Zakiya Young as Lois Lane and Matt Cavenaugh as the Man of Steel. Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux.

Jenny Powers as Sydney Sharp and Matt Cavenaugh as Clark Kent. Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux.

Matt Cavenaugh as the Man of Steel. Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux.

Zakiya Young as Lois Lane and Matt Cavenaugh as Superman. Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux.

Zakiya Young, center, with ensemble members of "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman." Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux.

  

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman

by Charles Strouse (music)
Lee Adams (music)
David Newman and Robert Benton (book)
revised book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Presented by Dallas Theater Center

June 25 - July 25

at Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre
AT&T Performing Arts Center
2100 Ross Ave.
Dallas, TX 75201
214-880-0202

$10-$80

7pm Tuesdays-Thursdays; 8pm Fridays; 2 & 8pm Saturdays; 2 & 7pm Sundays
Runtime: Two hours, 20 minutes with one intermission

With the first swoop-in of the man in ridiculous blue-and-red tights and cape, there are physical reactions from the audience. The heart skips a beat, small goose bumps emerge, smiles form and gasp/sigh combos are heard. They signal both relief and excitement.

It’s not that the flying effects at the Wyly Theatre, where a revised version of the musical It’s a Bird...It’s a Plane...It’s Superman opened Friday, are all that incredible. (They’re pretty cool, though). It’s because the sight of the world’s most iconic champion of justice, the figure who has always been on the side of good without the darker shades seen in other superheroes, puts the minds of every person—regardless of gender or age—at ease.

Outside in that big, bad world of ours, wars rage, economies crumble, petroleum threatens life and great human beings stumble. But for a few seconds, or in this case two hours and some change, the Man of Steel takes all of that away. He’s been doing this for more than 70 years for comic book readers, and has allowed television viewers and movie fans the same experience, in myriad incarnations, for almost as long.

As escapist entertainment, it doesn’t get any better.

Even better news: The team that has reworked the flawed 1966 Charles Strouse/Lee Adams musical for the Dallas Theater Center has done so resoundingly, resulting in a coherent, vibrant and thoroughly entertaining product. It’s a Bird...It’s a Plane...It’s Superman will never be a masterpiece, and DTC’s staging isn’t perfect. Still, there hasn’t been a more enjoyable sit-down at the theater this year.

Here, the Man of Steel has done something bigger than deflect bullets and put bad guys in their place. He has eradicated any doubt that the show was worth revisiting, and any speculation that DTC artistic director Kevin Moriarty, whose passion for this project propelled it, might be bonkers. For some of us, perhaps Superman’s greatest feat is ridding the Wyly of the stench from the musical that had its world premiere here just a few months ago.

For all that, Superman deserves undying gratitude and praise.

The musical was never quite the stinker it has been made out to be all these decades. Yes, the book was a mess, and reportedly the 1975 TV version was malodorous (I’ve avoided it). But it has achieved cult status among musical lovers because of Strouse’s music and Adams’ lyrics. Fantastic songs kept it alive in the minds of many. Strouse’s gift for melody and Adams’ way with rhyme and witty wordplay make them one of the great musical theater teams, no doubt.

For this revisal, some of those songs are gone while others have been added (some from the trunk, some brand new), and the original book (by David Newman and Robert Benton) has been reworked and significantly re-juiced by playwright, screenwriter and comic book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

The genius of the new concept is that the action is moved from what was originally present-day (late 1960s, when superhero-dom was at its campiest) to 1939, a year after Superman debuted in pulp form, and towards the end of the Great Depression. Back then, life in America wasn’t so great; much worse than the recession we’ve experienced in the past few years. But the parallels of then and now are still palpable, which is why a lyric of a song that remains in the show is so resonant: “In a world of evil and doubt, we need him.”

One of the chief complaints of the Broadway production was that it was more about the villain Maxwell Menken, a Lex Luthor-esque role played by and expanded for Jack Cassidy. In the new version, Menken is still a major part of the story, as arch villains must be. As played by Jack’s son, Patrick Cassidy, it's one of the reasons this revival is so entertaining. Patrick has stage presence to spare, not to mention slick moves. He may not have the vocal power of his father (the big notes weren’t always sustained at Friday’s opening), but he's still pretty darned good in that department. It's all made better by Cassidy’s charisma and dashing leading-man charm.

If there wasn’t a focus on Clark Kent and Superman before, this version hashes that out. Aguirre-Sacasa's book is definitely an arc about a guy who lives a dual life as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter and as a superhuman who changes clothes in phone booths and flies off to save children from burning buildings. (Two reasons the Superman story wouldn’t work in 2010: 1) The folks at the The Daily Planet would be more worried about layoffs and shrinking pages and ad sales than about covering the news; 2) Phone booths are dinosaurs.) Meanwhile, both of those characters struggle with very human problems, such as unrequited love (or love not given for the right reasons), and the realization that one's powers aren't always what they seem.

Broadway star Matt Cavenaugh plays the dual roles, and brings a genuine vulnerability to Clark. His tenor is warbly, but powerful. Physically, he’s an odd type for Superman. He's like a gym bunny who has spent most of his time working on his upper body and not paying as much attention to legs and neck (tights are unforgiving apparel). A Clark/Superman who’s a bit more manly and solid would be ideal. But Cavenaugh still pulls it off.

As Lois Lane, Zakiya Young has the snappy '30s banter down, and her Lois is definitely more of a confident go-getter than other incarnations have been. But she and Cavenaugh don’t achieve a believable connection. That's a problem. The good news is that the chemistry, as written in the revised version, is achievable. That was one of the issues with the original.

Jennifer Powers might have been a better fit for Lois, but as the quick-witted gossip columnist Syndey Sharp, she’s a standout. She does justice to the show’s best-known song “You’ve Got Possibilities,” which has become a standard audition piece. The other show-stealer is Cara Statham Serber in a very funny performance as Max’s assistant, Marilyn Nesbitt.

In the 1966 show, there was a team of Chinese acrobats as minor villains, which would come off as incredibly un-PC today. In this version, there's a new band of goons: Court Jester (Bob Hess, who plays many other roles), the shiny object-stealing Blackbird (Kate Wetherhead), cowboy Jupiter James (Kent Zimmerman), the buxom and Sapphic Scarlet Widow (Julie Johnson, putting her star-power to great use), and Tweedledum/Tweedledee-like magical twins, Cadabra and Kazam (the hilarious pairing of Cedric Neal and Matthew J. Kilgore). Paul Taylor plays another nemesis, Jack-in-the-Box, unrelated to the Secret Society of Super Villains. He functions to introduce Superman as crime-fighter, and as proof that the Man of Steel can convince others to be better. (There's also a reference to the Chinese gang, with a dinner signal.)

Yes, the minions are over-the-top. Can you name many villains of major superheroes who aren't? And let's face it, when comic book villains aren't outrageous, they're not very fun. Menken, a rich and powerful business man (he was a Planet employee in the original), balances that out.

One of the new devices is to use a narrator, a newsboy with journalistic aspirations, Torchy (Andrew Keenan-Bolger), and other newsboys, to keep the "Extra! Read all about it!" vibe going. Some of that, along with the first act in general, could be tightened up.

Perhaps the most remarkable change for the 1939 setting are the revised orchestrations and arrangements, by Fort Worth native Eugene Gwozdz. The song "It's Super Nice," which originally had a '60s, go-go tempo, now has a Big Band feel. Ragtime rhythms have been added throughout. Nice touch. The nine-member orchestra, however, needed more oomph on Friday night (music direction is by Elaine Davidson).

Joel Ferrell's choreography is brilliant, using period dances, big Broadway-style flashiness and some fun movement and acrobatics for the fight scenes. Beowulf Borritt's scenic design and Jennifer Caprio's costumes capture the era and effectively balance the real world and comic book milieux. The opening scene, which has been added, is a wonderfully retro throwback.

Aguirre-Sacasa and director Moriarty have also thrown in sly commentary about modern politics (Max calls Superman an illegal alien, because he bypassed Ellis Island), and there are some terrific aural and visual gags that reference the winking nature of comic book dialogue and what we already know about the Super dude. The X-Ray vision reveal is priceless.

The big guy doesn't need that power, though, to see that the revisal of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman has possibilities.