The Lieber and Stoller review Smokey Joe's Cafe

The Fox Theater is offering us flashy and highly entertaining touring production of the 1995 musical review Smokey Joe's Cafe this week. It's one of the more recent entries in what has become a major sub-genre of Broadway show over the last couple of decades: the mostly plot-free homage to the work of a popular songwriter or - in this case - song-writing team.

Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, whose work is the basis for Smokey Joe's Cafe, aren't exactly household words for most Americans, I'll bet, but many of their songs certainly are. During the 1950s and '60s, Lieber and Stoller virtually defined the genre that became known as rock and roll, as even a partial list of the songs in this review demonstrates: "Hound Dog", "Love Potion No. 9", "Yakety Yak", "Jailhouse Rock", "On Broadway", "Stand by Me", "Kansas City", "Charlie Brown". The beat goes on, but you get the idea.

What will surprise some rock fans, though, is that Lieber and Stoller were versatile artists who dabbled in a number of song genres, including Brechtian numbers like "Is That All There Is?" and art song/cabaret hybrids like "The Tango". Smokey Joe's Cafe doesn't venture that far afield, but it does include the upbeat spiritual "Saved", the countrified "Pear's a Singer", and the jazzy "Some Cats Know", among others.

All this is staged with wit and imagination by award-winning director Jerry Zaks and choreographer Joey McKneely. When the songs don't strongly suggest a visual image, Zaks and McKneely have come up with ideas that either complement the material, lovingly spoof it, or both. "Searchin'" and "Little Egypt", for example, give the male vocal quartet of Dwayne Clark, Darrian C. Ford, Eugene Fleming, and Ashley Howard Wilkinson an opportunity to indulge in some Coasters-style comic turns; "Spanish Harlem" becomes a romantic adagio dance number for Fleming and the slinky Reva Rice; and "There Goes My Baby" affectionately pokes fun at '50s "guy group" poses.

There are many other funny, rousing, and even touching moments in this show - way too many to list here - and every performer in this great nine-member ensemble gets to shine more than once. The female quartet of Kim Cea, Altrinna Grayson, Mary Ann Hermansen, and Reva Rice belts out a show-stopping version of "I'm a Woman"; Darrian C. Ford delivers an almost frighteningly intense reading of "I (Who Have Nothing)"; and Jerry Tellier does a nice Elvis turn - complete with blue suede shoes - in "Jailhouse Rock". Even the band - Reggie Royal and The Night Managers - gets to take center stage for the rock and roll medley that opens the second act.

Some purists may object to the glitzy re-working of some of this material, but to this old rock and roller Smokey Joe's Cafe does a nice job of staying true to its rock roots while delivering the required amount of Broadway flash. Besides, it's fun, it's sexy, it's got a good beat, and you can dance to it.

And, as the song goes, "Baby, That is Rock and Roll"

Smokey Joe's Cafe plays the Fox through Sunday, May 25th and then continues on a national tour. Call 314-534-1111 for ticket information.