Donna Murphy is a theatrical treasure. She is a stage chameleon, able to morph from a young, vibrant actress in pre-war Warsaw into a fragile grandmother in 1977 New York within seconds. A droop of her shoulders, a Yiddish lilt in her voice, and she takes us on a journey through time. The People in the Picture, now at Studio 54, is a poignant Holocaust story that ripples over the decades, shattering her world and her daughter's (Nicole Parker).
Heartfelt and woeful, the musical, with a lovely score by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler, follows the inevitable wartime destiny of a Yiddish theater troupe, led by Raisel/Bubbie (Donna Murphy). Jenny, Bubbie's granddaughter, is charmed by her stories; Red, her own daughter, is not. At issue is memory -- and the legacy of cultural history.
As Bubbie reveals the people in an old photograph -- sometimes schmaltzy, always colorful -- to granddaughter Jenny (Rachel Resheff), they come alive. Jenny is charmed by her grandmother and all things Yiddish; her mother resents both. The secret that stands between Bubbie and daughter Red is wretched -- and it creates a painful, conflicted relationship.
The musical, with an emotional book by Iris Rainer Dart, is a tearjerker. The fate of the Yiddish actors (an expert crew that includes Chip Zien, Joyce Van Patten and Lewis Stadlen) haunts Bubbie. Smoothly directed by Leonard Foglia, it sensitively addresses a time and place rarely seen on Broadway, which is crowded with movie musicals. Collective memory is a weighty charge; The People in the Picture is a singular story with a big message.
Baby Its You! is a jukebox musical aimed squarely at baby boomers who grew up listening to The Shirelles, the first girl group to have a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. They were just four teenage girls at Passaic High when fate intervened. A bored 1950s Jewish housewife in New Jersey with a passion for music signed them to her indie label. Armed only with an instinct for a hit, Florence Greenberg became a record mogul in the 1960s, promoting artists such as The Shirelles, Ron Isley and Dionne Warwick on her Scepter label.
Now playing at the Broadhurst, Baby It's You!, a title taken from an early Burt Bacharach number, charts Greenberg's rise in broad strokes: the acts she discovered, the impact on her family and her interracial affair with Luther Dixon (Allen Louis), the talented in-house composer who churned out Scepter hits.
The show is a bit like the female version of Jersey Boys with one major exception: We learn nothing about The Shirelles themselves, though the terrific performers capture their distinct sound and appeal, especially Christina Sajous as Shirley Owens.
Greenberg is played by the wonderful Beth Leavel, who won the Tony for The Drowsy Chaperone. A versatile actress and a singer, she creates an early feminist: a woman succeeding in a man's world. The sets boast a late '50s/early'60s tackiness that works, as do the numerous Lizz Wolf costumes. The various male acts (Chuck Jackson, Ron Isley) are stylishly played by Geno Henderson.
The cultural aspects of the period -- Hollywood hits, political movements -- are flashed on big screens to place Greenberg within a restrictive cultural milieu. A revelation in Eisenhower America, her story is an amazing one. Baby It's You is entertaining -- how could you miss with this hit parade of songs? - but it would be richer if it struck deeper chords.