Review: The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game is a musical comedy based on the book, 7-1/2 Cents, by Dubuque native Richard Bissell. It was performed at the Des Moines Playhouse in 1967 and returns in its current production after winning the 2006 Tony Award for best Broadway revival. This is not a show with a complex plot or challenging characters. Instead, it is the type of show to attend if you want to hum some of the score while waiting in the bathroom during intermission.
A few people sitting behind me at the Saturday, April 12, 2008, performance snickered several times during the first act. While I did not appreciate the distraction, I agreed with their reaction. There are numerous similarities between a 1950’s factory as presented in the musical and modern day work places. However, there are also many significant changes, not least being the power of unions. An updated version of the play would be more likely to hold the attention of audience members younger than 40. One song in particular, “Steam Heat,” offers a good example of changes time has brought. While I have lived in numerous places warmed with steam heat and know what it is like to have radiators, years of central air heating reduced my emotional reaction to the song.
The premise of The Pajama Game is simple. There is a new male superintendent at the Sleep Tite pajama factory in Cedar Rapids. He has an encounter with the female head of the union’s grievance committee. Sparks fly, conflict erupts, all turns out perfectly. Boy gets girl and gets the union a 7-1/2 cents raise that lets the workers live like royalty, or so they dream.
Alison Shafer’s choreography was the first thing that I admired about this production of the musical. It offered an energetic coordination of moving bodies and objects in “Racing With the Clock” and a playful pas de deux in “Her Is.” After I stopped trying to think of the show in terms of a story and started looking at it only as a series of musical entertainment, I began to enjoy the singing, too. Susan M. Grozier (Gladys), Craig Peterson (Sid Sorokin), and Jim Benda (Hines) had choice roles and all deserved them. Andrea Markowsi (Babe Williams) gave a decent performance but she seemed to be trying too hard to get the chorus correct in “There Once Was a Man (I Love You More).” Yet she got the shouting in “I’m Not At All in Love” just right. She also had the misfortune of a small microphone problem at the start of another song. Lenny Houts (Prez) deserves mention for his acting and for the puppy dog steps in “Her Is.”
The entire cast earned the plentiful applause. The scenic design and most of the costumes complemented the story well. The lighting could have been much better. The musical was directed by John W. Viars. Viars is executive director of the Playhouse and was a member of the 1967 cast of The Pajama Game.
M.R. Field reviews arts for AroundDesMonies.com. 
Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the 
