 |
 |
EDMONTON - Bubbling up from out of the past comes a voice with an unmistakable rasp.
It is the Wolfman welcoming us to another helping of '50s pop, doo-wop and early rock 'n' roll.
The Mayfield Dinner Theatre is back at the old juke box, serving up The Golden Age Rocks On, a sequel to last year's hugely successful night of nostalgia, corny jokes, fractured history and some righteous singing and dancing.
As I have pointed out before, there was really no golden era of doo-wop. The songs carry a nostalgic kick but most of them were simple tunes about young love delivered over a background of nonsense syllables - like "boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy, boog-e-dy, shoo-bee doo-wop she-bop.''
There were no Irving Berlins or Cole Porters of doo-wop. It was what you listened to on the radio as you drove your little deuce coupe to the A&Dub.
Apparently there was enough of this stuff left over from last year to put together a whole new show.
|
And a terrific, high-energy, non-stop show it is.
As usual, director Jim Brewer has assembled a uniformly talented cast of eight triple-threat performers, who sing, deliver some uncanny impersonations and know how to sell a joke.
They are also the hardest-working dancers in show business - seldom off the stage. Particularly impressive was an adagio number early in the show featuring Victoria Lamond and Sean Hauk. It was a model of grace and elegance. (Choreography by Christine Bandelow.)
Brewer mounts his production between two big flats at either side of the stage. The flats swing around to reveal Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chubby Checker, the Everly Brothers, the Four Lads, Bill Haley, Peggy Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, or any one of the myriad hit paraders of the late '40s into the early '60s.
Musical Director Van Wilmott has listened to many hundreds of songs and has arranged what is, in essence, one long cover record.
The pacing is so fast and the cast so uniformly talented that it is hard to single out any performer.
We re-live some of early rock's great moments - Elvis's first appearance on The Milton Berle Show and the last concert in Clear Lake, Iowa with Richie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. February 3, 1959. The day the music died.
Just a few years later, along would come the Beatles and the whole thing would be over forever.
Even if you weren't there at the time, this slick, accessible evening will leave you with a song in your heart and a smile on your face.