Ballads on Broadway

In India, they call it nrtya (a dance play with integrated songs and music). The ancient Greeks had a name for it, too--but Broadway is still trying to find out how to do it. Oklahoma! was a step in the right direction. Last week Experimental Theatre came closer yet. Composer Jerome Moross and Lyricist John Latouche (Ballad for Americans) had cooked up three song-&-dance plays called Ballet Ballads for Broadway's connoisseurs and critics to sample. The critics found the dance-music-drama experiments "no end diverting and pretty . . . both rare and welcome."

The first, Susanna and the Elders, was a trifle doughy. In Willie the Weeper, a raucous tale about a reefer smoker, the action takes place "in Willie's untidy mind." In this dim and messy setting, there are a few too many busy dancers and singers; but Moross' blue and boogie backgrounds and a goofy song called I've Got Me make up for the flaws. Hit of the show was The Eccentricities of Davey Crockett, which began stickily with Davey's "miraculous birth," but got better every minute.

Experimental Theatre has not yet found the perfect blend of music, dance and drama. Even in Davey Crockett, the dancing sometimes jars against the songs or the rather static storytelling. But at week's end, it seemed good enough entertainment to risk letting the public pay for a look at it.

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