Gepetto
ABC TV - May 7, 2000
Review by John Kenrick
After Disney’s recent revamps of Cinderella and Annie
won great reviews and strong ratings, it was inevitable that Mickey's team
would attempt an original TV musical. Gepetto revisits the story of
Pinocchio from the toy maker’s point of view. The Disney team has done a
polished job, providing a witty and thoroughly charming musical
fantasy for children – and more than a few good laughs for grown-ups.
Not an instant classic, but good entertainment.
Pinocchio’s boyish instincts get him into trouble, and Gepetto (with a few
assists from the Blue Fairy) helps to get him out of it. We're missing a few
familiar animal characters from the classic screen version – this time the
emphasis is on humans. Drew Carey is surprisingly effective in the lead,
not an easy role to pull off. One might wonder why such a young Gepetto does not
just marry and begat children, but Carey’s understated acting and gentle singing
make the character quite likeable.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus steals several scenes by playing the Blue Fairy as a
tongue-in-cheek take off on every fairy godmother and good witch you can think of.
And the lady can sing! Brent Spiner shamelessly chews up scenery
as Stromboli, the greedy puppeteer who will do anything to feature a puppet without
strings in his show – his Rossini-style solo is hilarious. Rene Auberjonois
is almost wasted as a scientist who makes prefabricates perfect children, and pop
star Usher gave a smooth Fosse-esque performance as the leader of the evil
gang that runs Pleasure Island. Seth Adkins makes Pinocchio a contemporary kid,
as temperamental and exasperating as possible. You wouldn’t blame Gepetto for sanding
this little brat’s hide (which we are told is birch, not pine).
The score by Stephen Schwartz (composer of Pippin, Baker’s Wife)
has a delightful Broadway-esque sound, with a few touches of Italian coloring to
fit the setting, and some inventive rhymes. I especially enjoyed the triple-tiered
opening number "Toys," which juxtaposed children lusting for toys and their
exasperated parents with Gepetto wishing for a son of his own. Another highlight was the
Blue Fairy’s warning that magical quick-fixes are not always the right answer, made
all the funnier when the Fairy magically forces Gepetto to dance with her Astaire-Rogers
style. The only clunker was a number that kept hurling around annoying rhymes for
"island," but it was not enough to ruin an otherwise fun score. The Disney
folks threw in a few bits of Pinocchio's classic score for good measure.
In the end, Gepetto added up to a very pleasant way to pass a few hours,
especially for the younger set. One hopes that Disney/ABC will cook up some more original
TV musicals of a similar or better caliber. As it stands, their next announced project is
a remake of Mame with Barbra Streisand as executive producer – enough to
coax the blues out of any musical-lover’s horn!
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