Rallying from a tap narrative of lesser mettle

It’s easy to see a bit of the late Gregory Hines in tapper Mark Goodman: a long, lean line, casual elegance and a cool rhythmic attack, all of which were on view Saturday night at Canoga Park’s Madrid Theatre when he danced solo. However, when attempting a narrative, “Red,” his riff on “The Red Shoes,” the locally based Mark Goodman Tap Company, a band of 13 hoofers of varying abilities founded in 1999, floundered in a tangle of half-baked ideas, high schoolish over-emoting and earnestness squared.

Eleven short scenes set to a pastiche of taped music by artists such as Sting, Seal and Phil Collins, “Red” featured Goodman, 41, as a tormented tapper who must choose between fame and anonymity, opting for the former when he dons a pair of red-toed tap shoes.

Loosely based on the original Hans Christian Andersen story and adapted by Dennis Kleinman, “Red,” directed by Joe Malone and Goodman, plays more like a surreal “West Side Story.” Indeed, Fredz Boyz -- Matt Rustowicz with Joe Hall and J.J. Pasco -- lamely lip-sync and break-dance to ‘N Sync (choreographed by Roman Vasquez), as if a rival gang. Goodman also can’t decide between the slinky moves of Roni Jo Rhoads or Orialis Serrano, who in a tricked-out moment inexplicably kicks one leg up to her ear, grinning while holding the position.

Goodman’s quicksilver taps also become obscured by a sextet of dancers dubbed “Shadows.” Dressed in hooded, Druid-like robes, they kick-step behind him in neo-pagan mode. With the ensemble schlepping props and inane video projections with such slogans as “blue is the new red” adding to the folly, “Red” plays like outtakes from “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Happily, the program’s second half fared better: Eight Goodman-choreographed works included “Stairs,” with terrific long-legged 13-year-old Adrian Newcomb (think an adolescent Buddy Ebsen) holding his own on a staircase with Goodman and Patrick Sheck; an energetic jump-rope number; and Goodman singing “All of Me” between crisp turns, smooth slides and deliciously syncopated footwork. More of Goodman, though, would have made the evening less a tap lite fest.