Storyline: A mysterious roustabout with a black leather jacket and blue
suede shoes arrives in a tiny middle-American town where the "Mamie
Eisenhower Decency Law" prohibits public displays of affection or dancing.
His motorcycle needs repair and the cute girl who works in her father's garage is called. She falls for him immediately but he can't see
beyond the grease on her cheek. She'd do anything to be with him so she
dresses as a boy to become his "side kick." When the inevitable attraction
takes hold he's tormented because he still thinks she is a he. In the
meantime, her father, her girlfriend, the local boy who loves her, and even
the local sheriff, all come under love's spell while the Mayor who wrote the
decency law is horrified until even she succumbs to the new spirit the
stranger brought to the town.
Some original cast albums from jukebox musicals
can be virtual stand-ins for a greatest hits disc of their subject -
Mamma Mia! is practically indistinguishable from a greatest hits of Abba
and Movin' Out sounds just like the Billy Joel disc my son took from
my collection when he left for the Air Force. This new disc from the Elvis
jukebox musical, on the other hand, is a fine souvenir of the fun show and
can be addicting in its own right. However, since the show doesn't try to
re-create the Elvis sound, the CD isn't a trip into an Elvis concert or a
collection of Elvis renditions.
The Elvis catalogue is so
deep it would have been impossible to pull all the biggest hits into one
show - he had no fewer than 51 gold singles and there were uncounted cuts in
his 74 platinum albums that are nearly universally recognized. The format of
the show only allowed something in the neighborhood of two dozen songs and
book writer Joe DiPietro managed to fit in a dozen from the gold single list and a number of
other iconic numbers. DiPietro, who did such a fine job on the adaptation of
Rogers and Hammerstein's Allegro
that debuted at Signature Theatre last year, has other credits both with
original books for musicals (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
is still running off Broadway after nine years) and non-musical comedies (Over
the River and Through the Woods). His book for this show is nicely
synopsized in the colorful booklet that accompanies the disc.
Jenn Gambatese is great fun
from her first "One Night With You" as the love-sick but still spirited
grease monkey girl. She's teamed with Cheyenne Jackson as the mysterious
stranger on the bike and Mark Price who is sharp as her secret admirer.
Sharon Wilkins really cuts loose on "There's Always Me" and the scene that
makes the best transition to recording is the one that comes late in the
first act when the Elvis character
teaches Jonathan Hadary to sing/swivel on “Don’t Be Cruel.” The disc also
demonstrates the strength of the ensemble work in the show. For example,
they make "Jailhouse Rock" really rock.
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