Determined to unmask Superman's real identity, sexy Daily Planet gossipeuse Sydney Sharp digs into the story. (She's played by Jennifer Powers, a knockout singer and comedienne who's Cavenaugh's real-life missus. If Powers and Young switched roles, the show would be nearly perfect.) Sydney can't believe how hard it is to convince her newsroom that there's only a pair of nerdy black horn-rims between Clark and his alter ego, thus expressing what every Superman fan has thought for the past 70 years. And then there's this little gift from Aguirre-Sacasa when Max finally comes face to face with Superman for the climactic second act showdown: "We've had this date from the beginning, you and I." That's Stanley Kowalski's line to Blanche DuBois in Streetcar. Love that.
There's a lot to love in this singing, dancing Super-duper-man extravaganza. Enough winky camp to link it to the Reeve movies, but a fiercely loyal tie-in to the comic books, with some of the straight-up apple pie attitude of the black-and-white 1950s TV series.
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Moriarty's direction and the choreography by DTC company member Joel Ferrell fit the cast like the big man's custom-tailored leotards. Ferrell hired in four dynamic New York dancers—Kent Zimmerman (who was also assistant choreographer), Steven Wenslawski, Chris Klink and Matthew J. Kilgore—though everyone in this all-Equity cast hoofs it impressively.
Cute as Cavenaugh is as the caped one, it's Patrick Cassidy who's the major star in this Metropolis. Channeling the teeth-clenching glee his dad brought to comic bad-guy roles (check out Jack in The Eiger Sanction), Cassidy, brother to Shaun and half-brother of David (the Bieber of the 1970s), is superbly entertaining. His two-footed standing hop to a tabletop for a bit of the old vaudeville hat-and-cane routine is musical theater eye candy. Cavenaugh is fine as the Man of Steel, but he can't top Cassidy as the Man of Stealing Scenes.
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