UnsungMusicalsCo.’s mission is to restore and present obscure musicals that merit another look. But their revival of “The Fig Leaves Are Falling” demonstrates that some musicals are better left unsung.
This short-lived 1969 show by composer Albert Hague (“Redhead”) and librettist/lyricist Allan Sherman is largely forgotten. But it did manage to snag a Tony nomination for Dorothy Loudon, no mean feat considering that it closed after only four performances.
Set in the swinging ’60s, it concerns a middle-aged business executive, Harry Stone (Jonathan Rayson), whose 20-year marriage to his wife, Lillian (Natalie Venetia Belcon), has settled into a rut. So he’s naturally unable to resist the advances of his young, sexually liberated secretary, Jenny (Morgan Weed).
The strange part about this bare-bones production is that it really isn’t the original show at all. It’s an elaborate revision, with numerous subplots and characters excised. New material has been added from alternate versions of the script.
The results will please neither musical theater purists eager to see a reasonably faithful version of the musical — however awful — nor those hoping that it’s been revivified. For all the loving work that’s been expended on the material, it’s still the theatrical version of putting lipstick on a pig.
The eight-person ensemble puts its best efforts into the dated material, and director Ben West keeps things moving at a brisk pace. But the production provides little evidence that “Fig Leaves” needed reviving. Nor, for that matter, revising.