It's a Hit: Cherry Bomb lauded by tough critic

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It's a Hit: Cherry Bomb lauded by tough critic

POSTED: Monday, December 22, 2008, 3:19 PM

Mark Gavin

Updating a post from last week, Inquirer/Variety critic Toby Zinman, last seen chucking a fake tomato toward the stage during opening night of 1812 Productions' new musical Cherry Bomb, did not review the show for the Inquirer (generally, when a writer previews a show, as Zinman did, the review is handled by someone else). She did, however, review it for Variety. While I'll leave you hanging for the review's big conclusion, the fact of the matter is that Zinman enjoyed the show:

Having created a sophisticated burlesque that is a tribute to a bygone era of show business, director and writer Jennifer Childs finds a pace lively enough to suit contemporary audiences without betraying her material. Her book and lyrics both narrate and comment, with such lines as "I'm a Cherry with a cherry/I will be no man's wife," making "bon voyage-y" rhyme with "sad homage-y" and "enthrallin'" with "gallin'."

The Inky's Wendy Rosenfield writes, before pointing out some areas she feels can be tightened up:

Each sister adds dimension to the family portrait, but Charlotte Ford's grimacing Jessie is a marvel of gawky horror, and when she sings proudly "I am a Cherry," she evokes at least some of the wonder those early audiences must have felt about the spectacle set before them. A quiet thwarted-love story between Hammerstein's assistant, Edgar (a nuanced Dave Jadico) and Addie adds poignancy to the women's lives (all five declared they'd never been kissed and vowed fidelity only to one another). Karen Getz's choreography has the same playfulness she's brought to 1812 in past productions, and Charlotte Cloe Fox Wind's costumes are occasionally laugh-out-loud funny.

Our own Mark Cofta reviews the piece in this week's paper, which hits the streets on Wednesday. A sneak preview of his assessment:

Cherry Bomb culminates in the sisters’ actual act, an anthropological work achieving their greatest goal: to be remembered. Awfulness confirmed, forgiven in advance -- we feel far too much affection for them to join that bully Hammerstein (though he provides us vegetable projectiles).

The early consensus appears to be: The show is good, Charlotte Ford steals or nearly steals it. I caught it on Wednesday. I recommend you see it now.

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