New Musical in Manhattan

Mr. Wonderful (book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman; music and lyrics by Jerry Bock, Larry Holofcener and George Weiss) recalls the wag who wondered what would have happened historically had Plymouth Rock landed on the Pilgrims. For Mr. Wonderful much less suggests Nightclub Artist Sammy Davis Jr. finally landing on Broadway than Broadway landing on him. It has bedded down this master of loud sounds in pointless noise; it has surrounded this demon of driving energy with feckless hullabaloo. The effect is of a nightclub talent not so much fighting his way out of a musicom-edy frame as out of a cage--and of having to elude a posse until it is so winded it lets him be the whole show.

But the show that Sammy finally dominates remains a nightclub show. His amiably urgent personality blends with drinks on tables; he himself has the air of a host who is always dashing about to show his guests something new. His unusual versatility, again, would pay off better if it were all done in one piece, if it could quick-change, nightclub-style, from tap dancing (Sammy's real forte) to vocalizing to clever imitations to blowing a trumpet to banging the traps.

As it is, in this semibiographical account of how, with his father and uncle, Sammy reached the big time, he loses a certain edge from the show's brassy diffuseness, a certain authority from its lack of focus. He would very likely come off best on Broadway in the main slot of a revue. In any case, he is not well served in this jerry-built gag show, Broadway's latest example of burning down a house to roast a pig.

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