Gershwin musicals typically have inane plots and this one is no exception. Imagine a bootlegging company setting up shop on an empty beach house on Long Island with plenty of girls around and you get the drift of the story. Add to that the usual droll elements of romantic escapades and complicated love triangles that P. G. Wodehouse is famed for and you get ‘Oh, Kay!’. While the plot is largely forgettable and frivolous, the music isn’t. The score of ‘Oh, Kay!’ is exceptional, even by Gershwin standards.

From the shimmering, resplendent overture, the musical promises great entertainment. The work is multifaceted in its moods, and this can be evinced from the way the overture wanders from wistful, nostalgic moments to the more upbeat parts of the work. The felicities of ‘Oh, Kay!’ are too many to describe in detail but I can tell you that it is consistently shining with variety, depth and delight.

The first song ‘The Moon is on the Sea’ is a grandiose, tongue-in-cheek, parody of something Gilbert and Sullivan might come up with and it is here that we are first treated to the sterling vocal talents of Patrick Cassidy as Larry Potter.

A little less satisfactory is the casting of Dawn Upshaw as Kay, who sounds a little too mature for a song like ‘Someone to watch over me’. This is however made up by the chemistry between her and Kurt Ollmann as Jimmy Winter, and they complement each other in a lovely manner in the lushly romantic ‘Maybe’ as well as the cleverly inventive repetitiveness of ‘Do, do, do’.

‘Dear Little Girl’ fairly brims over with lyricism and charm is surely an unfairly neglected work. Other exhilarating moments include the agitated ‘Clap Yo’ Hands’ and the cheerful ‘Fidgety Feet’. Let us not also forget the delightful pianistic ‘Entr’acte’ played with great panache and brilliance by Kevin Cole and Joseph Thalken.

The orchestra and the ensemble provide very vivacious and coherent support, and conductor Eric Stern proves a keen and sympathetic interpreter of Gershwin. In addition to being outstanding artistically, this disc also boasts remarkably crystal-clear and dynamic sound, making it one of the most desirable purchases on the Elektra Nonesuch catalogue of Gershwin musicals. Not to be missed by any Gershwin aficionado.

Copyright © 1998 Melvin J Yap