Were Critics Sweet on the New Stars of Town?
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
William Stevenson in his Broadway.com Review: "The main question, of course, is whether Shields is up to acting, singing and dancing the demanding role. The verdict so far--and she has only been doing the show for two weeks--is a qualified yes. The star fares best with the physical comedy, especially in musical numbers like 'Conga!' She earns laughs at other points in the show, but her characterization could be harder-edged; her Ruth still seems like too much of a softy. The actress would also benefit from watching Russell's rapid-fire delivery in old movies like His Girl Friday. As for Shields' singing, let's just say it's not bad compared to Russell's but pretty shabby compared to Murphy's."
Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "Ms. Shields is game, gawky, a little unsteady and supremely likable--traits that feed perfectly into reinventing Ruth Sherwood, the man-scaring writer from Ohio who arrives in Manhattan in 1935 as green as a spring tomato… Ms. Shields is an unpretentious delight here, adding a goofy sweetness to a production whose charms have only mellowed since it opened last fall…. Backed by an onstage orchestra in ravishing form, this felicitous crew captures the essence of what makes Wonderful Town more than a period piece: a celebratory sense of a vital, hard and heavenly city that takes on all comers and accommodates all types if they're tough and energetic enough to stick it out. Hey, this is the place where the Calvin Klein-jeans girl of yesteryear gets to prove she's more than just another pair of perfect cheekbones."
Clive Barnes of The New York Post: "Marshall's adroit direction and choreography often take an advantage out of what could have been limitations, and the whole musical has an in-your-face directness that is pure joy. And talking of pure joy I come to the new cast of those Ohio girls trying to make in the Greenwich Village of 1935, with Shields replacing the gorgeous Donna Murphy and Jennifer Westfeldt's role being taken over by a first namesake, Jennifer Hope Wills. Both Shields as Ruth and Wills as her Sister Eileen are smashing. These two are not re placements, they are renewals. For years--certainly since her stint as Sally Bowles in Cabaret--we have known that Brooke Shields was more than just a Pretty Baby, or even a Pretty Face. She's a terrific performer, careful and resilient, with an unerring sense of humor and a style that can make ungainliness graceful and reticence explosive."
Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "As I watched dancers tossing Shields around the stage in the midst of a delirious conga number in Wonderful Town, I thought how much more sensible it would be for her to stay at home looking after her baby. But she entered into the spirit of the scene--and the show itself--with such abandon I could only admire her. Her singing has improved greatly since I saw her three years ago in Cabaret. Obviously it is a pleasure to watch those long, sensuous legs kick in Kathleen Marshall's spirited choreography. She tackles '100 Easy Ways to Lose A Man,' with gusto. At other times it seems effortful for her to be funny, which is what the Betty Comden-Adolph Green book and lyrics demand. But someone so eager to be part of this zany world will clearly grow into the role."
Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "The leggy Shields, with her angular profile and her hair a mass of red curls, looks a lot like Ball--with a touch of Olive Oyl thrown in for good measure. So what if Shields may be way too pretty to play the plain-Jane Ruth, the sister who never gets the man, or that her pipes have limited range. Rosalind Russell, the show's original star in 1953, didn't have much of a singing voice and wowed theatergoers anyway. Shields may not be in that league, but she's a game gal, giving her all for a production that has had a rough time during the past several months. The repeated absences of the revival's vocally ailing Donna Murphy took a toll at the box office. Shields' arrival is just the tonic Wonderful Town needs. And judging from the show's Saturday matinee at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, the production, which grew out of a City Center concert version, is in tiptop shape."
Linda Winer of Newsday: "Say this for Brooke Shields in Wonderful Town, she has guts. But let's not be stingy. Shields, who dares to replace the dazzling Donna Murphy in one of the most demanding musical-comedy star turns on Broadway, also happens to have grown into a major endearingly Amazonian presence with a flair for perilous physical humor, a plangent middle-range musicality and lots of funny voices. In other words, she appears to be saving the day at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, where Kathleen Marshall's lovable revival of the witty, goofy, grown-up 1953 musical has been holding on by its old-fashioned manicured cuticles for months."