Falling in Love With Love, National Jewish Theater.
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This 140-minute Richard Rodgers retrospective is a triumph for director Sheldon Patinkin, musical director Kingsley Day, and choreographer Linda Leonard, as perfectly packaged and solidly conceived as NJT’s superlative Irving Berlin tribute, Puttin’ On the Ritz. With brains and heart, Falling in Love With Love triumphantly showcases 40 years of beloved but often buried song treasures, from the easily elegant “Blue Moon” to the contagiously happy “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” to the urbanely flippant “The Lady Is a Tramp.” And the show is collaboration heaven, with John Murbach’s Italian-villa set, David Gipson’s lambent lighting, Jordan Ross’s period-rich costumes, and Day’s artful arrangements, which never fail to hit the heart.
