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Music Reviews Mar 26, 1999 - Broadway Showstoppers - Too Hot To Stop--- Now Closed By Jack Neal If anyone knows the nightclub show-business venue better than producer Greg Thompson and choreographer/director/costumer Mistinguett, there's a bright career here in the still wild west trying the fill the ravenous appetite of Nevada's night spots. Thompson and Mistinguett have gotten things so right for so long their names might soon take on the sure-fire box office appeal of Lerner and Loewe, Rodgers and Hammerstein or Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Harrah's Sammy's Showroom is home to what Thompson bills as his family show, "Broadway Showstoppers." Loaded with great Broadway tunes and dance numbers, the show belies its name. Showstoppers? This show is simply too hot to stop. It's my guess (I lost count) that "Broadway Showstoppers" averages at least a song a minute during its 70-minute running time. From an impressive series of production numbers (a rambunctious "Oklahoma" and a sizzling "Steam Heat," plus) to some quiet moments where individuals shine and shine beautifully, "Showstoppers" sets out to please and so it does. Opening with Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz," "Showstoppers" sets high standards off the top for ingenuity and freshness and never lets down. Mistinguett has stylized her Fosse tribute in a way that shows off the talents of the cast and still reflects the off-beat brilliance of Fosse's approach to movement and dance. The arched back, the cross-over side step, the tilt of the hat, the manipulation of white-gloved hands, are all fastidiously in place. All are brought off with precision by a handsome and well-disciplined cast. There are lots of ingredients (glitzy lighting, flashy costumes, inventive staging) that make this show the hit it is and the show's marvelous cast is one. They look terrific, work hard and have a sultry versatility that's hard to resist.
Darryl Ross, Lainie Gulliksen and Christine Shelton are the show's singing stars and they're an outstanding threesome. Gulliksen's nicely controlled operatic soprano works wonderfully on "Memories" and "Why do I love You?". With her darker sound, Shelton delivers on a host of songs including a haunting "On My Own." Ross, who doubles as the show's emcee, is upbeat, gracious, quick at playing off an audience's reactions and sings in a most engaging manner. The only problem with both Ross and the show is that the singer isn't given enough time to do justice to "Ol' Man River" - a minor point given "Showstopper's" multitudes of pluses. Standup comic John Padon tells jokes and he tells them hilariously and with split-second timing. Padon is very funny and drenches his part of the show with some of the best and fastest zinging oneliners of any comic on today's nightclub circuit. "Broadway Showstoppers" is fast and fun. It's concise (no flab), calibrated (well balanced, with - among many other things - a good to great finale of "We're in the Money") and calculated. Nothing is left to chance. It's the nothing-left-to-chance part that should please many. For people who can't stand show tunes and dancing, there's always the cast's astonishingly voluptuous or buffed (depending) gorgeous good looks. "Broadway Showstoppers" plays Harrah's Reno, nightly at 7, except Thursdays. It's considered a family show, and - depending on the family - it undoubtedly is. "Broadway Showstoppers" is current, choice, and recommended. For information call 775 788 3773. [an error occurred while processing this directive] |
