Face The Music. A musical by Irving Berlin at the NY City Center Encores! This revival of the 1932 Irving Berlin musical "Face the Music" is a triumph - a reaffirmation of everything Encores! stands for - bringing to life a now obscure gem of the American Musical Theater. "Face The Music" is such a gem. It has many marvelous songs and ensembles, the best of which we felt was the opening number "Lunching at the Automat". The nominal stars are Judy Kaye who is sensational and Walter Bobbie, a top flight director and former Artistic Director of the Encores!who has successfully returned to his roots as an actor. I very much liked the utterly charming ingenues the beautiful Meredith Patterson and the delightful Felicia Finley who brings down the house in "Torch Song." Most popular of all were the eccentric song and dance couple Eddie Korbich and Mylinda Hull. The conducting by Rob Fisher was perfection, the staging by John Rando and choreography by Randy Skinner was inspired. "Face The Music" could be an ephemeral triumph, but if a few stars were plunked into the major roles - say a Sutton Foster or Kelli O'Hara in the role of Kit Baker, a Patti LuPone as Myrtle Meshbesher, this could be a smash hit on the lines of "Drowsey Chaperone" (a work that spoofs works like "Face the Music" which was in itself a spoof of the Ziegfeld Follies or more accurately George White's Scandals.). This is top flight Irving Berlin and it deserves a run. Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test score: A