Irma La Douce sashays into San Francisco to sing and dance at 42nd Street Moon
By Bruce Bellingham

The 42nd Street Moon musical theatre company opened its new season last month with a production of Irma La Douce.Like most of us, I thought Irma La Douce was an entertaining 1960s Billy Wilder movie, a sex farce with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. The music was incidental. But Irma was first a hit Parisian musical that made a big splash all over Europe and then on Broadway in 1960. The title character is a Parisian prostitute who falls for a young law student. Ah, yes, Irma La Douce evokes a time when whores had hearts as gold, as the saying goes, if there ever was such a time. According to Brenda Hughes of Encore Communications, disagreements among the various authors have kept the English language version restricted for nearly 30 years. The last San Francisco production was in 1978 for the old Civic Light Opera, starring Priscilla Lopez and Larry Kert. 

Marguerite Monnot, who wrote songs for Edith Piaf, composed the score. Alison Ewing makes her company debut in the role of Irma. Her Bay Area credits include the Marin Theatre Company’s production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and the role of the baker’s wife in Into the Woods at Theatreworks. She also played several different roles in Cabaret on Broadway.

Steve Rhyne plays Nestor Le Fripe, the law student so in love with Irma that he invents another persona, “M. Oscar,” in order to become her one-man provider. Rhyne has performed with numerous Bay Area theater companies and has also enjoyed a long association with the 42nd Street Moon, appearing most recently in Out of This World last season.  

Others in the cast include Bill Fahrner as Bob … Rudy Guerrero as Polyte Le Mou … Victor-Alexander Tapia as Roberto … Michael Barret Austin as Persil … Nick Nakashima as Frangipane … and Chris Uzelac as Jojo.

42 Street Moon’s artistic director, Greg MacKellan, directs the play; musical direction is by G. Scott Lacy. Linda Posner, the choreographer, toured with the show in the late 1960s. Louise Jarmilowicz is the costume designer, and set decoration is by Tom Orr.

The season continues with the Gershwin hit, Girl Crazy (Oct. 23–Nov. 16); followed by Ben Franklin in Paris (Nov. 28–Dec. 14); The Baker’s Wife by Joseph Stein and Steven Schwartz (March 19–April 5, 2009). It concludes with Wildcat (May 7–24, 2009) starring Maureen McGovern. The company will also present The Great Revues, celebrating a lost Broadway art, as a nonsubscription production from April 16–26, 2009.

Irma La Douce: Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street (at Front); through Oct. 12; tickets $38–$42, season subscriptions $96–$162 (special $25 children’s subscription), senior and student discounts available at the box office, 415-255-8207 or www.42ndstmoon.com