It’s Theater Lite at ‘Nite Club’ : Stage review: Gary Sandy, Barbara Eden star in a breezy film noir parody that in essence is a little show on a big stage.

“Nite Club Confidential” is “Sunset Boulevard” Lite, crossed with “City of Angels.” It is a breezy film noir parody filled with period songs like “Goody, Goody” as well as new, period-style songs written by the show’s creators, and it pre-existed those other two shows, first debuting at a small New York Theater in 1983. This thin-as-air diversion is now playing the rather large Terrace Theater at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, where director Luke Yankee has staged it in a way that makes the place feel almost intimate.

Gary Sandy plays Buck Holden. That’s three letters away from Bill Holden, and here’s why: Just like Bill in the film “Sunset Boulevard,” Buck starts the story dead, not in a swimming pool, but on the staircase of a swanky nightclub stage. This Holden is an aspiring nightclub owner, singing in a group called the High Hopes, working the clubs of New York in the heart of the Eisenhower era.

The crime that leads Buck to find himself horizontal on those glossy steps: He is a major heel. He conducts simultaneous affairs with an older nightclub star named Kay Goodman (Barbara Eden) and a younger but equally tough diva, Dorothy Flynn (Tracy Lore). For Buck, lying to two women comes as naturally as breathing. So does haplessness. He always gets caught.

Yankee has placed the orchestra atop the big staircase on the stage, and he invites his audience to dance to its big-band sound before the show starts. Once the show begins, he and designer Robert L. Smith divide the stage in three parts, directing attention to one manageable space at a time. This is smart because the show really doesn’t warrant a big stage, which brings with it, after all, a certain expectation. Still, at 2 hours and 20 minutes, this little show in this big theater feels stretched and long.

One reason is that its star, Barbara Eden, in no way embodies a performer who could own a stage. She can flash a lovely gamin smile, and her Marlene Dietrich imitation is not at all bad. But the charm of her limited vocal skill tends to dissipate after a bar or two on each song, when a note inevitably goes awry. She also doesn’t have the moves. In a preview two nights before opening, she had come nowhere close to mastering an essential skill for a glamour queen: negotiating a staircase in high heels. And without a truly glamorous Kay at its tiny center, “Nite Club Confidential” can be confidentially quite tedious.

Sandy supplies an entertaining gigolo, a Pal Joey with an endless supply of insincere show biz smiles, dead eyes, and snaky mating habits, which earn him the bullet he gets in the end.

Choreographer Mark Knowles provides one truly funny number--for Buck and his two High Hopes, Mitch (Steve Gideon) and Sal (David Engel). The men perform a psuedo-jungle dance as backup to Kay’s rendition of “That Old Black Magic.” All in beatnik black, with face masks, the men bump and grind and grunt--all in furious, utter earnest. This number constitutes the funniest parody in the show, though not of film noir. It sums up all of the inane dance numbers that aspire to artiness, from Eisenhower right up to the Academy Awards of quite recently.

*

The book, by Dennis Deal (who also co-conceived the show and wrote the new songs along with Albert Evans), is intermittently amusing at best. Film noir tough talk is a thing frequently parodied, and “Nite Club” is just another parody. Obvious punch lines fall flat again and again.

The strong-voiced Lore perks things up a bit as Buck’s other love, the singer who transforms from a bespectacled redhead with no self confidence to a sultry platinum blonde.

Designer Smith understands the power of a simple neon sign to summon a mood, an era, and a lot of information. He flashes them on the stage, signaling that we are in one nightclub or another with bright efficiency. The best and most handsome sign is a classic martini glass, outlined in blue, with a red swizzle stick and a little green olive resting at the bottom. You might find yourself staring at that image in a longing way well before Buck Holden gets back to the steps for his final bow.

* “Nite Club Confidential,” Terrace Theatre, Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Tue.-Sat., 8 p.m., except dark Oct. 3; Sat.-Sun., 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 15. $20-$45. (213) 365-3500. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Gary Sandy: Buck Holden

Barbara Eden: Kay Goodman

Tracy Lore: Dorothy Flynn

Steve Gideon: Mitch Dupre

David Engel: Sal

A Long Beach Civic Light Opera production. By Dennis Deal. Directed by Luke Yankee. New songs and arrangements by Deal and Albert Evans. Conceived by Deal with Evans and Jamie Rocco. Sets Robert L. Smith. Costumes Garland Riddle. Lights D. Martyn Bookwalter. Sound Jon Gottlieb and Philip G. Allen. Choreographer Mark Knowles. Musical direction N. Thomas Pedersen. Production stage manager Nevin Hedley.