PROMISES, PROMISES A REVIEW

There are some shows that wear well over the years and some shows that don't. Take the musical PROMISES, PROMISES for example. When this musical was first produced in 1968 it was a smash hit. It had a wildly funny book by Neil Simon [based on the classic film "The Apartment"] , music by Burt Bacharach that introduced a new sound to Broadway and bright lyrics by Hal David. The show ran 1,281 performances and deserved every one of them, but the show was never considered a classic then ,and the 42 years since that first production seems to have robbed it of the fizz it once had, even in this brightly colored and shiny new revival.
Mr Simon's book deals with an office worker who lends his apartment out to his bosses so they can engage in some hanky panky with the female employees and winds up falling for a secretary who is in a relationship with one of the executives, but what was funny four decades ago now seems rather tame and old hat and while the Bacharach/David score is still attractive, time has taken away some of it's freshness.
While Rob Ahsford's stage direction is nothing special his choreography is well planned and generally lively and Sean Hays makes a smashing Broadway debut as the office clerk, even though he didn't erase the memory of Jerry Orbach's performance in the original. Kristin Chenoweth is not so well cast as the secretary.It's not that she is not good. She is very good,but the role is not right for her. The best performance is by Katie Finnernan as a barfly who comes on to the clerk.She only appears at the top of the second act, and all but walks off with the show just as the great Marian Mercer did in the original.
Scott Pask's sets are colorful and attractive and Jonathan Tunick has reworked his original orchestrations with his usual skill and knowhow, but even in this spiffy revival PROMISES, PROMISES is not the freshly original show it once was.
AT THE BROADWAY THEATRE 1681 BROADWAY AT 53rd STREET N.Y.C.