If you are of an age to have listened to top forty hits on AM radio, or, no
matter what your age, you have spent any time at all listening to
oldies-but-goodies stations on FM radio, the list of songs you will
recognize in this revue is a long one. "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown,"
"Kansas City," "I'm a Woman," "There Goes My Baby," "Poison Ivy," "On
Broadway," "Fools Fall In Love," "Spanish Harlem" and songs that were big
hits for Elvis Pressley, among them "Hound Dog," "Loving You," "Treat Me
Nice" and "Jailhouse Rock." It may come as a surprise, however, to learn
that they are all the product of one songwriting team: Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller. From 1953 to well into the 1970s, the team turned out hit after hit
for The Coasters, Ben E. King, The Drifters and Peggy Lee as well as Pressley.
For some reason, this new production of the revue offering some thirty-eight
of these songs is missing one that was included in the original Broadway
production, the title song which
was a hit for the Robins who went on to become more famous as The Coasters.
This show opened on April 3, but the press wasn't invited to take a look for
a week. Yet, when we did come in, the show had all the feel of a first
run-through with technical difficulties and a cast of nine who shined mostly
on their solos but lacked any chemistry between them, almost as if it was
the first time they had sung the songs together. If you're tempted by a revue
featuring some of the cream of the R&B era of the period between Sputnik and
Vietnam, you might consider waiting until later in the run when, presumably,
the technical and performance problems will have been ironed out and the
singers have a chance to establish some rapport among themselves.
Storyline: No attempt is made to tell a story with the thirty-eight songs
of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller performed by a cast of nine, but each is
presented as a stand-alone routine either as a solo, a duet or a group
number.
This
revue surveying the work of Leiber and Stoller was one of the early efforts
to find a format for what has become known as "juke box musicals" - shows
based on the best or best-known songs in the catalogue of a single performer
or song-writer. It is a sort of "Greatest Hits" album put up on stage. It ran on Broadway for nearly five years
from 1995 to 2000, making it the longest running revue in Broadway history.
Toward the end of its run it relied on celebrity casting to keep it going.
Among those who took a slot in the cast for a while were Leslie Gore, Ben E.
King, Gladys Knight, Tony Orlando (without Dawn) Rick Springfield and Lou
Rawls. It kept running because it was a very entertaining evening which had
been directed by Jerry Zaks, with a keen eye for pace and visual pizzazz to
match its musical strengths. This new production is directed and
choreographed by Chet Walker, whose work doesn't quite match the energy and
intrinsic interest of the original. The ballet for "Spanish Harlem" is
challenging for Erich McMillan-McCall and Jasmin Walker, and they handle it
well but the "Jail House Rock" choreography doesn't rock and it is difficult
to assess the backup groups' moves on so many of the numbers because the
execution early in the run lacks the unison which should be their trademark.
The best work is done on solos. Two of the women take
full advantage of their spots: Aurelia Williams, who makes "Hound Dog" a
great deal of fun and Jasmin Walker, who turns "Don Juan" and "Some Cats Know"
into mini-comedies. Miles Johnson shines on "Treat Me Nice" with its
"chirp"
at the start of key words in the lyric. But, Alexander Elisa lacks the projection
of a deep, rich bass that anchors most of the famous performances of songs
like "Charlie Brown" and McMillan-McCall, though he has a fine, smooth vocal sound, sings at a different volume than the rest, a problem that should be,
but isn't fixed by the sound system with the entire cast wearing body mics.
The five member group in the pit gives out a perfunctory sound that rarely
finds a driving rhythm. Saxophonist Alan Michels gets a few riffs flying,
but not as many as you might expect from an evening of Leiber and Stoller
songs.
The physical production may become a bit less
distractingly flimsy when the stage crew learns how to move the four
floor-to-ceiling panels that stuck in their tracks on press night, the cast
learns to hit their marks so they are actually in the spotlights focused
where they are supposed to stand, and the cables feeding power to the moving
panels don't droop into sight from the flies above the stage. The panels act
as screens for the projection of black and white photos from the times the
songs represent -- the photos will be more effective when they are actually in
focus.
Music and lyrics by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
alone or with others. Directed and choreographed by Chet Walker. Music
direction by Josh Tuckman. Design: John Whiteman (set) Hillary Paul
(costumes) Jason Livingston (lights) C. Marlow Seyffert (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Roy Meachum
(stage manager). Cast: John Ashley Brown, Jennifer Byrne, Teren Carter,
Emilee Dupre, Alexander Elisa, Miles Johnson, Erich McMillan-McCall, Jasmin
Walker, Aurelia Williams. |
Storyline: A musical
revue on the theme of the relationship between male and female in seventeen
songs and eight comedy sketches tracing the subject from first date through
courtship and marriage to parenthood, empty nesting and dealing with the
loss of a spouse in old age.
Part
of the charm of this piece is that, while it starts out with a somewhat
cynical view of romance punctuated by politically correct stereotypes of
male and female character traits, it redeems itself with a sentimental view
as relationships deepen and the characters mature. It never seems to take
itself too seriously and it never seems to harbor a mean spirit even when
poking fun at the foibles of oh-so-human human beings. There seem to
be two ways to approach this show: charm or comic energy. At Wayside in 2003
director Warner Crocker emphasized the charm and kept a twinkle in the eyes
of his cast all night long. For this new production, director Andy Gale goes
for the big laughs, punching each gag and trying to turn each chuckle into a
guffaw.
The
songs by lyricist Joe DiPietro and composer Jimmy Roberts are all clever,
solidly constructed and work well as part of comic sketches. What is more,
the lyrics feature light-verse word play and the music bright melodic lines and interesting rhythms. The lighter comedy songs
such as “A Stud and a Babe,” “Single Man Drought” and “Always a Bridesmaid”
are filled with banter while the more sentimental ones really touch a nerve.
“Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You” is one of those rare show-music songs
that find a subject that hasn’t already been covered in so many songs that
there is nothing left to say. The idea here is for a spouse of many years to
marvel at the growth of affection rather than the cooling off many seem to
expect.
The cast is first rate. Jean
Arbeiter wows the audience with her "Always a Bridesmaid." Scott Evans goes
from nerd to life-partner without missing a beat. Marcie Henderson shakes
things up a bit with her "He Called Me" and Timothy Warmen makes the most of
the comedy sketches, especially the "Funerals Are For Dating" segment where
he teams up with Arbeiter to turn what might have been an exercise in
tasteless shtick into a touching look at lonely seniors. They are
accompanied by a pianist and violinist who doesn't really get to do much in
the first act but whose smooth long-bowed melodic support underlines the
increased sentimentality of the second act.
Music by Jimmy Roberts. Book and
lyrics by Joe DiPietro. Directed by Andy Gale. Musical direction by Vince Di
Mura. Design: Neil Peter Jampolis (set) Hillary Paul (costumes) Ray Cullom
(lights) Neil McFadden (sound) Roy Meachum (stage manager). Cast: Jean
Arbeiter, Scott Evans, Marcie Henderson, Timothy Warmen. |
