We’ve grown accustomed to their songs

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | 10:24 a.m.

The show is about music, naturally, sustained by songs from monumental musicals "My Fair Lady," "Brigadoon," "Paint Your Wagon," "Gigi" and "Camelot."

But it's also about less tangible elements -- personal and professional chemistry, musical inspiration, creative fertility and wrenching self-analysis.

It's about the collaboration of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, one of the most revered musical partnerships of the 20th century.

A celebration of their music and free-floating biographical odyssey, "Lerner and Loewe: Brief Shining Moment," will be unveiled at UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre tonight at 8.

The performance is produced by Broadway veteran Mike Merrick, directed by UNLV Graduate Musical Theatre Program Director Robert Brewer, and written by former Lerner and Loewe associate Stone Widney. It runs through Feb. 14.

"We're going to have all of the familiar numbers, but a good mix," Widney said earlier this week. "We'll have a lot of different, less-famous numbers too."

The performance borrows from the duo's most famous musicals. The 26-song production includes standards such as "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," "They Call the Wind Maria," "Gigi," "I Remember it Well," "Almost Like Being in Love," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," "On the Street Where You Live" and "Camelot."

Widney said he's seeking to enhance Lerner and Loewe's legacy. The UNLV production wafts randomly through time and delves into the thought processes of both composers.

"I have a very curious mix of emotions about this production," Widney said. "In one sense, it's rewarding to see something you've dreamt of for a long time become reality, seeing something that came from your heart come to fruition.

"But on the other side, once you finish writing something, it belongs to someone else. It belongs to the production crew and the actors and other people, and you have to kind of let it go."

But the production is in capable hands. Merrick has produced more than a dozen Broadway productions, including "Clarence Darrow," starring Henry Fonda; "The Belle of Amherst," starring Julie Harris; "My Fair Lady," starring Rex Harrison; and "Camelot," starring Richard Burton.

Merrick brought Widney and Brewer together nearly two years ago to work on the Lerner and Loewe project.

"I've got a great deal of confidence," said Brewer, well-known in Las Vegas for nearly a decade for his productions of (among others), "110 in the Shade," "Amadeus," and, most recently, "Les Liaisons Dangereuses."

Brewer's energy when discussing the Lerner and Loewe production is boundless.

"You have a wonderful story and some of the most beautiful music ever written," Brewer said. "It's a story about a relationship and the magic that resulted from that relationship."

Using creative license because of his association with Lerner and Loewe spanning more than three decades -- he was their casting director, production manager and stage manager -- Widney has adopted an arcane approach to conveying their story.

"Because their material was so wedded to the specific production or movies and characters, it doesn't lend itself to a review very well," Widney said. "People are thinking, 'I've already seen this number in 'My Fair Lady' or 'Brigadoon.' We wanted to go further, to go into their heads and see the creative process at work."

Loewe, born in Berlin, was raised as a concert pianist and by the time he was a teen-ager he had appeared as the Berlin Symphony's youngest piano soloist. He moved to the United States in the early '20s to expand his musical horizons, touring the country, writing songs and performing on the piano.

Loewe wrote his first musical, "Salute to Spring," in 1934.

Lerner was born in New York and was also proficient at the piano. He attended Julliard School of Music in New York and graduated from Harvard in 1940. Two years later, the two met at a private New York theatrical club, and later that year collaborated on their first musical, "Life of the Party."

Lerner and Loewe's first major success, "Brigadoon," was crafted in 1947 and the pair combined on "Paint Your Wagon" in 1951, "My Fair Lady" in 1956, "Camelot" in 1960 and, finally, "Gigi" in 1973.

Lerner died in 1986 at age 68 and Loewe died two years later at age 84.

"Their professional and personal relationship spanned so many different eras, and we tried to touch on them all," Widney said. "We want to show that something really clicked between these two."

The production shifts from moments depicting true-to-life episodes to surreal, fantasy scenes that prompted some of the duo's most famous productions.

"We'll see the fantasy approach blossom into the moment that became, 'Brigadoon,' or 'Paint Your Wagon,' " Widney said. "We'll see their respective phantoms come alive. It's not a chronological beginning-to-end depiction at all."

The production's opening scene illustrates Widney's approach.

In a remote desert setting in the late '70s, long after Lerner and Loewe became internationally recognized celebrities, a chauffeur-driven car carrying the twosome from Palm Springs to a party in Los Angeles breaks down.

The chauffeur departs to seek help, leaving Lerner and Loewe alone to embark on a seamless journey of soul searching.

"They have broken down literally, in a Rolls-Royce, which never breaks down, and they're realizing nothing is forever," Widney said. "It's an image of breaking down, maybe of suffering mid-life crisis and wondering if you're still important, if your work will survive various trends like rock 'n' roll.

"Hey, some people think rap is very important. Alan always wanted his work to span generations, to be important long after he was gone, and that was his dream."

The team shared a competitive spirit with contemporaries as well, Widney said.

"They wanted to be as good as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Gershwin," Widney said. "They wanted to be as good as everybody and anybody else. That was part of the chemistry of their collaboration."

Playing the role of Lerner is Noel Craig, an experienced repertory theater actor in the United States and England. Craig has been featured in dozens of musicals in a wide range of venues and starred in Lerner's final Broadway show, "Dance a Little Closer."

In his Broadway debut, Craig played the role of Hamlet in the acclaimed "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," and his credits also include Broadway productions of, "A Patriot for Me," "Vivat! Vivat Regina!" and "Conduct Unbecoming."

Playing Loewe is a late addition to the cast, Steven Vinovich, who originally auditioned for the role, which was secured by longtime Broadway performer Thom Keane-Koutsoukos.

Keane-Koutsoukos dropped out of the production, however, citing health concerns. Vinovich was summoned from Los Angeles and was prepped for performance in time for Monday's first dress rehearsal.

Vinovich's Broadway credits include, "Lost in Yonkers," "The Grand Tour" and "Loose Ends," as well as regional productions of "Golden Boy," "On Golden Pond" and "Foreigner."

The cast numbers 32 and the show runs a little more than two hours. Boosted by a $30,000 Planning Initiative Grant (matching the original production budget) approved by UNLV President Carol Harter, the school is able to help finance a professional-quality production.

Brewer says he hopes the production will be performed throughout the country -- and even run on Broadway.

"We're going to invite a lot of producers with deep pockets," Brewer said. "What will it take? Someone with a little faith and a lot of money, like, eight million dollars. But it's a sure-fire concept."

That doesn't quell the jitters of musical director Brian Hicks, whose job it is to convey Widney's interpretations of classic musical numbers.

"It's intense for me, personally," he said. "You take a song like, 'Almost Like Being in Love,' a show-stopper from 'Brigadoon,' and here it's a much more tender, reflective piece. You are called upon to revise and alter this piece that everybody knows.

"Sometimes you feel like you're reworking the Dead Sea Scrolls, but by God, we're going to do it."

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