By Hap Erstein

Palm Beach Post Theater Writer

Friday, November 30, 2007

Director Mark Martino is a child of the '50s with a weakness for the '20s.

So when the Maltz Jupiter Theatre asked him for musical suggestions - after he served as associate director on 2005's Plaid Tidings and played Harry the Horse in last year's Guys & Dolls - Martino quickly mentioned The Boy Friend.

"It's written in the '50s about the '20s," he says, emphasizing that it is not a spoof of that earlier era, but an irony-free embrace of it. "It's a romanticized picture, a heightened reality. The affection is always clear."

The Boy Friend was written by composer-lyricist Sandy Wilson, who pays homage to the flapper period with this love story set on the French Riviera, in which an English heiress falls for a delivery boy. "These are stock characters, lovable because you understand who they are before they even talk," notes Martino.

The show was always big on dance. At the Maltz, Martino and his choreographer, Denis Jones, emphasize it even more.

"We are dancing the entire overture," reports Martino. "You're not going to be sitting in the dark. Everybody in this show is able to express everything with their feet. A character just might Charleston and you would understand that he is crazy for her."

"Every number is a dance number," chimes in Jones. "These characters communicate through dance, they dance through life. We've put a little more tap into the show than was there originally. The Riviera, the big 11 o'clock number, we've made a huge tap dance."

The Boy Friend is probably best known for the star-making role of heiress Polly. When it first arrived on Broadway in 1954, it introduced a young singer named Julie Andrews. Its only major New York revival in 1970 brought Sandy Duncan to prominence. Martino believes that lightning is going to strike again with his Polly, newcomer Natalie Hall.

"She's sweet, charming and 20 years old, a star about to be born," he says. "(This is) her first big role. She's not even Equity. It took a leap of faith, but it's paying off in spades."

Even the 1971 movie version of The Boy Friend introduced supermodel Twiggy and gave her a whole new career, but Martino is no fan of the film. "There are some amazing images, it's by Ken Russell, but it's contemptuous of the '20s musicals and musicals in general. And '20s affectations in particular, which to me is the dead opposite of how to present The Boy Friend."

Although written in the '50s about the '20s, Martino believes The Boy Friend is the ideal show for today. "It's a perfect tonic to our times," he says. "We live in an era when the starlets have no romance. We see them on U-Tube getting arrested for drunk driving. I think the '20s is an era that's delightful to visit, particularly now.

"This is a world where love conquers all and it gets expressed through a thrilling series of dances. What more could you want in a musical?"