Susan Granger’s review of “I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE”: (Classic Stage Company – Off-Broadway)
Barbra Streisand may feel as if her life-on-stage is unfolding backwards. First there was the revival of her signature show “Funny Girl.” Now “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” recalls her Broadway debut at age 19 as Miss Marmelstein – for which she garnered her first Tony Award nomination.
Adapted and revised from Jerome Weidman’s first novel and dark musical comedy by his playwright son John Weidman (“Assassins”), it’s set in 1937 in Manhattan’s Garment District, run by Jews, and introduces aggressive, ambitious Bronx-born Harry Bogen (Santino Fontana), a shipping clerk who is determined to make money as fast as possible.
“Life’s a cold cash situation,” he sings. “Bought and paid for – no obligation.”
Con artist Harry Bogen is the quintessential anti-hero. He kick starts his career when he breaks a strike and launches his own company. Eager to assimilate into gentile society, he swindles money from his childhood sweetheart Ruthie (Rebecca Naomi Jones) and trusting friends, hooking up with glamorous, gold-digger Martha Mills (Joy Woods) along the way. Then there’s his frustrated yet steadfast secretary, Miss Marmelstein (Julia Lester).
Selfish Harry Bogen embodies the nasty kind of stereotypical Jew that makes Jews like me squirm in embarrassment, particularly as Hamas is terrorizing and brutalizing our brethren in Israel.
Cleverly directed by Trip Cullman, Harold Rome’s music and lyrics, many inspired by traditional Jewish holy music, are memorable, particularly when sung by Fontana and Judy Kuhn, who plays his long-suffering “Eat a Little Something” mother.
Appropriately, is concludes around a Shabbat dinner table with “What money makes, money takes away.”
But even with Ellenore Scott’s brisk choreography, it’s not easy to overcome the jumble of wooden chairs and tables that constitute Mark Wendland’s cumbersome set design.
FYI: Back in 1962, Streisand’s future ex-husband Elliott Gould originated the role of Harry Bogen. When it was made into a 1951 movie, there was a gender-reversal with Susan Hayward playing a ruthless Seventh Avenue model who partners with salesman Dan Dailey and manufacturer Sam Jaffe to rise in the ‘Rag Trade.’
Presented by the Classic Stage Company, 126 East 13th Street, “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” runs through December 17. Will a Broadway run be next?