Theater: New Musical on Broadway

Do Re Mi (book by Garson Kanin; music by Jule Styne; lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green) has certainly its good things—though not enough to make it a good musical. Its top draws, Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker, greatly compensate for how little else—actually, just the best lyrics—is top drawer. But other things prove of use; and the general setup—Silvers as a little man aching to be a big shot and inducing some old slot-machine racketeers to muscle in on jukeboxes—has a promisingly raffish air.

Actually it is the setup that pulls the show down, for it makes vice as insipid as virtue. Constantly recalling Guys and Dolls, Do Re Mi so little equals it that where the book of Guys was a blessing, Do's is a bore. And whether from an effort to even things up, or merely by contrast, the music at times seems fiendishly loud, the dancing fiendishly frenzied.

At other times, the dancing and music are nice enough. And dozens of times, there is Silvers in a fine sweat to make headlines or wow headwaiters, and a bit of a wow himself in the way he enters, or looks around or at, or shakes a leg or shouts a line, or exits. And as Silvers' wife, and deserving a bigger role, there is Nancy Walker, who can look wonderfully around or at, or over or through, or can sidle or sock, or be touchingly human. The music's pleasures come in what amusing lines can do along with Silvers in It's Legitimate, with Nancy Dussault in What's New at the Zoo, with Nancy Walker in Adventure. These are like half-hours striking between spells of mere ticktock.