New Musical in Manhattan

Can-Can (music & lyrics by Cole Porter; book by Abe Burrows) is a period musical in the good but also the bad sense of the word. It often captures the rakish, even the Lautrec-ish animation of Paris in the '905, but it has often, too, the feeble plotting and labored prattle of memory-book musicomedy. Actually a number of things in it merit high praise, but these do not include such trifles as the music, the lyrics or the libretto.

The music is pleasant enough, but not close to par for Cole Porter: it has a "school of Cole Porter" air. The lyrics would not be a credit to anyone, and for Porter they fall woefully flat. Abe Burrows' book, largely concerned with the love of a priggish young judge (Peter Cookson) and a prancing, Montmartre Jezebel, rises only once--in a funny duel scene--from banality to Burrows.

These drawbacks out of the way--except that they never are for long--Can-Can whirls and foams. Jo Mielziner's sets of Montmartre rooftops, studios and dives are charmingly evocative, and Michael Kidd has worked up the best dances of the season. There is a fine, hair-dragging apache number, a legsome cancan, and an enchanting, Garden of Eden ballet spoof, full of flamingoes, frogs and inchworms, as well as Eve and the serpent. As Eve (and several other things), red-headed Gwen Verdon has a wonderfully fetching dance personality; as the Jezebel, Paris' blonde Lilo has lots of voice, as well as personality. Thanks to these girls and the can-can spirit, the show has genuine sex, if only the most intermittent sparkle.

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