Mississippi Romp

By T.E.K.

THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM

Book and Lyrics by ALFRED UHRY Music by ROBERT WALDMAN Choreography by DONALD SADDLER

For a rural folk tale, this musical is very tongue in chic. Self-mocking humor, stylish performances and a stomping vitality convert the original Eudora Welty novella about a Mississippi Robin Hood into a Broadway romp.

The show evolves in play-within-a-play fashion from an opening square dance, and the book, lyrics, music and choreography mesh delightfully to create the mood of innocent bawdry and rustic high jinks. A handsome highwayman, Jamie Lockhart (Barrie Bostwick), wrests a rich plantation owner's purse from some of his robber competitors and restores it to him. The grateful recipient (Stephen Vinovich) invites Jamie home to meet his daughter Rosamund.

The girl (Rhonda Coullet) seems to be as ugly as a possum, but Jamie, in his berry-stained guise as the "robber in the woods," has already unconsciously fallen in love with this girl, for in the forest he frequents she appears as a blonde beauty. In one scene where she is accoutered like Lady Godiva, sans horse, he enjoys her favors.

What would a fairy tale be without a wicked stepmother to impede the lovers? Barbara Lane plays the role up to the hammy hilt. The dances shiver the floorboards. Gerald Freedman directs at a cannonball pace without sacrificing the illusion that the show is taking place in an enchanted glade .

T. E . K.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.