A Test of Love for Labor and Management

By BEN BRANTLEY

She's a sassy, grown-up tomboy with the coltishness of a girl and the heart of a woman. He's a handsome man with a handsome voice and a virile, straight-spined strut. She's part brass and part glass; he's more like a mixture of velvet and sandpaper.

Such, more or less, was the yin and yang of the American musical in the middle of the 20th century. These opposing but complementary sets of elements could be found with slight variations in shows from "Oklahoma!" to "Annie Get
Your Gun" and "South Pacific."

Theatergoers interested in a textbook example of this sexual chemistry need only go to City Center this weekend, the home of the Encores! concert production of "The Pajama Game" through Sunday. That's the hit from 1954 about love in the workplace.

In this amiable reincarnation of a well-worn favorite, Karen Ziemba and Brent Barrett are perfectly cast as the classic American She and He, a pair that also happen to divide neatly into the opposition of Union (Her) and Management (Him). Ms. Ziemba and Mr. Barrett are so well suited to their parts it makes you think that 50 years ago they might have had the high-profile Broadway careers of a Mary Martin and a John Raitt.

As it is, neither is exactly invisible. Ms. Ziemba won a Tony Award for "Contact" two years ago, while Mr. Barrett has done admirable duty in long-running shows like "Chicago." But it's gratifying to see them so effortlessly radiant in starring roles. Ms. Ziemba, in particular, has a spontaneity that makes a sweetheart of yesteryear feel very much of the moment.

Otherwise, there is no urgent reason to revisit "The Pajama Game." It has been agreeably staged by John Rando ("Urinetown"). And as is always the case when Rob Fisher and his Coffee Club Orchestra are on hand, it's a delight to
listen to. But there's little of the feeling of rediscovery one has come to expect of the essential Encores! series, which more often presents musicals you might not get to hear otherwise.

Inspired by Richard Bissel's novel "7 1/2 Cents," this hummably melodious show was considered a groundbreaker for finding the sex appeal in labor relations. George Abbott, its original director (with Jerome Robbins) and book writer (with Bissell), recalled thinking the idea was "the least romantic thing I can think of" when it was first presented to him.

But the success of the show, which starred Mr. Raitt and Janis Paige, was immense. It ran for 1,063 performances, and its Richard Adler-Jerry Ross songs became their own hit parade. (You've surely heard "Hey There" or "Hernando's Hideaway.") A suprisingly faithful movie version came out in 1957, featuring much of the original cast, supplemented by the box-office magic of Doris Day.

The show was also notable for its use of a young choreographer named Bob Fosse, whose distinctive signature was already starting to emerge, most notably in "Steam Heat," a number performed with the requisite Fosse bowlers,
cocked wrists and thrust pelvises.

A promising young choreographer of today, John Carrafa, has been recruited for the Encores! version. And the show does indeed pay homage to the sensuous Fosse style, most literally with "Steam Heat" but also with a charmingly
slinky "Hernando's Hideaway" in which the corps de ballet move as one undulating mass, bodies on the bias.

This is appropriate since a sexual friskiness was essential to the show's original appeal. Its main setting, after all, the Sleep Tite pajama factory, is an innuendo in itself, and most of the supporting characters of "The Pajama Game" are in a state of erotic itchiness. The tendency surfaces most showily in that embarrassing American recreational staple, the company picnic, in which everyone runs wild to a song called "Once-a-Year Day."

Among those frolicking are Hines (Mark Linn-Baker), the obsessive, hopelessly jealous time-study man, and his girlfriend, Gladys (the delectably streamlined Deidre Goodwin). She is in turn pursued by the philandering Prez
(Daniel Jenkins), president of the local union chapter.

Even the company's president, the bombastic Hasler (Ken Page), has a yen for the appropriately named Poopsie (the kewpie doll-ish Jennifer Cody). Clearly Sleep Tite makes at least as much whoopie as sleepwear, a pastime duly
commemorated by nudging numbers like "Her Is" and "The Jealousy Ballet," a prime example of 1950's-style lasciviousness.

The cast members are a likable lot, most notably Mr. Linn-Baker, who gives his own droll comic spin to a role created by Eddie Foy Jr. But it's Mr. Barrett's Sid Sorokin, the new factory supervisor, and Ms. Ziemba's Babe Williams, the feisty union agitator, who get the big ballads, and they revel in them.

Mr. Barrett has a voice and a manner so polished that you expect to see your reflection in them, as well as a gentle air of self-mockery that keeps him from being a total period-piece hero. He delivers the starry-eyed "Hey There," in which Sid sings along with his own tape-recorded voice, with as much matinee-idol dreaminess as is bearable.

There's no hint of mustiness about Ms. Ziemba, who brings fresh air to a show that is definitely of its time. She's perky without being precious, making song sound as easy as conversation and dance look as natural as walking.
Whether zestily singing "I'm Not at All in Love" and the hillbilly-ish "I Love You More" or leading the ensemble through a peppy dance interlude in "Once-a-Year Day," she has the happy confidence of a woman in her natural element. When she's around, the implicit leer of "The Pajama Game" turns into an irresistible smile.