GIVING US OUR ‘CHER’
‘Show’ is good, if not great
‘The Cher Show” begins, appropriately enough, on a battleship, its iconic subject campily clad in an excessive Bob Mackie masterpiece while surrounded by sycophantic, somersaulting sailors. Her Cherness then offers up the central question of her evening: Why would a mature woman such as herself still want to earn her living “prancing around in a slingshot and sparkles?”
Hey, even jukebox musicals and celebrity bio-shows need clear reasons for a theatrical being. In her onewoman show, Elaine Stritch memorably described herself as an “existential problem in tights.” In “Jersey Boys,” Frankie Valli was always running as fast as he could, “trying to get home.” So what was Cher’s deal? The answer — as delivered by Stephanie J. Block, the fearless leader of a trifecta of Chers in this new biographical musical penned by Rick Elice, directed by Jason Moore and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli — is disarming in its simplicity. “I’m shy.” Sure, Cher, sure. So at the Neil Simon Theatre, we turn back time and follow Cher’s trajectory from backup singer to the co-star of “The Sonny and Cher Show” to the Oscar-winning actress in “Moonstruck” to the power-disco diva of “Believe,” “Strong Enough” and “Woman’s World” to, well, we of course await her next reinvention. By the end of Act Two, the show’s message has melded with the lyrics to “You Haven’t Heard the Last of Me.”
“There will be no fade out,” Cher sings. “This is not the end.”
If you’re doing an authorized and approved biography of the living Cher, a stricture which inevitably leads you toward a hagiography, shyness morphing into the eternal human quest for immortality is not a bad organizing principal, and it will probably be enough for her fans to have a good time.
For all the obvious flaws of “The Cher Show,” it’s an honest, self-deprecating effort, given the givens. Vastly different and greatly improved from its Chicago tryout, which was framed around a phony TV show about Cher, the final Broadway version of the show has Block’s Cher striding to center stage and proceeding to tell Cher’s story strictly on Cher’s terms.
Elice, it seems, finally decided to cut away the clutter and deliver a show that clearly delivers the three words on the marquee: “The Cher Show.” As in of, by, about, and adoring Cherilyn Sarkisian, comedian, singer, actress and, above all, a symbol of steadfast womanly strength.
Most jukebox shows look for ways to introduce musical variety. Not “The Cher Show” and its three Chers. The hugely talented Micaela Diamond plays the young Cher (or Babe) and Teal Wicks (Lady) essays the early-career diva. Both give the spotlight to Block (her third is called Star, lest you were wondering), but the women don’t follow chronological rules. Often, they all show up at once, Star offering a mature woman’s advice to Babe, say, or Babe telling Star to find her youthful vitality.
Vocally, all three are very much within the Cher pallet, which means you have to like the Cher sound to be happy in this show, but, then again, you knew that when you read the title. While Ticks struggles not to be stuck being the bologna in the Cher sandwich, Diamond (a real find) has the advantage of youthful talent and Block commands the stage in a way that is so close to her subject as to be almost creepy.
Cher is no Carole King, of course. Her persona is cool to the touch and that is what the show captures. The warmer colors of the evening come from Jarrod Spector, who is both funny and charming as Sonny, even though the script treats the late congressman harshly, and from the terrific Emily Skinner, who plays Cher’s highly sympathetic mother, Georgia Holt, a kind of proto-Cher in this telling.
Cher’s other main loves, Gregg Allman (Matthew Hydzik) and Rob Camilletti ((Michael Campayno) are there too, but kissed off. In the show’s telling, they’re nice guys who cannot go Cher’s distance.
Cher never married Bob Mackey, who is both the costume designer of “The Cher Show” and a character therein, but he’s the spouse of her skin here. Mackey’s custom creations are paraded throughout the evening in the most entertaining fashion, giving the show an atypical glamor and level of spectacle that exceeds most of its competition.
Aside from the clothes, though, “The Cher Show” stays within the familiar lanes of the jukebox musical and cannot avoid many of its tropes. Since Cher mostly narrates the show and there’s a lot of life to depict, that leads you to some forced scenes where characters introduce themselves as part of their dialogue (“I’m not wrong, I’m Robert Altman”).
And the show still runs into systemic problems in the crucial heart of Act Two when Cher inconveniently turns to acting in straight plays and movies, neither of which lend themselves easily to this kind of musical. Elice tries to get around the problem by having Cher sing at an audition for a play with no music whatsoever.
Still, having three Chers takes the pressure of Block, whose performance then can reach surprisingly intense heights. You really have to admire what she is doing here. Block can’t be warm and cuddly, of course, but she is vulnerable very much in the same way as the subject of her formidable performance, and it reads on stage.
She’s just a little scary, just like Cher.