AN AP ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW
(c) The Associated Press, 2000.
 By MATT WOLF

LONDON (AP) - The three female stars of ``The Witches of Eastwick'' fly high - literally - at the end of the first act of the much-awaited musical version produced by blockbuster king Cameron Mackintosh.

As long as its leading ladies join forces vocally, not to mention aerially, the show flies, too. As it happens, that's often enough to keep director Eric Schaeffer's production mostly airborne, despite some dead patches in the second act and a game if underpowered leading man.

The $7 million Anglo-American venture was inspired both by the John Updike novel and the subsequent Hollywood film. Ian McShane, stepping into Jack Nicholson's film shoes as the devil, gives off the air of a fearless neophyte swimmer wading in over his head. Brave indeed is the man willing to share a musical stage with Lucie Arnaz, in ravishing voice and figure in her British stage debut, as well as local favorites Maria Friedman and Joanna Riding.

Inheriting the roles played in the 1987 Warner Bros. movie by Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon, Arnaz, Friedman and Riding constitute a trio worth treasuring - both separately and together - as they forge their own serious sisterhood. Those who know the movie will recall the outlines of the story, even if book writer John Dempsey has fashioned a plot whose specifics largely bypass Michael Cristofer's screenplay in favor of John Updike's far subtler 1984 source novel.

Subtlety, however, isn't the point here. Fun, pizzazz and a thinly veiled message are. At its core, this "Witches of Eastwick'' tells of a coven of sorcerers who discover that the secret to life lies within themselves. Think of the show as a study in self-affirmation wedded to a battery of special effects, and you'll have exactly the good time that is the musical's unpretentious goal.

That's quite a contrast, admittedly, from several of the 1980s blockbusters backed by Mackintosh, who built up a musical empire with the help of the French Revolution ("Les Miserables'') and the Vietnam War ("Miss Saigon'').

"Witches,'' by contrast, occupies a small, churchgoing New England town - Eastwick, R.I. to be precise - that seems to belong to the less fractious era previously evoked on the musical stage in "Bye Bye Birdie,'' "Bells Are Ringing'' and even "Grease,'' each of which "The Witches of Eastwick'' at various times recalls.

Indeed, while Updike's novel makes allusion to such 1960s reference points as Janis Joplin, the Pentagon and Ralph Nader, the musical deliberately chooses to be vague. When precisely, for example, does the show take place? Judging by a hairdo or two - like Rosemary Ashe as the show's chief victim, the loony Felicia - the 1950s would be a good guess. But some of the racier language is far more contemporary. (Those sensitive to the mention of body parts should stand forewarned.)

At the same time, McShane's amiable Darryl conveys the easygoing loucheness of a slightly seedy Hugh Hefner, all of which would suggest that the show is happening at whatever moment in time its audience wants it to. After all, lovelessness - its heroines' shared condition - has no limitations when it comes to place or time.

And so we have Arnaz as Alexandra, the sassy den mother of the three, a sculptress whose erotic objets d'art flourish once Darryl joins the fold. How he inspires transformation of the other women is even more profound - Friedman's Sukie begins as an inarticulate, sheepish reporter and blossoms into a deft wordsmith who stops the show with her first-act patter song, "Words, Words, Words.'' Her second-act solo, "Loose Ends,'' cannot compare.

Cellist Jane sheds her glasses and, with them, her inhibitions, though not before Riding socks her own character-defining song - "Waiting for the Music to Begin,'' with Jane finding a very playable instrument in the libidinous Darryl - out of the theater. Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe's score is at its brassiest and best asserting the women's needs. It is considerably less good when it puts center-stage McShane - a star who has to carry two second-act company numbers that mostly make you cringe.

That's too bad. Because, when he's not attempting to sing or dance, McShane cuts an attractive roue who matches up perfectly to the "bearish, dark man'' described in Updike's novel. He's far less hammy, too, than Nicholson, which isn't saying much, though it anchors the show in a way unavailable to the movie's over-the-top star turn.

And yet, it remains ladies' night throughout. "The Witches of Eastwick'' can be said to dispatch its male anti-hero in more ways than one. ``Look at Me,'' sing the women in the final number, as they advance upon an audience that for much of the show would find it hard to look anywhere else.
 

• Cubist Confrontation - Miami New Times (Ronald Mangravite), April 22, 2004
  
  
• Art and Politics Collide in Miami Bow of A Picasso, with Lucie Arnaz Working for the Nazis - Playbill.com (Kenneth Jones), April 16, 2004
  
  
• Longing For Cuba - With Laughter - The Charlotte Observer (Christine Dolen), April, 2003.

LUCIE TOPS FRIAR'S CLUB!

Lucie was one of the headlining acts on Tuesday evening June 16, 2009 at the Friar's Club Foundation Applause Award Gala at Cipriani's in NYC, honoring the music and talents of Sir Tom Jones, Natalie Cole and CBS head Leslie Moonves.  

- ET has a great interview/performance video snippit from the event on their website, check it out here!

The 4th Annual Broadway Cabaret Festival at Town Hall was held on Saturday November 1, 2008 in NYC.  Stars from five decades of Broadway history took the stage to recreate songs from their Broadway hits!

- Check out this fabulous interview and clip of Lucie singing "They're Playing Our Song!"

BETTY COMDEN TRIBUTE

On September 18, 2007, Lucie paid special tribute to the great lyricist, Betty Comden, in NYC.  Comden, who passed in November of 2006, was saluted in true Broadway style as friends and contemporaries gathered to pay tribute to her works that have touched lives the world over.

- Check out the fabulous photo coverage from Broadwayworld.com
-and featured article on Playbill.com.