‘Reel Music’ Reviews Movies’ Golden Ears : The Tuneful Tribute Is the First Offering in the Summer Stock Series at Saddleback College

Anyone can tell you that Broadway musicals have produced countless songs that are now considered classics. But how often does Hollywood get the same recognition?

That’s essentially the inspiration behind “Blame It on the Movies: The Reel Music of Hollywood,” a revue that opens Saturday as the first show in Saddleback College’s professional Summer Stock series. The show not only is an appreciation, but a reminder of the many tunes that entered popular culture by way of the silver screen.

Beth Hansen, director of the Saddleback show, conceded that she, too, has tended to take Hollywood music for granted and that her experience with “Blame It on the Movies” has been something of a revelation.

“I have a video library that includes a lot of classic films, but I didn’t realize how significant the songs were,” she said. “Now, I’ll hear some Muzak while grocery shopping or in the elevator and know where it came from, that it started off as part of a movie.”

The revue, for instance, includes not only “As Time Goes By,” “Alfie,” “Laura,” “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” and other famous themes, but lesser-known numbers such as the always-rousing “Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet.” Those are among snippets of some 75 songs written by the likes of Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser, Henry Mancini, Lennon-McCartney and even Mel Brooks.

“Blame It on the Movies,” performed mostly in medleys, features song fragments, theme music and excerpts from soundtracks merged into a cavalcade that spans four decades, beginning in the late 1930s. The tunes are grouped in thematic blocks, among them “The War Years,” “The ‘40s,” “Fox in Love” and “Foreign Film Tribute.”

“This should really appeal to everybody; at least we’re hoping that,” Hansen said. “We have older stuff from the ‘40s on up through the ‘50s and ‘60s all the way up to music from ‘Flashdance.’ We even have the theme from ‘Jaws.’ ”

Besides singing, her four-woman, three-man cast performs Susan Cable’s choreography and the often tongue-in-cheek acting that marks the revue.

Hansen relies heavily on Laurrinda Robinson, as the usherette, to sing blithe introductions as well as to perform ensemble numbers within the show. It’s a way to move the production along and provide needed continuity between song sections, Hansen said. “It’s important that we have her to overcome that static quality, that abruptness when one set stops and another starts,” she said. “This revue doesn’t have any dialogue, so she serves as the conduit.”

The show was developed by Ron Abel, David Galligan, Larry Hyman and Billy Barnes in 1987 and premiered in January, 1988, at the Coast Playhouse in Hollywood. It migrated to Broadway in 1989.

Critics in Los Angeles and New York found much to like in “Blame It on the Movies.” A Los Angeles Times reviewer noted that the revue made its case that “much movie music is the equal of Broadway’s best.” A New York Times critic said the concept was “a nearly sure-fire theatrical premise . . . somewhere along the way everyone will have at least one nostalgic button pushed.”

The New York Times, however, did fault the Broadway production’s lack of performing style, which gave the show a “blandness.”

Hansen, who recently directed a well-received production of “Big River” for the Laguna Playhouse, said she has tried to avoid that same error by vivifying the revue.

Hansen’s approach, in part, was in reaction to the original Coast Playhouse version, which she has only seen on tape. “Frankly, I thought that show was real serious, real dry--too much so. . . . The goal has been a hipper style, which I hope will make it attractive to young people. It’s kitschy, but still respectful.”

* “Blame It on the Movies: The Reel Music of Hollywood” opens Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and continues Wednesday through Saturday at 8:30 p.m., Sunday at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. through Aug. 11 at Saddleback College’s Cabaret Theatre, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. Tickets: $10 to $14. Information: (714) 582-4656.