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Stardust
((Wilshire Theater; 1,910 seats; $ 45 top))
Cast: Toni Tennille, Hinton Battle, Sean Young, Betsy Baytos, Nancy Hess, John Hoshko, Jackie Patterson, Peter Slutsker, Scott Willis, Cathy Wydner.
Of the three toplined stars, chief point of interest may be the singing and dancing debut of Sean Young, heretofore best known as an actress and fixture in the tabloid press.
Pop singer Toni Tennille and Broadway vet singer/dancer Hinton Battle are well-known within their respective areas, and deliver at least up to expectations.
Young, though given little opportunity to display any personality, holds her own in the vocal and terpsichorean departments, including a tap dance spot. And Tennille and Young were seemingly born to wear those fabulous Erte costumes.
Many of the performance high points are delivered by the supporting cast, notably comic singer-dancers Betsy Baytos and Peter Slutsker.
Misleadingly advertised as a "new musical,""Stardust" is a bookless revue of production numbers. Earlier editions have played in New York City, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
In previews since May 9, the show's official Los Angeles opening was postponed twice. Whatever bugs existed seem to have been worked out satisfactorily.
Though the ads call attention to the melodies by Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, Leroy Anderson, etc., the common thread is Mitchell Parish's lyrics. Confusingly, some of the songs for which Parish wrotelyrics are here performed as instrumentals.
Parish, now 91, is a veteran Tin Pan Alley lyricist whose work falls into three categories: direct collaboration with composers, adding lyrics to songs that were already hits as instrumentals, and supplying English-language lyrics to songs of foreign origin.
All three groups are represented in "Stardust," with the result that some of the songs in "Stardust" are best known for their melodies--many people who recognize "Moonlight Serenade' as Glenn Miller's theme, "Sidewalks of Cuba" in Woody Herman's version, and "Don't Be That Way" from the Benny Goodman hit may be surprised to learn that those songs have lyrics.
More properly identified with Parish are "Star Dust" (comp. Carmichael) "Sweet Lorraine" (Cliff Burwell), "Deep Purple" (Peter deRose), "Ruby" (Heinz Roemheld) and "Sleigh Ride" (Leroy Anderson), all here as well.
Show offers a couple of dozen tunes by dividing the songs and styles into decades, from '20s flappers to WWII soldiers to participants in a "Your Hit Parade"-styled '50s television show, here dubbed "Your Cavalcade of Hits."
(That fictional show's theme and "Happy Cigarettes" commercial are credited to composer James Raitt with lyrics by Jay Jeffries and Peter Jablonski, evidently with no Parish involvement whatever.)
Billing notwithstanding, show is an ensemble piece. Tennille and Battle are each featured in several numbers; Young in somewhat fewer. But the rest of the cast is featured strongly, with none of the principals even present in several numbers.
A few highlights: prim Tennille and magenta zoot-suited Battle in a version of Cab Calloway's "Scat Song"; tenor John Hoshko's ballads; a dance sequence of "Blue Tango" and "Sentimental Gentleman from Georgia" featuring the remarkable eccentric dancer Betsy Baytos and her partner, the mysterious "Maurice" (trying to figure out what's going on is half the fun; his bio is a highlight of the program notes); Peter Slutsker's turn as the ultimate tacky lounge singer--a cross between inept versions of Sinatra, and Bobbys Darin and Rydell--on Dominico Modugno's "Volare," for which Parish wrote the English lyrics; and virtually all the tap-dance sequences, choreographed by Henry LeTang.
Tech credits are uniformly fine, with the cast's body microphones and Jim Mancuso's sound design overcoming the cavernous Wilshire's audio problems. Orchestra, under the direction of Kathleen A. Rubbicco, played often-imaginative , though uncredited, charts faultlessly.
Music, various composers. Musical staging and choreography by Henry LeTang; production design, Erte; lighting, Gregory Hirsch; sound, Jim Mancuso; orchestrations, John Charles; vocal arrangements, James Raitt; associate choreographer, Ellie LeTang; musical director, Kathleen A. Rubbicco. A presentation of Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. Opened May 22, 1992; reviewed May 22, 1992.
With a production design by noted Russian-Parisian artist Erte, "Stardust" is a dazzling display of art deco graphics and clothing. Even though the songs are often less than spellbinding and the performances lack consistent spark, the show is an almost overwhelming assault on the senses: audiences's memories of the show are more likely to be sights than sounds.
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