STAGE REVIEW : An Incomplete ‘Broadway Celebration’ on Tour

Performers Susan Watson, Lainie Nelson, George Ball and Dan Gettinger call their show “A Broadway Celebration.” At Pepperdine’s Smothers Theatre, where the touring production stopped on Sunday, they made it clear why they were celebrating. Less clear was why certain obvious names were left out of the party.

Most of the big names behind the great Broadway show songs are the guests of honor here--Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Jule Styne. And it’s not just a case of “Drop That Name” (from Styne’s “Bells Are Ringing”), but name that tune. When was the last time we heard “Little Girl Blue” (from Rodgers and Hart’s “Jumbo”) or “I Have Dreamed” (from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I”) or remembered what fine songs they are?

This quartet is more interested in providing a personally guided tour through Broadway history, with informational “Why-I-Got-Into-Show-Biz” interludes between tunes, than putting on a smoothly paced revue a la “Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill” or “Side by Side by Sondheim.” Which is fine, except that it’s a very incomplete tour.

Great early shows like “Show Boat” and “Porgy and Bess” go unrepresented, as do great composers like Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein. Others get too much of a hearing--Jerry Herman and Andrew Lloyd Webber each have their own medleys--while others are nearly ignored: The only Stephen Sondheim is the overly familiar “Send in the Clowns,” and the stylized arrangement under Ted Sprague’s direction is underwhelming.

The error-filled program reflects the show’s problems. Herbert Reynolds, not Harry Smith, wrote the lyrics for Kern’s “They Didn’t Believe Me.” “My Best Beau” is really “My Best Girl,” “I’ll Take Manhattan” is just “Manhattan” and “Loverly” is actually “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” “Jumbo” appeared in 1935, not 1937; “Hello, Dolly!” in 1964, not 1963; “Mack and Mabel” in 1974, not 1973. Editor, please.

Nelson, Watson, Ball and Gettinger are usually good enough, though, to appear without the services of a director. Ball, a minor master of the musical revue form, covers each of his songs in his usual warm wine tone, and for the climactic tribute to “Phantom of the Opera,” suggests that he could take over the role at the Ahmanson tomorrow. Pianist Gettinger’s Michael Feinstein-ish tenor matches well with Ball on “Man of La Mancha.” They should have more than this one duet together. While Watson is the real actor in the group (she changes on stage into a wonderful Eliza Doolittle), she can also sing circles around Nelson, who sounded strained on Sunday.

Ultimately, this “Celebration” feels like a nightclub gig spread across a big stage. The good part is Bruce Salvati’s understated accompaniment on bass. The bad parts are the hand mikes and Ball’s embarrassed pre-intermission pitching of the group’s recording.

Sales and class acts don’t mix.