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Now playing:
'Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara'
"Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara" is a simple biographical story told with
infectious retro pizazz. It's also one of the best musicals playing in town.
Reopens on 09/12/08 for a limited SIX-WEEK engagement:
By David Ng, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 27, 2008
Told in a hallucinated flashback as Prima lies comatose in a hospital bed, the
show picks up in the late 1940s when the King of the Swingers first encounters
the ingénue Keely at an audition. She lands a part as a singer in the band just
as Prima is about to move to Las Vegas to set up shop at the Sahara.
What separates "Louis & Keely" from jukebox musicals like "Jersey Boys" and
"Mamma Mia!" is its scaled-down simplicity. The intimate size of the Sacred
Fools space forces the actors to focus their voices and performances with
ruthless precision. You can't fake it when you're singing that close to the
audience. Together, the leads perform 17 numbers and nail each one.
Playing Prima with boundless energy, Broder captures his character's obnoxious
off-stage personality while suggesting that his faults were integral to his
on-stage appeal. Broder's athletic mimicry is a real hoot to watch and he looks
as if he loses 10 pounds just bouncing around the stage. Equally good, Smith
brings a stand-offish hostility to her character that defrosts exquisitely when
she performs songs such as "That Old Black Magic" or "I've Got You Under My
Skin."
"Louis & Keely" tracks the usual showbiz ups and downs rather mechanically (the
lead actors also wrote the script). But it's easy to forgive the cliches when
there's so much musical mayhem to distract you. The live, seven-member band
plays with gregarious showmanship. And director Jeremy Aldridge synthesizes it
all into one shiny package. This is musical theater at its most rousing and
entertaining. Go twice.
