Just settle right in and enjoy the show. The songs are all old, but the singers are not. Can you hear the beat? I was hoping you could. Five Guys Named Moe’s cheer and patter can be infectious–and who doesn’t need a dash of fun in February? This, the latest offering by the Cleveland Playhouse at Playhouse Square in the lovely Allen Theatre runs through Sun 2/15. Might it be right for a Valentine night?
It’s a light story, an excuse to tie together songs and show off the talents of the Moes and Nomax. Poor Nomax can’t sleep (love troubles). His radio magically transports the five Moes to instruct him and cheer him. This Broadway musical written by Clarke Peters draws on the music of legendary jazz and blues bandleader Louis Jordan (taking its title from the 1943 musical Jordan wrote).
The show evokes vaudeville and jazz clubs with jokes, snappy chatter, and impressive dancing on an elegant set designed by Clint Ramos. The six-piece jazz band sits onstage just behind a screen and sounds bigger than it is.
It’s not a period piece as such; it’s updated, but it summons up voices from the past such as the ones heard in the following routine which went over very very well the night I was there. It begins with Big Moe asking the men in the audience if they can hear him:
Big Moe: [Having gotten no response from the men in the audience] Women: are you listening to me?
Audience: [Women] Yeeeeaaaahhh!
Big Moe: See, that just proves my point!
Little Bitty Moe: What’s that, Big Moe?
Big Moe: Woman are *always* listening!
But there’s much more music than chatter in this show. There’s a beat and a blues note too that one can also hear in today’s blues and even rap, but the names of the dozen plus songs are likely to be unfamiliar to many: “Dad Gum Your Hide Boy,” “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie,” and “Messy Bessy,” “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?”
Appealing performers Clinton Roane (Little Moe), Jobari Parker-Namdar (No Moe), Travis Porchia (Four-Eyed Moe), Sheldon Henry (Big Moe), and Paris Nix (Eat Moe), and Kevin McAllister (Nomax) showed varied vocal style and great vocal chops. Directed by Robert O’Hara and co-produced with Arena Stage, this production offered yet another fresh musical review at the Cleveland Play House.
Bottom line: Recommended for Moe fun.
For tickets call the Box Office at(216) 241 6000 or check http://clevelandplayhouse.com.
[Picture Caption: Downstage, from left to right: Clinton Roane (Little Moe), Jobari Parker-Namdar (No Moe), Travis Porchia (Four-Eyed Moe), Sheldon Henry (Big Moe), and Paris Nix (Eat Moe). Upstage: Kevin McAllister (Nomax). Photo credit C. Stanley Photography.]
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.
Cleveland, OH 44115