From the frying pan to the fire describes the plot of part two. The coin Mel tossed to decide the fate of the show must have been that proverbial bad penny because when it lands Joel is out and Jimmy is in as leading man.
Mel's meddling results in the entire New York revue being jettisoned in favor of a Jimmy the Bookie-scored celebration of the American Southwest, "I Happen to Like Arizona"! Alice laments, singing a line of the imagined "Lullaby of Flagstaff," but it's worse than she feared, with songs like "Two Tootsies from Tucson" and a ballad about "Kleenex in Phoenix."
Joel Grey, Mickey, and the cast quit in protest, so Mel conscripts his "three lovelies" on pain of having their paychecks docked to cover his lost investment. Alice, Vera, and Jolene sacrifice self-respect for survival and gamely accompany on stage the wheelchair-bound Jimmy in this ill-conceived revue that rivals "Springtime for Hitler" for crimes against good taste.
A bikini-clad usherette scandalizes Ceil Cabot, a welcome guest star along with veteran Maury Hill as the stuffy theater critic Mel inadvertently offends before resorting to fawning and bribery with a whopping ten-dollar check. Alice's son Philip makes a brief appearance, and he must be forgiven for booing his own mother. Yes, it was that bad.
There's no need to fear, Joel Grey is here, smiling, singing and dancing to the rescue. The rest of the show is a delightful medley of New York songs, "Manhattan," "Theme from New York, New York," and the rousing closer "42nd Street."
Everyone did an excellent job. I imagined having Joel Grey aboard demonstrating his talents as both an actor and a song and dance man gave the production extra oomph. I was especially impressed by Michael Rupert as Mickey the New York-based director with a resonant voice! Rupert was in many ways playing himself, as in real life he is a Tony-winning stage performer, composer, and playwright.
I also got a tremendous kick out of Tom Williams as Jimmy the Bookie, who tapped hitherto unknown reservoirs of creativity to score and perform in a revue celebrating the cities of Arizona. And Jimmy's last name, Prescott, was yet another nod to a great city of Arizona! Williams was a talented guy who was a blast to watch, so I was disappointed to learn after clicking on his IMDb page that he made only a glancing blow on Hollywood, appearing as different characters in four other "Alice" episodes, and one episode apiece of "Bronk" and "Eight is Enough." I wish he could have been made a recurring character as he had a ton of promise.
Blink and you'll miss diner regular Chuck, who rightfully regretted donning a tie for opening night. Marvin Kaplan has a sizeable role, literally, as he's putting on weight enjoying Jolene's cooking while "Melsie" is off playing Max Bialystock and canoodling over coffee breaks with the Doublemint Twin tap dancers. Tina the usherette had a good line but was uncredited, as were virtually all the dance troupe, several of whom had speaking lines.
This double-header delivered in spades the songs and the laughs. I remember sitcoms like "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The Doris Day Show" would sprinkle in an occasional let's-put-on-a-show episode spotlighting their casts' talents, and I enjoyed those, but often they were one-offs where the show's regular setting and plot were set aside for the standalone stage show. "Alice" did them one better by weaving together seamlessly the sitcom elements with the stage performance. Great fun and good music. The show is over, but the melody lingers on.
Mel's meddling results in the entire New York revue being jettisoned in favor of a Jimmy the Bookie-scored celebration of the American Southwest, "I Happen to Like Arizona"! Alice laments, singing a line of the imagined "Lullaby of Flagstaff," but it's worse than she feared, with songs like "Two Tootsies from Tucson" and a ballad about "Kleenex in Phoenix."
Joel Grey, Mickey, and the cast quit in protest, so Mel conscripts his "three lovelies" on pain of having their paychecks docked to cover his lost investment. Alice, Vera, and Jolene sacrifice self-respect for survival and gamely accompany on stage the wheelchair-bound Jimmy in this ill-conceived revue that rivals "Springtime for Hitler" for crimes against good taste.
A bikini-clad usherette scandalizes Ceil Cabot, a welcome guest star along with veteran Maury Hill as the stuffy theater critic Mel inadvertently offends before resorting to fawning and bribery with a whopping ten-dollar check. Alice's son Philip makes a brief appearance, and he must be forgiven for booing his own mother. Yes, it was that bad.
There's no need to fear, Joel Grey is here, smiling, singing and dancing to the rescue. The rest of the show is a delightful medley of New York songs, "Manhattan," "Theme from New York, New York," and the rousing closer "42nd Street."
Everyone did an excellent job. I imagined having Joel Grey aboard demonstrating his talents as both an actor and a song and dance man gave the production extra oomph. I was especially impressed by Michael Rupert as Mickey the New York-based director with a resonant voice! Rupert was in many ways playing himself, as in real life he is a Tony-winning stage performer, composer, and playwright.
I also got a tremendous kick out of Tom Williams as Jimmy the Bookie, who tapped hitherto unknown reservoirs of creativity to score and perform in a revue celebrating the cities of Arizona. And Jimmy's last name, Prescott, was yet another nod to a great city of Arizona! Williams was a talented guy who was a blast to watch, so I was disappointed to learn after clicking on his IMDb page that he made only a glancing blow on Hollywood, appearing as different characters in four other "Alice" episodes, and one episode apiece of "Bronk" and "Eight is Enough." I wish he could have been made a recurring character as he had a ton of promise.
Blink and you'll miss diner regular Chuck, who rightfully regretted donning a tie for opening night. Marvin Kaplan has a sizeable role, literally, as he's putting on weight enjoying Jolene's cooking while "Melsie" is off playing Max Bialystock and canoodling over coffee breaks with the Doublemint Twin tap dancers. Tina the usherette had a good line but was uncredited, as were virtually all the dance troupe, several of whom had speaking lines.
This double-header delivered in spades the songs and the laughs. I remember sitcoms like "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The Doris Day Show" would sprinkle in an occasional let's-put-on-a-show episode spotlighting their casts' talents, and I enjoyed those, but often they were one-offs where the show's regular setting and plot were set aside for the standalone stage show. "Alice" did them one better by weaving together seamlessly the sitcom elements with the stage performance. Great fun and good music. The show is over, but the melody lingers on.