The mobster genre gets the Woody Allen treatment next week as the national tour of new musical comedy Bullets Over Broadway rolls through Oklahoma City.
Based on Allen’s screenplay for the 1994 Miramax film, Bullets makes its OKC premiere 7:30 p.m. Monday at Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave. The raucous gangster comedy The New Yorker called “a fun machine from start to finish” debuted in 2014 in New York City to rave reviews, garnering six Tony nominations.
Full cast
The story begins simply enough: It’s New York City in 1928, and idealistic young playwright David Shayne is hustling to get his play produced. He has a devoted wife, a hopeful outlook and a new play debuting in a few short weeks. However, after agreeing to let a mob boss’ talentless, whiny girlfriend Olive star in the show in exchange for the cash he so desperately needs, things go screwy.Olive’s gangster escort, Cheech, who watches the rehearsals from the empty theater, turns out to be a far better playwright than David, editing and improving the script on a daily basis. Olive’s acting, however, grates on Cheech, who takes more and more ownership of the play.
As his anger grows, so does David’s anxiety as he claims Cheech’s rewrites as his own, tries to stop his compulsive-eating leading man from gorging himself to death before opening night and navigates the seedy and dangerous underworld of the mafia as a timid artist.
Add to the mix Allen’s penchant for having every character sleep with almost every other character at some point, and Bullets Over Broadway should add up to a sexy, funny night on the town for OKC audiences.
Winning tickets
The production brings some heavy hitters with it, too. Bullets was originally directed and choreographed by five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman, and the tour is currently under the direction of Jeff Whiting, a longtime Stroman collaborator with Broadway hits such as The Scottsboro Boys and Hair under his belt.The tour also features six-time Tony winner William Ivey Long’s original Broadway costumes, making Bullets a decidedly lavish affair.
A big, swanky romp of a musical, Bullets pairs Long’s stunning mob suits and flapper dresses with existing songs from the Roaring ’20s like “Taint Nobody’s Business If I Do,” “Let’s Misbehave,” and “I’m Sitting on Top of the World.”
From Allen’s trademark love triangles to mafia politics, tap-dancing chorus girls to old-style slapstick, Bullets Over Broadway promises to bring musical theater back to OKC with a bang.
Civic Center Music Hall hosts eight Bullets performances through May 29. Find tickets at the Civic Center box office or at celebrityattractions.com.
Visit bulletsoverbroadwayontour.com for more information.
Print Headline: Roaring revelry, Hotsy-totsy musical Bullets Over Broadway ankles into OKC for eight Civic Center Music Hall performances.
