By William Wolf

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Imitating James Cagney has long been an easy shot for a host of comedians. But it is a big challenge to create the character of Cagney in an entire show. Robert Creighton is delightfully up to the task in his portrayal in the new musical “Cagney,” with a book by Peter Colley ad music and lyrics by Creighton and Christopher McGovern, presented by The York Theatre Company in association with Riki Kane Larimer.

Creighton looks enough like Cagney to get by on that score, and he also has mastered Cagney mannerisms, including his stance, his walk and his overall feisty appearance that we know from roles that he played. What many may not realize is that Cagney, known for his tough guy movie characters, started as a hoofer in vaudeville and first made his mark in theater. He subsequently went to Hollywood and became a star with Warner Bros., then broke away in anger. But later he was back at the studio again.

The show is framed with Cagney being presented a Screen Actors Guild lifetime achievement award by producer Jack Warner, in effect a platform reconciliation of enemies. Yes, he did receive such an award. But I can’t find any evidence that the Warner presentation of the award was anything but an entertaining fictional device around which to build a plot. (I’m happy to stand corrected if anybody produces evidence to the contrary.) Bruce Sabath is extremely good as the late Jack Warner and quite resembles him. (Sabath, along with the rest of the cast, Creighton excepted, plays other roles as well.)

The musical bio involves Cagney trying to get more serious roles that would enable him to shed his tough guy image. It is filled with private life details, such as meeting and marrying his wife, Willie, played by a sprited Ellen Zolezzi, his affection for his mother, portrayed with returned affection by Danette Holden, his brother Bill (Josh Walden) and assorted show business friends, including Bob Hope (Jeremy Benton). There is some political reference to Cagney being smeared by the infamous congressional Dies Committee with its ridiculous charges of supporting Communism against Cagney and even child star Shirley Temple. The show makes a point of Cagney saying he just supported causes for the underdog and was pro-union, but doesn’t deal with how conservative he became later in life.

Fortunately, the effort is made to tell most of the bio through song and dance, including some rousingly enjoyable tap dancing choreographed by Joshua Bergasse. The overall direction is by Bill Castellino and musical accompaniment is provided by a five-piece orchestra conducted by pianist Matt Perri.

My favorite song is “Falling in Love,” in which Cagney and Willie can’t get the word love out with any more than a murmur in their early relationship. It is a very cute number approaching falling in love in a different way.

Other good songs include “Black and White,” “Cagney at Work,” “Some Other Guy,” and “How Will I Be Remembered?” Of course, a musical about Cagney wouldn’t be complete without working in George M. Cohan’s “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “Grand Old Flag.”

It is amazing what the five cast members playing the assorted characters supporting Creighton’s star performance do. They deserve a medal for versatility and verve. Danette Holden is a marvel in the way she goes from Cagney’s mom to Warner’s secretary and dancing away in the chorus routines. Zolezzi is superb too, and all of the transitions by the company members work smoothly. Benton has the toughest job trying to be Bob Hope, not looking a bit like him, but managing to summon the attitude one associates with Hope’s comedy. Generally the impressions of various Holywood stars fall flat in the looks department.

The show seems so much larger than it is, and although some trimming might be in order, the musical does a reasonable measure of justice to its protagonist, even giving him a chance to protest that “I never did say, ‘you dirty rat,’” a favorite line of comic impersonators. At the Theater at St. Peter’s, Lexington Avenue and 54th Street. Phone: 212-935-5820. Reviewed May 29, 2015.

  

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