‘BLACK AND BLUE’ A TOE-TAPPER IN PARIS

Close your eyes and take a trip back in time. Hear the sound of tapping toes on a hardwood floor and see the perfectly synchronized flash of a dozen pairs of silver-tipped shoes.

Feel the blues: “Ain’t Nobody’s Business.”

You’ve landed in the 1930s, when husky-voiced singers and long-legged tap dancers entertained audiences from the honky-tonk saloons of the American South to the smoke-filled night spots of Harlem, such as the Cotton Club.

That time has been re-created in “Black and Blue,” a revue at the Theatre Musical de Paris of 22 songs and dances performed by Ruth Brown, Linda Hopkins, Sandra Reaves-Philipps, Jimmy Slyde and 12-year-old tap sensation Savion Glover.

The revue is the brainchild of Hector Orezzoli and Claudio Segovia, two Argentinians who have twice before delighted Paris audiences with memorable tango and flamenco shows.

Yet, for the men who scoured the United States in search of talent up to the standards of Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, the rhythm and blues so particular to Harlem in the ‘20s and ‘30s presented a particularly difficult challenge.

Tap dancing has gone out of fashion, and talented dancers have turned to other forms of modern dance, they said.

“We wanted to show how the revues of the Apollo (a Harlem theater) or the Cotton Club were born,” Orezzoli said in an interview. “We wanted to illustrate in the most complete way possible this type of entertainment.”

“Black and Blue,” has sold out almost every night since it opened earlier this month, and is unquestionably a popular success. The normally restrained French audiences have responded enthusiastically, tapping their feet to the beat of such songs as “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.”

However, the reviews have been mixed.

While Jean-Luc Wachthausen of the daily Le Figaro called the show “a delight for the senses and the spirit,” Le Monde ran the headline: “Soggy Swing at Chatelet.”

“‘Black and Blue’ is based on a thorough knowledge of the subject ... (but) the lavish scenes are stilted, the language and the mentality are arthritic,” wrote Le Monde’s Claude Fleouter who went on to pan the orchestra for its forced renditions of such classics as “Royal Garden Blues” and “Black and Tan Fantasy.”

“Black and Blue” also features the Hoofers, the popular group of older male tap dancers who recently appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s lavish movie, “Cotton Club.”

Veteran hoofer George Hillman, still dancing at 79, pleased the crowd with his agility. He brought the house down when he teamed up with the review’s youngest and most exciting star, Savion Glover, who arrived here fresh from a two-year stint as Broadway’s “Tap Dance Kid.”

Glover, a sixth-grader from Newark, N.J., has been dancing since he was 8 years old. Appearing without makeup, he is at ease on stage. He plays the drums, sings, does acrobatics and has been dancing on his toes since he was a baby.

“The talents just keep coming, and I’m as surprised as the next person,” said his mother Yvette Glover, who is also her son’s manager.

For American choreograher Henry Le Tang, Glover is a natural. “I have rarely seen such talent and ease in someone so young,” Le Tang said. “He tries all the steps, he registers everything. He learns by instinct.”

Glover said he is excited but never scared before a performance, and he says a brief prayer before going on stage.

A student at the East Harlem Performing Arts School in New York, he keeps up with his studies while on the road through private tutoring from one of the dancers in the cast, who holds a degree in education.

However, the young star admits to feeling a bit homesick and missing his family. He looks forward to seeing the sights of Paris when his brothers arrive for Christmas.

Until then, he’s content playing video games, rehearsing and eating his favorite French food: spaghetti!

“Black and Blue” will play at the Theatre Musical de Paris until Jan. 27. It is expected to go to Broadway in March.