‘Hollywood Sings!’ Brings Back Scores of Old Favorites and Fond Memories

If you loved the movie. . . .

A grab bag of great film songs of the ‘30s and ‘40s find a home in the ‘90s in “Hollywood Sings!,” a new revue at the Center Stage in Woodland Hills. Director-arranger Gene Casey, who had originally envisioned the show as a Universal Studios tour attraction, says the old favorites are keyed to a memorabilia mentality.

“It’s a very good tourist show,” he says, “and for any movie buffs.”

The source material is extensive. The show, by Casey’s count, features “at least 50” songs, many in partial or medley form. One of the medleys pays tribute to Dorothy Lamour, whom Casey had played piano for many years ago. In his “The Girl in the Sarong” medley, the director has fashioned a “moon” theme: “Moonlight Becomes You,” “Moonlight and Shadows” and “Moon of Manakoora.”

Other old-time celebrities who show up via impressions: Groucho Marx (performing “Lydia the Tattooed Lady”), Carmen Miranda (“Ay-yay-yay”) and Shirley Temple (“Animal Crackers”), plus a tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and such old standards as “Night and Day,” “We’re in the Money” and “Thanks for the Memory.” Says the director, “We do it the way it was originally done--before Bob Hope.”

Casey’s credits includes a post as musical director at the old Mayfair Music Hall and a job writing revues for Milt Larsen at the now-defunct Variety Arts Theatre. With his late brother Jan, he also authored the ‘40s-style musical “Hubba Hubba” and “Orphans Revenge” (co-written with Suzanne Buhrer), a musical melodrama that played locally at Group Repertory in 1980 and at the Cast Theatre in ’81.

“Hollywood Sings!” originally bowed last October at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, followed by a short stint at the Rose Cabaret. Casey, who wrote all the arrangements for the show “from scratch,” also serves as its accompanist, with Toni Kaye as choreographer and a cast that includes Marla Fries, Karen Lew, Charles Mandracchia, Lloyd Pedersen, Lynne Pirtle and Kenny Rhodes.

The director believes the familiarity of the material is the basis of its appeal.

“People in the audience mutter to each other, ‘I know that,’ but they don’t sing along,” he reports. “They know the tunes, but not the words.”

“Most theater audiences are middle-aged and older,” added producer Edmund Gaynes, who also runs the West End Playhouse. “We still have young people coming in, but the predominant age is over 40. They identify with the music, remember the films--and this brings it back for them. It’s nostalgic, and it’s good music.”

“Hollywood Sings!” plays at 8 p.m. Fridays and 9:30 p.m. Saturdays, indefinitely, at the Center Stage, 20929 Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills. (Enter through the Enchanted Forest.) Admission: $17.50. Call (818) 904-0444.