Urban Cowboy is a really good Country-Western musical with the sexiest, most gorgeous chorus on Broadway -- all great, energetic dancers and singers, costumed, men and women, as eye-candy by Ellis Tillman, choreographed with great originality and joy by Melinda Roy in the most sensuous, colorful leaps and wriggles in town. With a pastiche of old hits, the music jumps and flows. Jenn Colella, the lead, is a real star: gamin beauty, totally riveting charisma, with a fine voice and an amazingly fluid body, and good lookin' Matt Cavenaugh as the self-destructive but sympathetic cowboy has a lovely singing voice, and the right bumpkin air for the part.
Backed by Sally Mayes, Leo Burmester, Jody Stevens, and Marcus Chait as the perfect villain, the entire cast is top Broadway level. The show is about working class aspirations. Its unsophisticated longings are presented with great sophistication by director Lonny Price on James Noone's amazing set, all accented perfectly by Natasha Katz's lighting. During the dance numbers, the audience was grinning, tappin', head-bobbin' and "Lookin' for Love in All the Wrong Places" is still tripping in my head. Lots of fun.
