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Entertainment

'Puttin' on the Ritz' brings best of Irving Berlin's best

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published August 28, 2005

If Irving Berlin happens to look down from above at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre's current production, Puttin' on the Ritz, it's likely he'll nod with approval at both the show based on his songs and the people chosen to sing them.

The show is a finely honed mix of Berlin's best uplifting, high-energy, novelty, romantic, sentimental and/or patriotic tunes: God Bless America, Always, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Easter Parade, White Christmas and There's No Business Like Show Business, to name a few of the 60 or so songs creators Joe Camper and Gary Wyatt chose. The performers are among the best dozen singers to appear in a single Show Palace production - after all, it's Berlin's words and music that deserve the star treatment.

These singers also dance and move and do smooth bits of Berlin biography between numbers, giving the show's songs context and even more meaning.

Noteworthies include Katie Kerwin, whose style and volume make her a ringer for one of Berlin's favorite performers, Ethel Merman. Hear it in Play a Simple Melody, The Hostess with the Mostess (from Call Me Madam, which was written for Merman) and You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (Annie Get Your Gun).

Another natural with a Berlin song is the dusky-voiced Sara DelBeato, who caresses I Got Lost in His Arms and All By Myself and makes chills run up and down the spine with an a capella version of God Bless America.

Lending the perfect comic touch is Matthew McGee, who teams with Ms. Kerwin on A Couple of Swells. He does a surprise bit when Lucianne Hamilton and Andrea Eskin harmonize on Sisters and ad-libs unmercifully, but does get a chance to show his legit side with the poignant ballad, How Deep Is the Ocean. What an extraordinary talent there.

The show has some gorgeous, tight harmonies (Berlin loved these) as when James John Mitchell, Justin Barnette, Lisa Katt Watson, Ms. DelBeato, and Tom Andrew do Be Careful, It's My Heart, for example.

And between the big dance numbers led by dance captain Eskin, there are tender, quiet moments sung by the fragile-looking Laura Lynne Tapper (The Song Has Ended) and the bell-clear voiced Ms. Watson (Better Luck Next Time).

Writers Camper and Wyatt take the show from Berlin's humble immigrant beginnings through his most prolific and creative decades, ending with a humorous dig at Army life (Berlin was a soldier, too) and a heart-tugging patriotic finale.

The uncredited costume designer decked out the cast in scores of colorful, sparkling costumes to signify each decade in Berlin's career (watch for those Easter bonnets); lighting and scenic designer Tom Hansen's backdrops and set pieces smoothly move this perfectly paced, two-hour show right along.

Berlin wrote 21 Broadway musicals, 15 movies, and published more than 1,500 songs. Puttin' on the Ritz couldn't possibly cover all that, but for Berlin lovers, the writers do seem to have picked from among the best of the best.

Puttin' on the Ritz continues through Sept. 25 at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson. Shows are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, and 1:30 p.m. some Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Doors open two hours before each show for cash bar and included buffet. Dinner and show, $41; show only, $29.95; ages 12 and younger, $23.45 and $18.45, all plus tax and tip. Call 863-7949 in west Pasco; toll free elsewhere at 1-888-655-7469.

[Last modified August 28, 2005, 01:14:15]