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June 22, 2010

The complicated romance and friendship that the legendary Marlene Dietrich shared with song-and-dance man Maurice Chevalier spanned three decades, including the entirety of World War II, and both sides of the Atlantic. It’s the sort of relationship that, combined with a tumult of history, should make for terrific theater.

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Backstage
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Erik
Haagensen

June 22, 2010

It takes guts to attempt to play such legendary entertainers as Marlene Dietrich and Maurice Chevalier, particularly in a vest-pocket Off-Broadway production with almost no production values, so kudos to Jodi Stevens and Robert Cuccioli for their cojones. Unfortunately, saddled with Jerry Mayer’s trite script and Pamela Hall’s hokey direction, neither actor is able to convince. “Dietrich & Chevalier: The Musical” is strictly for those looking for a quick nostalgia fix of familiar songs and surface imitations. Everyone else will be wise to steer clear of this unimaginative, thuddingly obvious jukebox bio-musical.

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The Faster Times
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Jonathan
Mandell

June 22, 2010

Putting Marlene Dietrich together with Maurice Chevalier in a musical must have seemed inspired, especially since the great German-born actress and the French-born song-and-dance-man apparently thought such a pairing a good idea themselves: At the height of their Hollywood fame in the 1930’s, they were secret lovers, although married to others.

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Curtain Up
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Elizabeth
Ahlfors

June 22, 2010

It’s a challenge to portray two of Hollywood’s most glamorous film stars, Marlene Dietrich and Maurice Chevalier. Each possessed a singular style, look and sound identifiable even today. Dietrich and Chevalier met in Hollywood in 1932, became close friends and lovers-in their own movie star fashion-kicking aside any distractions like wives, husbands, the Great Depression and World War II. When the lusty phase cooled, their friendship endured, proving itself in Chevalier’s moment of need after the war.

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June 22, 2010

Don’t assume from the title “Dietrich & Chevalier: The Musical” that you’re going to get diamonds and white tie and old Euro-Hollywood glamour. You are, to some degree. But if you see the show, at St. Luke’s Theater, you’re also going to get Nazis: edicts from Hitler, cheery messages from Goebbels (reichsminister for enlightenment) and threats from French collaborators. And they’re a lot more interesting than the pallid little romance.

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