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Smokey Joe’s Café – Arena Stage

Jordan Wright
May 12, 2014
Special to The Alexandria Times
 

 Kara-Tameika Watkins in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller - Photo by Teresa Wood

Kara-Tameika Watkins in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller – Photo by Teresa Wood

Smokey Joe’s Café The Songs of Leiber and Stoller gets off to a slow easy roll.  Forty-two of the most beloved songs from the pantheon of R&B and rock and roll will be sung in only two hours and that’s going to necessitate a “build” as they say.

The nine-member cast kicks things off with few less familiar tunes soon revved up by finger-snappin’ classics like “Ruby Baby”and “Keep on Rollin’”which is oddly accompanied by a vintage film of train tracks projected onto rarely used and largely ineffective screens hung along the ceiling – – a needless distraction.  But at this point you’re just settling in and familiarizing yourself with the voices which are not aiming for any crescendos.  Yet.

In the third number, “Falling”, Ashley Blair Fitzgerald, as the blonde ingénue, comes off pitchy and things aren’t looking too promising.  For a show featuring some of the greatest hits of the R&B legends’ songbook, every voice is expected to be spot on.  These songs were covered by mega-artists from Presley to Piaf and singers as varied as the Drifters, Ben E. King, the Doobie Brothers, Big Mama Thornton, Peggy Lee, who released an entire album of their hits, and the Coasters, for which Lyricist Jerry Leiber and Composer Mike Stoller wrote twenty-four chart-topping hits.  It’s easy to see why the composers reign supreme in the pantheon of great songwriters in American popular music.

Levi Kreis in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller  - Photo by Teresa Wood.

Levi Kreis in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller – Photo by Teresa Wood.

In Director Randy Johnson’s production of the longest-running musical revue in Broadway’s history, a rockin’ 7-piece orchestra sits smack in the center of the stage-in-the-round, framed by a wide platform.  Singers enter between the aisles, shakin’, shimmyin’ and sashayin’ all the way onto the stage, and occasionally straight into the orchestra pit, as for “Jailhouse Rock” where Levi Kreis delivers a sexy, hip-grinding version on a vintage mic shoving aside the pianist to boogie-woogie the keyboard.  But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.

Nova Y. Payton in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller - Photo by Teresa Wood.

Nova Y. Payton in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller – Photo by Teresa Wood.

After a few numbers, the solos begin and the cast is on fire.  Nova Peyton’s powerful voice coupled with Stephawn P. Stephens’ formidable silken bass (think Teddy Pendergrass) on “Love Me/Don’t”guarantees goose bumps, and E. Faye Butler comes out in the first of her solos with a sultry, Ella-scatting arrangement of “Fools Fall in Love”.  Kreiss, whose portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis in Broadway’s Million Dollar Quartet earned him a Tony Award, totally kills it again with “I Keep Forgettin’”and we’re off and running.  That’s followed by a razamatazz version of “On Broadway”,where Costume Designer Ilona Somogyi’s hip threads with skinny black ties, black-and-white spats and plaid jackets firmly encapsulate the early 50’s.  The throwback bongo drums are just the icing on the cake.

E. Faye Butler in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller - Photo by Teresa Wood.

E. Faye Butler in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller – Photo by Teresa Wood.

Choreographer Parker Esse channels the be-bop/jitterbug era employing some fierce hand dancing.  Spins, throws, flips and even breakdancing (the “Worm Dance” makes an appearance) is thrown in for good measure.

After eighteen numbers Act I ends in a come-to-Jesus moment as the orchestra pit rises up to the stage level of E. Faye, Nova, Levi and the entire company for a tambourine-fueled, gospel rendition of “Saved”Intermission comes hard after feeling so pumped.

(L to R) Jay Adriel, Stephawn P. Stephens, Michael J. Mainwaring and Austin Colby in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller - Photo by Teresa Wood.

(L to R) Jay Adriel, Stephawn P. Stephens, Michael J. Mainwaring and Austin Colby in Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller – Photo by Teresa Wood.

Act II packs in 23 more classic numbers.  Look for Jay Adriel’s beautiful rendition of “Loving You” which brings to mind the voice of Johnny Mathis, and Nova on Hound Dog, a number she delivers with heart-stopping passion.  Remember “Yakety Yak”, “Hound Dog”, “Love Potion #9”, “Spanish Harlem”,and“I (Who Have Nothing)”, the iconic song once covered by Tom Jones?  Here E. Faye, Nova, Michael J. Mainwaring (a beautiful voice in his first ballad of the evening), and Levi blend together to provide an especially poignant moment to an evening of hand-clapping, foot-tapping, chair-dancing thrills.

You gotta go!  It’s like crazy cool, Daddy-O.

Through June 8th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024.  For tickets and information on performance times and dates call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.

The cast of Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller  at the Mead Center for American Theater - Photo by Teresa Wood.

The cast of Smokey Joe’s Café—The Songs of Leiber and Stoller at the Mead Center for American Theater – Photo by Teresa Wood.

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