mary Martin,

And pursues a timid barber whose sexual career has been sparse if not Spartan.

The cutter of hair, who has a girl already, tries like the devil to keep his Greek admirer at a distance.

But even when he gets safely by her lure, he is routed by her persistence.

Then, after she lands him, she discovers it means a hideous humdrum life in a joint like Ypsilanti,

And scrams to her statue quo ante.

A very gifted assortment of people have worked on this goddessy odyssey,

Which merits a nice passing grade--nothing remotely resembling A plus, but at any rate not a C.

Best is Composer Kurt Weill (Lady in the Dark, Knickerbocker Holiday)

Whose charming I'm a Stranger Here Myself does rate a solid A;

Mr. Nash's rhymes are for a wonder not wild-eyed, merely trim and now & then tired,

As if Nash had perspired.

Not too much can be said of the. book, or at any rate certain parts of it.

At times the boys have filled in their yarn with bright cracks, but at other times they merely make charts of it.

Thus a man neatly describes a hangover by saying: "All my teeth feel as if they had little sweaters on";

But a lot of the cracks seem to have fetters on.

Agnes de Mille, who did the top-notch dances for Oklahoma!

Proves in One Touch of Venus that de Mille can nod as well as Homah.

For though at times the dancing is fresh and lively, especially in the case of Sono Osato, one of the most seductive and beguiling of wenches,

At other times the dancing's pretentious.

When Mary Martin--who, when last on Broadway, sang My Heart Belongs to Daddy --got the lead in Venus, a lot of people thought she was the wrong girl.

They dubbed her just a one-song girl.

But she sings, dances and acts like one to the star's dressing room born, and (just between us)

As mortals go, she's a darn good stand-in for Venus.

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