Road Show, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, through February 11. 617-585-5678 or lyricstage.com
Could a repeatedly revising musical theater composer resemble a defensive parent with a homely child? A striking case in point is great talent Stephen Sondheim, who actually suggests such a comparison about the 2011 musical ''Road Show'' in his own second collected lyrics volume "Look, I Made a Hat.''
Sondheim, by his own admission in notes about the show, devoted 14 years with repeat collaborator John Weidman ("Pacific Overtures" and "Assassins") to four distinct scripts focusing on the respective odysseys of real life brothers Wilson and Addison Mizner -the first three with the titles "Wise Guys," "Gold!" and ''Bounce.''
Novelist Henry James once wrote of the need to eventually stop revising one's own work- advice this disappointing musical calls to mind. Spiro Veloudos-usually an inspired Sondheim specialist (IRNE Award-winning revivals of "Sunday in the Park with George,'' "Into the Woods" and "A Little Night Music")-and co-director Ilyse Robbins have put together an area premiere that has its moments but ultimately proves as unfulfilled as the show itself.
Clearly Sondheim and Weidman have tried to make their musical as intriguing in its own way as the very different brothers. After all, more sensible Addison (born in 1872) turned out to be a 'society architect' who nevertheless possessed both a philosophy and a dream. If he squandered a good deal of his talent, as Wilson contends in the show, he still succeeded in revival Mediterranean and Spanish styles in the homes he built, designed the Hitchcock Estate and brought attention to Palm Beach in the 1920's as a desirable destination.
By contrast, younger and more reckless Wilson (born in 1876) earned the dubious title "America's most fascinating outlaw" as a professional gambler, boxing promoter and panhandler in spite of ongoing efforts to write screenplays and employ his charms and charisma as a storyteller during his travels. While Addison goes along with Wilson, he often expresses resentment about his brother's persuasiveness.
The push and pull of the brothers' relationship does lie at the heart of the trimmed down, now 90-minute and no-intermission show-which tellingly moves from an early upbeat "Brotherly Love" number to the penultimate sad reunion duo "Get Out/Go." Revival director extraordinaire John Doyle (smartly streamlined editions of "Sweeney Todd' and "Gypsy"), Sondheim observes in his second volume, had a lot to do with sharpening the focus on Wilson and Addison and shortening the show.
While Sondheim fans will discern echoes of melodies in some of the master composer's gems-"Follies," "Into the Woods" and "Sweeney Todd" among them, the fourth incarnation does cleverly move the musical's memorable romantic number "The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened" from a straight duo between Wilson and ex-wife Nellie-no longer a character in the show-to a gay one between Addison and fictional lover and business associate Hollis Bessemer.
Some Sondheim buffs-(this critic included) are not likely to find Addison's eventual telling off of Hollis fully satisfying despite dramatic license and sibling solidarity. Wilson may conclude hopefully "Sooner or later we're bound to get it right,'' but sadly the same cannot be said of this atypically unsatisfying show.
Lyric Stage Company's uneven production often proves just as unsatisfying. Neil A. Casey is generally convincing as more emotionally conflicted and self-critical Addison, and his duo with Patrick Varner-a standout as engaging Hollis- is both stirring and richly rendered.
Unfortunately Tony Castellanos seems miscast as Wilson. He repeatedly comes across as overbearing rather than engaging. Sean McGuirk could be feistier as admonishing though dying Papa Mizner, but big-voiced Vanessa J. Schukis brings virtuoso vitality and rich tone to mentoring Mama's pride-rich solo "Isn't He Something?"
Robbins' choreography surprisingly lacks the kind of variety and exuberance that usually characterizes her dance efforts and did distinguish her high caliber work on Greater Boston Stage Company's recent revival of "She Loves Me." Vivid projection could do much to bring to life Addison's architectural designs during the quick sequence with clients.
Long-married, deeply in love spouses sometimes pass away not long after each other. Likewise, the deeply bonded Mizner brothers both died in 1933, Wilson shortly after Addison. Their intertwined life journeys deserve a fully compelling examination, one not ultimately achieved by "Road Show" notwithstanding Veloudos and Robbins' earnest efforts.