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'Smokey Joe's Cafe' is cooking up sweet nostalgia By JOE ADCOCK "Smokey Joe's Cafe" is sweet. The first act is giddy sweet. The second act is bittersweet. The show playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre is not really the same musical revue that ran for five years on Broadway and played the Paramount Theatre here in 1998. The songs, then and now, are beloved pop, blues, R&B, gospel and country tunes by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. But 5th Avenue director Bill Berry has tinkered with the lineup. In the first act, nine bouncy singer/actor/dancers exude teen spirit. "Young Blood," "Charlie Brown," "Baby That Is Rock and Roll" "Dance With Me" and "Spanish Harlem" are among the choice offerings. The second act features the same nine characters, maybe 20 years older but not much wiser. Disappointment, jealousy, sorrow, cynicism and anger color high spirits and worldly triumphs. The song list includes "Stay Awhile," "I Keep Forgettin'," "Don Juan," "Love Potion No. 9," "Hound Dog" and "There Goes My Baby." As a team, Leiber and Stoller were fixtures at the top of 1950s and '60s top-40 charts. Male groups, particularly the Drifters, used their material. Music director R.J. Tancioco forms a Drifteristic quartet composed of Brandon O'Neill, Bobby Hardy, Ty Willis and Marc Cedric Smith. Louis Hobson takes care of the moves, intonations and mannerisms of Elvis Presley, notably in "Jailhouse Rock." Sarah Rudinoff, Charlie Parker and Lisa Estridge pay tribute to the girl-group era with "Some Cats Know." Billie Wildrick does the wistful diva honors in "Neighborhood" and "Falling." One gathers that these nine characters all had show-business ambitions. Some (the guy quartet in particular) gained a certain amount of recognition. Others' hopes flared and flickered. Although "Smokey Joe's" is not a dance show, choreographer Jane Lanier's contributions include lively evocations of the indignities of the Twist and the haughtiness of Motown moves. Costumes by Nanette Acosta and wigs by Mary Pyanowski are archaeologically accurate replicas of ancient excesses, circa 1953-68. Retro scenery by Tom Sturge and Jeffrey Cook is embellished by a dark blue Cadillac convertible with fierce tail fins. Sturge's lighting establishes moods ranging from introverted to frenzied. Searchlights, of course, emphasize the on-the-prowl tone of "Searchin'." White spotlights enhance virtuoso solo turns. Marc Cedric Smith, a master of sinuous and expressive movement, especially shines in "Little Egypt." Rudinoff enacts a powerful little drama of thwarted ambition and resilient spirit with her rendition of " Pearl's a Singer." Forty or 50 years ago, the songs of Leiber and Stoller were conspicuous sparkles in the flux of throwaway pop culture. In 1990, the Empty Space Theatre's artistic director M. Burke Walker, remembering hits from his high school days, decided the team's oeuvre would provide good material for a revue. Five years later, Broadway director Jerry Zaks proved that Walker's intuition was true not just for Seattle but also for New York and points beyond. Fifth Avenue director Bill Berry's contribution takes the material a step further. His show is reminiscent of "Tommy," "Movin' Out" and "Mamma Mia," productions in which a collection of songs by the Who, Billy Joel and ABBA, respectively, took the form of musical stories. n "Smokey Joe's," one song, "Fools Fall in Love," condenses Berry's theme. Lisa Estridge sings it during the first act as a giddy comment on romantic fun. When Estridge repeats the song in Act 2, it is all about bitter regret and ironic self-knowledge.
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