THEATER REVIEW : TV’s ‘Jeffersons’ Movin’ On Up to Stage

“The Jeffersons--Movin’ On Up Tour,” which opened Thursday at the Vision Theatre Complex, is a staging of three scripts from the long-running CBS sitcom. But it’s not so much a theatrical as a cultural event, treading as it does on nostalgia for the longest-running African American show of the mid-1970s to mid-1980s.

The three scenarios offer stock “Jeffersons” setups, pitting upwardly mobile George (Sherman Hemsley) against his wife, Louise (Isabel Sanford), and their maid Florence (Marla Gibbs), with neighbor Tom Willis (Franklin Cover), his daughter Jenny (Berlinda Tolbert) and Ralph the doorman (Ned Wertimer) also in on the squabbles.

In each story, George gets in trouble for his unthinking entrepreneurship and sexism. Yet by the end of the 22-minute scripts, George and Louise always kiss and make up, and George and Florence go on sniping at each other.

“The Jeffersons--Movin’ On Up Tour” is a straightforward transfer from small screen to stage. Normally, it’s a crossover ploy that wouldn’t be promising--especially since staged TV has to compensate for scripts built around commercial breaks.

Yet what saves the evening is that the original cast ensemble, directed by Edmond J. Cambridge, projects a surprising amount of presence, even in the 1,050-seat Vision Theatre. And the opening-night crowd, which included “The Jeffersons” producer Norman Lear and civil-rights icon Rosa Parks, seemed especially glad to see the show in a venue that belongs to one of its stars.

Gibbs, who plays Florence and has owned the theater since 1990, is also planning to produce a season of plays at this location starting later this month. So as they might say on “The Jeffersons” . . . Go, Flo!

* “The Jeffersons--Movin’ On Up Tour,” Vision Theater Complex, 3341 W. 43rd Place, Leimert Park, Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m., Saturdays-Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Feb. 13. $25-$35. (213) 295-9686. Running time: 2 hours.