Monorail

By T.E. Kalem

ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Book and Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music by Cy Coleman

Give 'em the old razzle dazzle.

Razzle dazzle 'em.

Back since the days of old

Methuselah,

Ev 'ry one loves the big

bamboozala.

--From the musical Chicago

Watching this two-hour show train rumble by is about as much fun as getting stranded on a station platform. But it does have razzle-dazzle aplenty. This Twentieth Century Limited is such a glistening mass of art deco chrome that one almost expects the cast to wear sunglasses. The set moves like a centipede on wheels, sliding and swiveling even when the book and score are going nowhere.

Comden and Green have followed the plot line of the famed 1934 screwball-comedy film, but that line now seems monorail thin. Lacking inspired lunacy, Director Harold Prince has taken refuge in camp and stylistic cartoonery. As Oscar Jaffee, the flamboyant theatrical producer who is down on his mendacious luck, John Cullum looks and cavorts rather like a Barrymore run off by a slightly defective duplicating machine. To make a comeback, he must sign Lily Garland, the woman he catapulted to stardom, to a stage contract. In that role, Madeline Kahn displays an arsenal of talents. She is kooky, vulnerable and seductive in succession, and her voice has a near operatic authority. As a religious nut, the Imogene Coca you get is the Coca that refreshes. Cy Coleman's score is clickety-clack in its monotony. Well, there is al ways the razzle-dazzle for those who love the big bamboozala.

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