THEATER REVIEW : A Stumbling ‘Strut’ in Huntington Beach

Nostalgia goes over big these dire days, glancing back over times that seemed more innocent, more romantic, more fun. They weren’t really. The good old days are a myth.

But the songs often were more memorable and the humor more naive, and that’s obviously the mood Fran Charnas tried to capture when she conceived “The All Night Strut” at Huntington Beach Playhouse.

The ingredients are there: a stage-filling, working jukebox icon frames a raft of listenable tunes from the ‘30s and ‘40s, and the songs are interspersed with comedy of the same period.

It’s the recipe that’s wrong.

To begin with there is Kent Johnson’s stop-and-stumble direction. A show like this has to move like gangbusters, but Johnson allows long pauses between numbers, particularly when unnecessary set pieces are lugged onstage for the sketches.

Even after the lights go up, the tempos are halting, usually too languid, and generally keep the cast looking as though they’re operating in slow motion.

The choice of music can’t be flawed, but the choice of comic sketches is unfortunate. Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First?” really needs Abbott & Costello to work, and one of Tallulah Bankhead’s television routines is totally unfunny without Bankhead’s bourbon-throated delivery (Nancy Noble’s attempt is more like Vivian Vance doing Bankhead). “Father’s and Sons” from “New Faces of ‘52” needs Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley and Ronnie Graham even if the period were right.

The inclusion of Thurber’s Walter Mitty and a slide-illustrated Thurber tale boggles credulity, as does a narration by the director at a stage-side podium explaining how much fun this all is.

It might have been, without sketches (and vocal chores) this cast is not up to, and guided by a director who realized that just hearing the songs is not enough.

They have to be put together with some pizazz, some flair and some knowledge of the intricacy and shaping necessary to make musical entertainment come alive.

* “All Night Strut,” Huntington Beach Playhouse, 21141 Strathmoor Lane, Huntington Beach. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sunday matinees (May 23, June 6 & 13), 2 p.m. Ends June 19. $10-$14. (714) 832-1405. Running time: 2 hours.

A Huntington Beach Playhouse production. Conceived by Fran Charnas. Directed by Kent Johnson. With Bill Barratt, Jessamyn Fase, Lisa Harvey, Joe Hollinshead, Glenn Koppel, Nancy Noble and Ed Schuyler. Choreographed by Denise Johnson, Lisa Harvey, Jessamyn Fase. Musical direction: Randy Woltz. Lights: Martin G. Eckmann. Set: Kent Johnson.