The music

The show was not one of Rodgers' best, but the song I do not know a day I did not love you is quite sweet. It is hard to believe that Rodgers "stole" the melody for this title song from Jerry Hermans score for Hello Dolly????

Listen to Elegance then listen to the title song from 2x2.
hmmmmm.

I loved this show and do love the score. It is fun. Just not one of Rodgers' best.

Rodgers By Numbers

This mediocre musical is chiefly remembered as the show in which Danny Kaye performed as Noah (in the Ark) with crutches and in a wheelchair after tearing a ligament. Kaye notoriously ad-libbed and tore up the proceedings to the point where the creators threw up their hands in dispair. With all that attention-seeking now past history, we are left with a fairly pedestrian musical that has some nice moments, but mostly drags on as one predictable melody after another drones out of the speakers. Rodgers was past his prime by this point and, while the score is a thoroughly professional one, it lacks the inspiration that makes Rodgers best work the best there is. This ain't no "Carousel", folks. One is repeatedly reminded of that fact by the abundance of common moments in the score. Anyone could have written this stuff. It certainly doesn't sound like the work of a master. The only songs that really come alive are the title tune, with it's jaunty, marchlike tempo, and the enrgetic "When It's Dry". That last song jumps out from the murk with a startling urgency, and the score could have used more where that came from. The cast does fairly well with the material, but that hardly makes this required listening. Kaye actually sounds tired and a bit bored by it all, and his raspy delivery is a harsh, far cry from the smooth tones of his youth. Madeline Kahn, however, displays in a brief few moments why she became one of the most unique character actresses of her generation. This alone makes "Two By Two" a curio, but it's still not in the same class as even those second-tiered musicals of the sixties, such as "Bajour" and "Subways Are For Sleeping", that still possess a quirky charm representative of the "seasonal" musical. Oh well, buy this if you're a Rodgers fan. Just don't expect the earth to shake, the sky to fall, or the ocean's to rise. At least outside the confines of the plot.

... Not Well Known, BUT WORTH THE BUY!

Take it from me, a high school senior who actually performed in this musical last year as HAM, you are truly missing out if you do not have this CD and call yourself either a Kaye fan or a Broadway fan. This CD will warm your heart with laughter and show you why Rodgers and Hammerstein (or at least one of them... :)) WAS AT THE PEAK WHEN WRITING TWO BY TWO! Order it today!