By JANE HOLAHAN, Staff Writer
THEATER REVIEW
Watch out Henry Winkler, Joey Sorge is giving you a run for your money.
Sorge plays Fonzie in “Happy Days — A New Musical,” which opened Tuesday night at the Hershey Theatre.
Written by Garry Marshall (creator of the original TV show), with music by Paul Williams (who wrote a slew of hits in the 1970s), the show is a nice diversion in these troubling times.
It may never rise above a musical version of a sitcom, but it’s a solid enough show with plenty of laughs, terrific choreography and a first-rate cast.
And then, transcending everything is Sorge. He makes this show worth seeing.
“Happy Days” was a popular sitcom back in the 1970s and ’80s. It looked back at a more innocent time in Milwaukee in the 1950s.
Framed around nice guy Richie Cunningham, the show really took off with the Fonz, also known as Arthur Fonzerelli, an ultra cool tough guy who had a soft spot for the Cunningham family.
While Sorge has the advantage of looking a lot like Henry Winkler, who played the original Fonz, he goes far beyond mere imitation.
He has definitely caught the spirit of the role. Not one move or word is out of place, yet his performance is spirited and funny.
The story is very sitcomy, though it has some delightfully strange subplots taken from the original series, like the wrestling Malachi Brothers (Matt Merchant and Matt Walker) whom Fonz hates because they messed up his hair back when he was a kid, and the Leopard Lodge, where Richie’s dad. Howard (John Massey) gets to growl and wear a leopard skin jacket.
The old favorites are all here.
Steven Booth is just fine as the blandly normal Richie Cunningham; Daniel Robinson gives a new, sweet spin to Potsie; and James Michael Lambert is a funny, rubbery Ralph Malph.
Cynthia Ferrer is perfect as Marion Cunningham who, in 1959, is on the verge of becoming a liberated housewife; and Whitney Bashor and Chris Fore makes a charming Joanie and Chachi.
And Lancaster’s own Barry Pearl plays Arnold, whose diner is about to be sold from under him by a group of developers planning to build “something called a mall” on the property. It’s a sly and fun performance.
Arnold’s is what gets the story going, as everyone pitches in to raise money to help Arnold buy the property.
Pinky Tuscadaro (Felicia Finley) comes back to town to judge a dance contest and immediately she and Fonzie begin falling back in love. They make quite a couple.
The set, by Walt Spangler, is framed in a big TV set and is bright and effective.
And Michaele Lynch’s choreography and the cast are filled with amazing energy
Alas, the music is fairly forgettable, except, of course, for the title song by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, which electrifies the stage whenever it’s performed and reminds everyone, as does this show, that nostalgia is a wonderful thing.
“Happy Days — A New Musical” runs through Sunday at the Hershey Theatre, 15 E. Caracas Ave., Hershey.
Source: lancasteronline.com