| "Smokey Joe's Café" at Stage 42 | |
| Last Edit: Marlo*Manners 04:56 pm EDT 07/16/18 | |
| Posted by: Marlo*Manners 04:45 pm EDT 07/16/18 | |
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| "Smokey Joe's Café" as you may or may not know was a revue of the songs of Lieber & Stoller that played on Broadway from 1995 to 2000. I saw the show back when and found it enjoyable but remember very little about it. I had the opportunity last Thursday to see a preview of the latest off-Broadway revival directed and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse. This is a perfect summer entertainment and is an enjoyable well-produced evening with strong voices singing familiar pop hits from the 60's made famous by The Drifters, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Ben E. King, et al. There are nine singers who perform in a bar/café set designed by Beowulf Boritt. It is red brick with a door stage left, a bar and tables and chairs - the band performs in an alcove upstage center right. There are metal stairs that provide multilevel playing areas. The original Broadway production looked much more Vegas/variety show whereas this looks more funky/realistic. Each song is performed as a vignette but there is no dialogue and no real narrative. The songs contrast with each other and there is dancing. Solos with or without backup, duets, quartets, ensembles, etc. The show is 90 minutes with no intermission and is consistently entertaining. There are nine performers, four women and five men (three performers are Caucasian and six are men and women of color). I was especially impressed with the men. Young Jelani Remy was the pop soul tenor singing love ballads like "Young Blood" but channeling a bit of Elvis with "Jailhouse Rock". Dionne Figgins had several of the solos originally performed by Brenda Braxton and also danced - she did not have the strongest voice in the cast but had style and moves well. Emma Degerstedt had the DeLee Lively track shaking that fringed dress in "Teach Me How to Shimmy" and the ballad "Falling" - she has a strong voice but is also an excellent dancer. Kyle Taylor Parker had a lot of comic bits but also has a strong high baritone voice. John Edwards didn't have much to do until the last 30 minutes when he rocked the house with "I Who Have Nothing" and "Stand by Me". Alysha Umphress, who we all remember as Hildy in the last revival of "On The Town", was in amazingly strong voice with some strong solos: "Pearl's a Singer", "Trouble" and "I Keep Forgettin'". Nicole Vanessa Ortiz also had a very strong rangy jazz/blues voice but her diction was less clear than the other women - I struggled to make out the lyrics. Dwayne Cooper with his bass voice took the low lines in the quartets and ensembles but also was a game comic singer in several solos - he was a lot of fun. Max Sangerman not only sang some impressive blue-eyed soul but also was a fine guitar player. I have to say that with several of these performers - Umphress, Sangerman, Edwards and Remy - I wished they had more solos. Several show stoppers. As I said this is an ideal summer entertainment - no story to follow and not too long. Lots of great and familiar tunes sung by strong voices with a crackerjack band onstage. There is a lot of discounting going on right now and I recommend you head over to 42nd Street to catch this revival. Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) |
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