"Death Takes a Holiday" By Thomas Meehan/Peter Stone • Music & Lyrics: Maury Yeston • Directed by Doug Hughes • Roundabout Theatre Company, Laura Pels Theatre, NYC • Through Sept. 4, 2011
A significant cast replacement caused by an actor's illness in the Roundabout Theatre Company's new musical, "Death Takes a Holiday," brought an unexpected career break for young Irish-American actor Kevin Earley.
Earley had been standing by for British actor Julian Ovenden in the star-making role of "Death," who masquerades as Russian Prince Nikolai Sirki in order to experience a mortality-free weekend at a lakeside villa in Northern Italy in the summer of 1921.
Originally a popular Italian play by Alberto Casella, "Death Takes a Holiday" was rewritten for the American stage by Walter Ferris, and produced on Broadway by the Shubert Organization.
"Death Takes a Holiday" was eventually turned into a musical by Thomas Meehan and the late Peter Stone, with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. The musical version isn't exactly new, since Stone, a multiple Tony Award dinner, has been dead for several years. The current staging, directed by Doug Hughes, marks the show's New York debut.
Whatever the actual reasons for his leaving the role, actor Ovenden, of whom much was expected, began missing performances, the first one on what was supposed to have been the show's opening night.
Oveden was absent so often that the production was temporarily suspended, until the decision was finally made to turn the part over to Kevin Earley for the remainder of the run.
The situation was simply a matter of a seriously bad break for Ovenden resulting in a potentially career-boosting break for the gifted but relatively inexperienced Earley, whose Broadway history was limited to brief appearances in such shows as "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "Les Miserables."
The double role of "Death" and "The Russian Prince Nikolai Sirki" amounts to an assignment that virtually powers the show. For a young performer such as Earley, it was a challenging task, one that the actor is handling with considerable brilliance.
Director Hughes has filled his 14-actor cast with some of the finest singers currently working in the New York theater, and Maury Yeston's ballad-heavy score benefits tremendously from their presence.
Among them, in addition to Earley, are Matt Cavenaugh, the male lead in last season's revival of "West Side Story," Max Von Essen, recently seen off-Broadway in "Hello Again," and Michael Siberry, one of the stars of the long-running musical hit, "Spamalot."
In addition, Hughes' cast includes Simon Jones, who appeared in the most recent revival of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spiriit," Rebecca Luker, as familiar to fans of opera as she is to followers of musical theater, and Patricia Noonan, who scored in two recent City Center Encores! productions, "Where's Charley?" and "Girl Crazy."
Alberto Casella's play, set at the Villa Felicita in the summer of 1921, is full of references to World War I, including an unseen participant, the late brother of a major character, who has recently been killed in the war, leaving behind a young American widow.
The Roundabout Company's admirable production is memorable for, among a variety of other solid reasons, giving the youthful Kevin Earley the chance to turn in the fine, fully committed performance he's giving in "Death Takes a Holiday."
