Labor and love

Making Cents out of The Pajama Game

by Steve Vineberg

THE PAJAMA GAME Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell. Based on Bissell's novel 7 1/2 Cents. Songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Directed and choreographed by Greg Ganakas. Musical direction by Michael O'Flaherty. Sets designed by Howard Jones. Costumes by Jonathan Bixby and Gregory A. Gale. Lighting by Tom Sturge. With Colleen Fitzpatrick, Sean McDermott, Bob Walton, Valerie Wright, Casey Nicholaw, David Coffee, Nora Mae Lyng, Lynn Eldredge, and Chet Carlin. At the Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, Connecticut, through June 26.

Perhaps because of its small-town Midwestern setting (the working class of Cedar Rapids, Iowa), its unsensational subject matter (the conflict between labor and management in a pajama factory), and its assertive, plainspoken manner, The Pajama Game is seldom mentioned among the major book musicals of the 1950s. To my mind, however, it's the quintessential musical show of its era -- the one that calls the '50s most vividly to mind. George Abbott and Richard Bissell (adapting Bissell's novel 7 1/2 Cents) and the young songwriting team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross captured the peculiar swing of the period between the Big Bands, which had incorporated the Broadway repertoire in the '40s, and rock and roll (The Pajama Game came out the year Elvis Presley began to put out records), which Broadway would cheerfully ignore until the late '60s and never absorb effectively. They also caught the optimistic, free-and-clear feeling of a post-war, economically secure time. The union women and men working at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory know damn well that everyone in the industry is making money and that they'll get their share -- the seven-and-a-half-cent raise that, as the final song affirms, is "enough for me to be livin' like a king."

The Goodspeed Opera House's new production of The Pajama Game, directed and choreographed by Greg Ganakas, is the first major revival in two and a half decades, and worth the wait. Ganakas and his set and costume designers (Howard Jones, Jonathan Bixby, and Gregory A. Gale) have restored the sheen of this nearly forgotten musical; this is a handsome, streamlined show, staged at the Goodspeed's trademark sprinter's pace. With a single exception -- "Think of the Time I Save," the anthem of the factory's "time study" man, Vernon "Hinesy" Hines -- all of the songs have been retained and one added: "If You Win, You Lose," a lovely second-act ballad for the heroine, Babe Williams. And this is a prize group of tunes, strong in all categories: love songs ("Hey There," "Small Talk," "There Once Was a Man"), upbeat ensemble numbers (the musically dexterous "Racing with the Clock," "Once-a-Year Day," "Seven and a Half Cents"), and novelties ("I'll Never Be Jealous Again," "Steam Heat," the famous mock-tango "Hernando's Hideaway").

Ganakas's company has a vigorous ensemble spirit and, under Michael O'Flaherty's musical direction, everyone sings rousingly. The best performances are in the two show-stealing roles. As Gladys, the boss's secretary, who keeps the key to the Sleep-Tite payroll ledger around her neck like a locket, Valerie Wright wears her hair in the same Day-Glo orange hue as Lucille Ball and works her rake-thin body and her pliable clown's face (if there's such a thing as a double-jointed face, Wright's got one) with finesse. She and her two bowler-hatted dance partners, Bob Richard and Dante A. Sciarra Jr., make the second-act opener, "Steam Heat" -- originally choreographed by Bob Fosse for the great Carol Haney -- a highlight. Opposite her, Bob Walton is a loopy, agile Hinesy, the jealous beau who won't give Gladys a moment's peace. Walton provides, in tandem with Nora Mae Lyng, another of the show's most enjoyable moments: the duet "I'll Never Be Jealous Again," where Mabel, the superintendent's secretary, attempts to train Hinesy to trust his sweetheart.

The musical is full of types, and at Goodspeed they're deftly rendered: the union president, Prez (Casey Nicholaw), a married man with a wandering eye; the big-framed, big-hearted Mae (Lynn Eldredge), on whom that eye rests for a time; Old Man Hasler (David Coffee), the platitudinous boss whose obstinacy almost wrecks his business. The romantic leads, Babe and the new superintendent, Sid Sorokin, aren't as much fun as the comic characters. The idea is to make them star-crossed lovers -- labor and management -- but that's really just a plot device. Sean McDermott sings Sid's terrific songs, especially "Hey There" and "A New Town Is a Blue Town," with brio, but he's a lackluster actor. (To be fair, so was John Raitt, who created the part and repeated it in the memorable 1958 movie version.) The elegant, long-legged Colleen Fitzpatrick is too much of a debutante for the buoyant, hard-boiled Babe, but she tries gamely, and the pleasure of hearing her sing "If You Win, You Lose" almost makes up for the miscasting. And since mostly what Babe and Sid do is sing, the show doesn't suffer much much from the colorlessness of the two leads, who were clearly cast for their voices. Otherwise this Pajama Game has no major hitches. It's a marvelous show.