O.C. STAGE REVIEW : New or Old, MacLaine Is Just Ageless

With Shirley MacLaine, what you see is what you get--a strikingly personable, down-to-earth superstar who can look in the mirror and face the revealing truth. As she told the crowd at the Celebrity Theatre in the first of three shows over the weekend here: “I’m basically a dancer. At least I sort of was. “

The admission took the sting out of the telltale signs of awkwardness that her middle-aged, thick-waisted body--clad in a black leotard most of the time--could not hide even with her famous leggy strut. But it also pointed up the genuine pleasures of “Shirley MacLaine: Live” which, on balance, outweighed the lapses, and allowed us to savor her self-deprecating honesty.

The fact is, despite her early start as a “Gypsy” in various Broadway choruses, MacLaine was only a passably good dancer in her youth--certainly no match for a Gwen Verdon or a Chita Rivera. And lucky for her she wasn’t, or she might have ended up with their screen careers instead of hers. Can anyone doubt that MacLaine’s greatest talent was a natural gift for acting?

This is not to say she can’t put on some incandescent moves. The high point of her show depended on them as a mock-jealous sendup of the statuesque Ann-Margret, swaggering Las Vegas-style across the stage, segued into a satirical dance medley delineating the choreographic differences between Bob Fosse, Michael Kidd, MTV and her own dance director, Alan Johnson.

Backed by a pair of male dancers, MacLaine first paid witty tribute in white gloves and black bowler to Fosse’s trademark obsession with detailed hand gestures and head flicks in a takeoff on “Steam Heat,” the showstopper from “The Pajama Game.” Then she made fun of Kidd’s notorious demands on physical stamina with a high-kicking “Can-Can” number, during which she wound down like a pooped-out mechanical doll.

Both dance sketches were deftly set to alternate arrangements of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” as was the hilarious, dead-on MTV parody. “This was suddenly not about steps; this was about attitude,” said MacLaine, who donned black leather motorcycle gear along with a pink fright wig and tutu, turning herself into a hopped-up mannequin. “This was Janet Jackson. This was LaToya Jackson. This was Michael Jackson. The only Jackson who doesn’t do these things is Jesse.”

Not surprisingly, MacLaine’s sharp-tongued, frequently ironic quips provoked laughs throughout the evening. Annoyed by the loud, incessant hum of the theater’s air-conditioning unit, she surmised: “It’s Darryl Gates bugging me.” Hands on hip, she confronted a man in the first row: “You don’t know me, do you?” When he said nothing, she waited a beat and dead-panned: “Mitzi Gaynor.”

The Gaynor joke was prepared, of course; there was absolutely no chance that anybody in the adoring audience wouldn’t have known her. But if there had been, the show’s central song motif would have been a reminder. MacLaine dubbed it her “Hooker Victim Doormat Medley,” a reference to the dozen or so floozies, tarts and losers she has played so effectively in the movies (“I specialized in doormats.”).

Although MacLaine has a thin, reedy singing voice that doesn’t always stay in tune, it is nonetheless a theatrically effective instrument, and she delivered the medley--”Hey, Big Spender” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now” from “Sweet Charity” and “Irma La Douce” from the Broadway show of that name--with a savvy flair for the bittersweet drama of the lyrics.

The other musical set-piece, depicting Mama Rose in “Gypsy,” was too arch by half. MacLaine got into character well enough, aided by a quick change into period costume, but the songs (“Some People,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Rose’s Turn”) were overwhelmed rather than supported by the melodramatic staging.

Meanwhile, MacLaine was bedeviled all evening by having to adapt her proscenium-style show to the Celebrity Theatre’s in-the-round design. She acknowledged as much early on at Friday’s performance, remarking that she knew where “my front is” but not the theater’s.

Thus, if you were lucky enough to be seated in the area she tended to favor from the circular stage, you could have seen the animation in MacLaine’s face. Otherwise you more or less watched her from behind and missed the most vivid aspect of her performance--her expressions--a shame to be missed on screen at movie-house prices but especially so on stage at $35.

Not that MacLaine didn’t try to accommodate everyone. Toward the end of the 100-minute show, she was spinning on a turn-top stool in all directions, while poking fun at her New Age beliefs with a tall story about an ancient Peruvian city of crystal pyramids where she discovered Jimmy Durante’s mantra.

Nor was there any doubt of the audience’s devotion. After a finale consisting of the memorable “I’m Still Here” (a version that Stephen Sondheim customized for her) and the forgettable “Out There Tonight,” she was heaped with bouquets of flowers and brought back four times for bows.

‘SHIRLEY MACLAINE: LIVE’

A revue presented at the Celebrity Theatre of Anaheim. Produced by Michael Flowers. Staged and choreographed by Alan Johnson. Musical direction by Jack French. Writing and original lyrics by Buz Kohan. Original music by Larry Grossman. Costumes by Pete Menefee. Lighting by Natasha Katz. Performances were April 12 to 14.