As Cherie, Rodenburg has legendary shoes to fill — Kim Stanley's (Broadway) and Marilyn Monroe's (the 1956 movie version). A surviving clip of Stanley's performance indicates a heart-wrenching vulnerability; Rodenburg eludes comparisons by making her Cherie neither a waif like Stanley nor an unconscious sex bomb like Monroe, just a small-time show-biz type with no talent but a reasonable desire to be treated decently. The only time I found myself longing for Monroe was during the "That Old Black Magic" number, the highlight of the movie (which is scrappy and bland aside from her). Rodenburg doesn't do much with it. But she's touching and genuine. The whole show is.
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