Classic Stage Company has revived I Can It For You Wholesale, a Depression-era musical set in New York’s garment district.
John Weidman, seen here in 2016 at “The Taming Of The Shrew” opening night at New York’s Delacorte … [+]
Last seen on Broadway in 1962—where Barbra Streisand made her debut—the production stars Tony Award winner Santino Fontana as a shipping clerk, Harry Bogen, and Tony Award nominee Judy Kuhn as his mother.
Describing the musical’s plot, New York-based CSC says, “It’s 1937 in New York City’s garment district, and shipping clerk Harry Bogen would love to sell you a bill of goods. In this dark musical comedy, Bronx-born Harry must choose between the comfort of community and his own ambitious dreams. He’ll have to do whatever it takes to get ahead, and even more to stay there. Better watch your back –sewing needles can be sharp”
The musical’s original book, by Jerome Weidman, has been revised by his son, John; its music and lyrics are by Harold Rome. John Weidman, also a Tony Award nominee, wrote three scripts in collaboration with Stephen Sondheim, for Pacific Overtures (1976), Assassins (1990) and Bounce (2003). He also co-created the Tony Award-winning musical Contact in 1999 with choreographer/director Susan Stroman.
In a recent interview, Weidman called the play’s original production “a modest success (whose) reception reflected the fact that it dealt with material which was not mainstream . . .darker and a little more challenging.”
He said that in the current production, Bogen “talks to the audience,” telling his story; similarly, his father’s novel is written in the first-person, with Bogen also telling his story. At CSC, Bogen “guides the audience through his story,” which Weidman called “more effective” than the 1962 production.
The CSC production began as a workshop before the Covid-19 pandemic, with Fontana participating from the start. He said he found the play’s story—about a shipping clerk “desperate to get ahead and survive, to do whatever it takes to keep his mom and him alive and kicking”—“really appealing.”
Weidman praised Fontana’s contributions to the CSC production, while Fontana—who won a Tony Award in 2019 for lead actor in the musical, Tootsie— said stage actors frequently “get to step up to the table” during the development of productions in which they appear.
“We’re all creating this thing . . .that’s a huge responsibility to be able to land that play every night,” he added.
Classic Stage Company, founded in 1967 and located in a former East Village carriage house, explores and reimagines “great stories across the world’s repertoire that illuminate our common humanity,” the theater said.
I Can Get It For You Wholesale runs through December 17.
