After reopening the historic theater two decades ago with The All Night Strut!, the Gem Theatre proudly comes full circle, celebrating its twentieth season and concurrently spreading holiday cheer in The All Night Strut Holiday Show (conceived and originally directed by Fran Charnas; musical arrangements by Tom Fitt, Gil Lieb, and Dick Schermesser, with additional orchestrations by Corey Allen). This production, recreated by Gary Thompson, fashions a revue of equal parts retread and sentiment that, beyond its seasonal appeal, promises to scratch the viewer’s every musical itch.
The show’s premise lies in its simplicity: revisiting beloved tunes circa the 1930s and ‘40s. Borrowing heavily from the original show, the first act finds performers Lianne Marie Dobbs, Marja Harmon, Jared Joseph, and Denis Lambert working their way through sparkling, peppy tunes with a hefty helping of wartime odes. For the second act, costume designer Mark Mariani turns the cheer up to eleven with dazzling plush ensembles as the score leaps headlong into Christmas songs (plus an extraneous bit of tokenism in a single Hanukkah number). A largely empty set is given dimension in Dana White’s cool lighting scheme, which puts the focus on the singers but also highlights the swinging three-piece band behind them (Ralphie Armstrong, Rob Emanuel, and music director Sven Anderson).
With relatively little chatter, the show is essentially a parade of songs, and the singing here is exceptional. A quartet of coveted voices captures the tone and energy of the genre, in harmonies so tight and thick they often sound like more than just four parts. Given the theater’s size and the extremely bright and light vocal tone endemic to the age, the actors must stay relatively married to their microphone stands, but the remarkable sounds are well worth the limited staging permutations. Choreography by Thompson adds dynamism to the standing-in-a-line conundrum, although the minutely different gestures prove daunting to recall and enact in unison. As of the press opening, the movement needed a little more time to solidify (which is understandable in a two-hour production with no less than a few dozen numbers); however, this capable ensemble weathers its gaffes with finesse.
Although the group numbers prove some of the most rewarding, the marvel of the cast’s collective sound should not discount the actors’ individual work. Harmon brings infectious energy to a revival-style tune that blows the lid off the more exacting confinements of the show’s distinctive sound. Lambert’s abilities best fit the material in his capacity as a crooner; a mild stiffness pervades some of his other pursuits. The effusive Dobbs is stunning in a number that clearly honors Judy Garland without falling to imitation. However, for sheer enjoyment and range, Joseph proved to be this reviewer’s favorite, in a performance darting from bedroom eyes to beatnik hilarity to stoic patriotism with equal skill and pleasure.
Not only a Christmas show, not as buttoned-up as a concert performance, the primary success of The All Night Strut Holiday Show is in fondly recalling a cherished age in music and reawakening the best of its lively spirit. Viewers not in the Christmas mood may prefer the first half to the second, or they may find themselves won over by the rising festive spirit that builds on the production’s unswerving musical bounty.