16 — April 4-April 10, 1985 — The Prince George's Post-Sentinel

Tune, Duncan dazzling
Musical love story chases away your cares (Kennedy Center)

By Sharon Kennedy
for the Post-Sentinel

Tapping toes and heels take you around the world in 80 min­utes with Tommy Tune and Sandy Duncan in "My One and Only."

"My One and Only" just goes to show you that the older super­stars of tap dance, such as Charles Coles as Mr. Magix, have the zest and agility to keep a tap ahead of the youngsters. Tune and Duncan. In fact, Coles, who came unto his own as a tap dancer on Broadway, teaches Tune a thing or two.

Mr. Magix teaches Capt. Billy Buck Chandler (Tune), a tall Texan farmboy born to an airplane saddle, how to tap dance, dress, and dazzle a lady — Edith Her­bert (Duncan). In a duet to the title song "My One and Only," Coles teaches Tune the fine art of persuasion to catch his lady.

A necessary ingredient to Billy's art is "love at first sight." With the highly developed eye­sight of a fearless barnstorming aviator, Billy zeroes right in on Herbert. The third woman to swim the English Channel, Herbert and her Russian coach, Prince Nicolai (Don Amendolia), have just disembarked from the train.

And Billy, the fearless aviator afraid to talk to Herbert, is sim­ply thunderstruck by her beauty. Like a good fairy love tale, Tune must pass test of fearsome flight through strange and foreign lands and foil the plans of the villain Russian Prince Nicolai.
From Central Park and the Isle of Staten, N.Y., to Morocco, fear­less Capt. Billy finally catches up to Herbert. If she had only listen-

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ed to the beating of her own heart and not Prince Nicolai's threat, Herbert's flight to Morocco would not have taken place.

What would fearless aviator Capt. Billy do without the chal­lenge of a flight from New York to Morocco? And is it not more romantic to have Capt. Billy catch his only love, Herbert in Morocco hiding amid exotic cara­vans? This is the dream of every man and woman according to musical authorities George and Ira  Gershwin,  and Peter Stone and Timothy Mayer, the book's authors.

This fanciful flight is chock-full of color, blending realism and surrealism. In New York City, back lighting of full moon sil­houettes darker kissing figures of Tune and Duncan. Their still-life pose embodies romance in its color and form. Later, a giant-size green palm leaf, bright yellow sand on a beach and an ocean wall with an ocean-going vessel show set designer Tony Walton's flair for blending a real-life ocean liner with a surrealistic wall of seawater.

Equally alluring is the sound of the Gershwins' music. Ira Gershwin's lyrics offer the truth that Billy will catch his lady love. And taking advantage of his ac­claimed '"S Wonderful" lyric, Gershwin reaches an '"S Marvelous" rating. He uses lots of catchy words such as glamorous to amo­rous and short phrases easily syn­copated to musical and tap-dancing rhythm.

And the company is marvel­ous, so glamorous with its amour for tap-dancing, music and ro­mance. Playing second-fiddle with hope of claiming Capt. Billy, is his flight mechanic, Mickey (Peggy O'Connell). O'Connell and Prince Nicolai offer first-rate har­mony to their music and min­gling in "Funny Face," In this scene, Nicolai gets a reprieve from fate accorded a villain as he pledges his love to Mickey.

The unbeatable team is Tune, the company's choreographer, and Duncan, whose voice belies her small size. From duets "He Loves and She Loves," and '"S Wonderful," to "How Long Has This Been Going On?," Tune and Duncan razzle and dazzle under any light in any land.