The 1961 musical that was resurrected on Sunday, Sail Away, was in fact by an Englishman, Noel Coward. But as Ian Marshall Fisher, the creator of Lost Musicals and the show’s director, told the audience, Coward created Sail Away, a frolicsome tale of a May-September romance on a cruise ship, with American audiences in mind.
Mr. Fisher’s production was pretty bare-boned compared to the increasingly gussied-up Encores! presentations, which look more and more like full-dress Broadway try-outs. There was a single piano, a row of chairs and a cast in black tie, holding scripts. But with an easy-going ensemble led by the charming American actress Penny Fuller (in role created by Elaine Stritch) the show flowed sweetly and enjoyably, and it never felt embarrassingly naked.
Several succulently hammy character portraits recalled the stock company of performers that brought such delicious antic grace notes to the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies for RKO. (Remember Eric Blore?) And the raw pleasure the cast members took from these portrayals was always close to the surface.
This Sail Away made me wish that Encores! would reduce the scale of its productions a bit. More modest versions like Mr. Fisher’s allow you to feel directly the performers connecting with their material – and their audience — and the joy and discovery they derive from it. [...]
Ben Brantley (The New York Times theatre critic) New York Times, July 7, 2008,