THEATER REVIEW : ‘Bigger Than Bubble Gum’: Sparkling Vintage R&B; Ride

Don’t feel out of it if you’ve never heard of the Emotions. Hardly anybody knows who this female R&B; vocal trio is, except for some hard-core R&B; fans with very, very long memories.

It’s not as if they were the Supremes. Back in the late ‘70s, they had a short run at the top, mainly riding one huge 1978 hit single, “Best of My Love,” By the early 1980s, they were history.

Doesn’t sound like much on which to build a musical life story, does it? Yet “Bigger Than Bubble Gum,” a collaboration of the Emotions, producer-director-writer Larry Heimgartner and musical director Chuck Alvarez, is being performed weekends at the Mainstage Theater at Los Angeles Harbor College.

It’s a sparkling production, complete with showstopping gospel and R&B; numbers. If you’re into vintage R&B;, it’s the best show in town.

This is no hard-hitting drama exploring the anguish of fleeting fame. It’s more like a concert with a few dramatic interludes sprinkled here and there. The musical history is really a structural device to organize songs around.

Buoyed by imaginative, skeletal sets and a very capable five-piece R&B; band, this production is sort of a comeback for the group, made up of sisters Wanda, Jeanette and Sheila Hutchinson.

The show opens with the funeral of their father, their inspiration when they were the Heavenly Sunbeams, a child gospel group out of Chicago. With its knockout gospel numbers, like “I Believe” and “Jesus Wants Me,” this is the best part. The middle, featuring songs recorded on the Columbia label when the Emotions were on top, is fine but pales next to the opening segment and the heartfelt, melodramatic ballads in the last part, detailing the anguish of their decline and various sibling squabbles.

Nearly two decades past their heyday, the Emotions are no longer sleek glamour girls, but they can still really sing. Their slick, unison-harmony and glitzy style may seem dated if you’re familiar with the pulsing hip-hop of today--but it’s still very effective.

In the encore segment, there’s a built-in slot for a guest star, which has been filled on various nights by Stevie Wonder, Robert Townsend and Florence LaRue of the Fifth Dimension. The producers say they never know who might show up. But that mystery-guest lure is just icing. This show stands quite well on its own.

* “Bigger Than Bubble Gum,” Mainstage Theater, Los Angeles Harbor College campus, Wilmington. Fridays-Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Ends next Sun. $25. (310) 522-8275. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.