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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Café Chanson Also see Richard's review of Good People
I wish everyone could have a place, somewhere in their past, like Mr. Page creates in his mythical night spot, where love seems to bloom all around and every goodbye is a bittersweet moment of perfect understanding. But, even if you aren't lucky enough to have all that, you'll still understand the kid-in-a-candy-store appeal of one soldier's coming of age, until the moment he has to go back, forever changed, to Lafayette, Louisiana. Actor John Flack is the older version of that Army private, a ruin of a man at the very beginning, who hauntingly enters his past, as if in a dream, guided by J. Samuel Davis (as a sort of narrator/guardian angel). They follow Flack's younger self (Justin Ivan Brown) through a 90-minute long series of bar/war-related encounters in the café, in a story that's stream-lined but somehow never quite beneath us. My only complaint is the sound mixing, which is still finding a balance between a strong band and a frequently introspective bunch of singers. They are mic'd, but it doesn't seem like the right mix had been found as of opening night. Fortunately, though, a lot of the songs are so familiar that we can easily fill in the lyrical blanks when the band overwhelms the performers. And it might even be generously interpreted as one of the more mysterious elements of the show: the regular bouts of unintelligibility. The songs are not all strictly from the 1940s, but they cast a remarkable spell, with singers like Willena Vaughn, Antonio Rodriguez, Gia Grazia Valenti and Elizabeth Birkenmeier testifying to the power of love or, in Ms. Vaughn's comic numbers, the power of the red hot mama. Mr. Rodriguez is the flamboyant emcee, and Ms. Valenti and Ms. Birkenmeier stake-out opposite ends of the romantic experience, with equally great power to fascinate. All of them do very well. Ms. Vaughn has several great numbers, including "50 Million Frenchmen," and Mr. Rodriguez is especially affecting in "What Makes A Man." Ms. Valenti is pretty stunning in every number, but somehow I was most struck by "Rain," and Ms. Birkenmeier, who suffers most from the sound mixing, is perfectly adorable throughout, with numbers like "Adieu." Mr. Flack is wonderfully spontaneous in "Yesterday When I Was Young," and all the singers are great in "If You Go Away." Through January 27, 2013, at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand (in the "Big Brothers/Big Sisters" building, a block south of the Fox Theatre, at Grand and Olive). For more information visit www.upstreamtheater.org. Cast Band Crew * Denotes Member, Actors Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers ** Denotes Candidate for Equity Membership Photo by Peter Wochniak
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