No need for currying favor here

All right. I admit it. I was completely wrong. I was sure Audra McDonald's Lizzie Curry in the Roundabout revival of "110 in the Shade," now in previews at Studio 54, would be another Bernadette Peters as Mama Rose. In other words, a Broadway star who gives an enjoyable performance despite being woefully miscast.

Well, I was wrong. Not only is McDonald not miscast, but she's giving one of the best musical performances I've seen this season. Right up there with Christine Ebersole in "Grey Gardens," I daresay. Her Lizzie -- the sassy but self-conscious young woman who is terrified of becoming an old maid -- is heartbreakingly awkward underneath her trademark gorgeous soprano.

The show itself, based "The Rainmaker," isn't exactly PC anymore, but this production never feels dated. And lucky for us, McDonald has a fantastic score with which to work. Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidts' score isn't one of the better known in musical theatre canon, but there are some real gems in it, like the "Another Hot Day" motif that runs throughout the show, Lizzie's spicy showstopper "Raunchy" and the epiphinal "Old Maid," which I think rivals Billy Bigelow's "Soliloquy" in "Carousel" as one of the best single-character Act I closers.

Not all of the cast quite stands up to McDonald's greatness. Steve Kazee's Starbuck, while vocally excellent, doesn't really have the magnetism needed to draw in someone as headstrong as Lizzie. The reliable John Cullum was a good choice for Lizzie's father, as was Bobby Steggert -- part of the fantastic Off-Broadway cast of "columbinus" last summer -- as her simple brother Jimmy. Carla Duren is a bit cloying as the flirty Snooky but does well in her number with Steggert.

Overall, this lovely production of this sleepy little musical is in great shape. There seemed to be a few tempo problems last night, however. I don't know if it's the bizarre Studio 54 set-up for the orchestra -- they're in the upper level boxes, split on each side -- but they seemed to be going at different pace than the cast at times. Still, I wouldn't dwell on that too much, as it's still early in the preview period.