In April, Matthew Broderick and Kelli O'Hara were in a pretty lousy show called Nice Work If You Can Get It. Before it opened, with none of knowing that the show wouldn't be great, I interviewed the two of them. They were supremely delightful.
Last week, in a rehearsal studio a few blocks from the Flatiron Building, the ensemble hoofed through “Fascinating Rhythm,” and Ms. O’Hara and Mr. Broderick told The Observer, in an interview, that it was the era that drew them to the show.
“Most people who do musicals like old musicals, whether they admit it or not,” said Mr. Broderick. “I like the flasks, the shoes. My costumes are so beautiful in this. It’s when there were real tailors. My god, how old do I sound?”
Besides looking like the ’20s, the show will sound like it. “There’s no American Idol here,” said Ms. O’Hara. The songs, most of which are well-known standards, “are going to be familiar in the same way that history is.”
“With a new twist!” said Mr. Broderick.
“A new twist,” she allowed. “The ’20s for the 21st century!”