House Calls. If the situation calls for pure entertainment and you’re at a loss, go for Howard Zieff’s 1978 romcom about a widowed doctor who decides to play the field but ends up falling for a prickly middle-aged lady with a kid and no money. Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson strike sparks galore, and Art Carney and Richard Benjamin provide sterling support. The witty script is credited to a gaggle of pros, among them Julius J. Epstein, the co-author of Casablanca, and Max Shulman, the creator of Dobie Gillis. Whoever did what, the results are fluffy and fine (TT).
Archives for July 3, 2011
ORIGINAL-CAST ALBUM
Guys and Dolls (Decca Broadway). If you can’t make it up to the Berkshires to see Barrington Stage’s revival of Frank Loesser’s masterpiece, then grab the CD version of the original-cast album. George S. Kaufman’s still-celebrated 1950 Broadway production is gone with the wind and the movie version was lousy, but the hard-nosed punch of the singing of Robert Alda, Isabel Bigley, Vivian Blaine, and Stubby Kaye was preserved for all time by Decca, complete with George Bassman’s delectably brassy orchestrations. Accept no substitutes! (TT)
JAZZ
Gene Bertoncini (Bar Henry, 90 W. Houston St., 646-448-4559, Mondays at 7:30-10:30). After a distressingly long hiatus caused by the closing of Le Madeleine three years ago, the great jazz guitarist now has another regular New York gig. If you don’t know Bertoncini’s playing, go here and marvel at the liquid tone and supple romanticism of his solo style. Then go to Bar Henry and hear him in person–often (TT).