It's a neat idea reviving a musical about the New York textile business in a former east London clothes factory. The Jerome Weidman and Harold Rome Sixties show, which starred Barbra Streisand and Elliot Gould on Broadway, is a rags-to-riches (and back again) story about a profligate young Jewish clothier in Thirties Bronx.
Mehmet Ergen's Arcola Theatre is a former sweatshop, which has been reinvented as a fringe theatre, dependent not on the labour of poorly paid immigrants but on the labour of poorly paid actors. The show and venue ought therefore to go together like a shirt and tie, but aren't always so well matched.
Based on Weidman's 1937 novel, the book is a patchy reworking of the classic prodigal son story. The hero, Harry Bogen, is a mother-fixated wide-boy who falls for a gaudy showgirl - before having the good sense to marry-in. Between this semi-Biblical yarn, a Bar Mitzvah, plus a good dose of hypochondria, the book has a style as distinctively Jewish as a gaberdine and skull cap. Sadly, it is short on New York Yiddish wit - some of the best quality humour in the world. Rome's music also struggles to find its rhythm in the first half, fiddling with different styles from ballads to jigs.
Ergen and William Galinsky's production is prudently cut to fit its purse, but sometimes looks like coming apart at the seams. Lisa Douek and Hannah Penfold's design, with clothes racks and sewing tables all around, allows the performers' energy to dissipate in the yawning, central space. In particular, three musicians, on violin, flute and piano, struggle to fill the arena with sound. The momentum picks up in the second half when there are more choral routines involving the whole 20-strong company. The hard labour of the cast manages to save the day. Led by Joseph Wicks as wide-boy Harry, Rosanne Priest as sensible Ruthie, plus Nichola Lagan as the downtrodden secretary, they stitch together a lively, mix 'n' match evening.
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