Explored in the song “What Might Have Been,” the tender feelings between Mireli and Armand provide a gentle romantic strain, but neither the writing nor Lacey’s perf help breathe veracity into the Gypsy woman, who’s like a Missoni-clad ethno-chic dowager channeling Lynn Redgrave. Helping to humanize the kids’ mother is jolly Gypsy Mireli (Florence Lacey), who opens Madame Calcet’s heart to rejoice in the love she lived rather than mourn the one she lost. Likewise, Madame Calcet’s distrust of the old man adopted by her children and of the Gypsy community that offers them shelter melts almost instantaneously, dulling any sense of conflict or resolution.
#EVERYONE HAS A STORY LYRICS KATHIE LEE GIFFORD SERIES#
One minute, he’s declaring, “I’m a mean, cranky old tramp and I hate children,” and the next minute, he’s dragging them around Paris on a series of picaresque adventures that never quite come to life. But the emotional transition is so automatic that it’s meaningless.Įchoing the lack of character development throughout this blandly benevolent undertaking, Armand’s gruffness and indifference toward children are too thinly sketched to make his eventual embrace of them much of a turnaround. Given that this is intended as a family show, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with the predictability of the tale as Armand softens from his initial disdain for “starlings,” protecting the tykes from the threat of well-heeled do-gooders and ruthless criminals, and radically altering his ways in order to provide them with a home. His domain is disturbed by the arrival of three perky siblings (Maggie Watts, Andrew Blake Zutty, Alexa Ehrlich) whose widowed mother, Madame Calcet (Jacquelyn Piro), has been forced to take work in a laundry after they’re evicted from their home. Ponderous as it is, the show is rescued from total inertia by Ed Dixon, bringing a larger-than-life Tevye-esque quality to Armand, the Paris hobo who fiercely guards his peaceful solitude, aversion to work and regular shelter under one of the city’s bridges. Having characters occasionally exclaim, “Mon dieu!” or “Zut alors!” just isn’t enough. Distilling the writer’s 1958 novel “The Family Under the Bridge” down to its heart-tugging Hallmark essence without building character, incident or any kind of convincing environment, Gifford, who penned the musical’s book and lyrics, has crafted a tale so flavorless and generic it might as well take place in Paris, Idaho. Carlson’s books are admired for their evocative sense of place and the folkloric charm of the Virginian author’s francophile stories.