'Louis and Keely' at the Sahara

Los Angeles, California – I had missed the award-winning musical last year when it appeared first at the Sacred Fool and then at the Matrix. I particularly wanted to hear Jake Broder as Louis Prima and, reading the reviews, anticipated the emotional dramatics and the musical interaction of the two who not only created the show but performed it: Jake Broder and Vanessa Claire Smith.

I saw it on the last night of the previews and, unfortunately, Jake’s voice went out. The understudy went on…and that was okay. I had a chance to see how an understudy steps in and carries the show, perhaps not the same interpretation but still a strong performance.

Film director Taylor Hackford had been a longtime fan of Louis Prima’s. He’d heard of the show and was so interested in the subject that he stepped in, brought it to the Geffen, did some reshaping and added many songs. Hackford said that Jake Broder’s performance was much darker…but Michael Lanahan stepped into the role on that night, voice not quite the same energy as Louis Prima but strong on its own. Voice, energy, unique body movement…he played a great show.

So bravo to Michael Lanahan, who stepped into Jake Broder’s part and made it his own for that evening.

The Geffen’s Audrey Skirball is small and intimate. You get two for one — a piece of musical history and a return to a great musical act of the ’50s.

The dramatic center of the musical began with a hospital bed in front of a nightclub setting. Louis Prima has been two years in a semi-coma, but the “old black magic” of the music starts, he snaps his fingers, rises from the bed and begins to tell his story. If the dramatics of this performance were a shade off — just a shade…not critical — the evening was a musical high, lifted you out of your seat, and I’m looking for a second view. I think audiences will do the same.

Prima has been a headliner since the ’30s, but it’s now the the ’50s and he needs something new. A teenager asks for an audition — a shy little kid with a promising voice. Prima sees her potential, begins to shape her and mold her…but it’s clear from the beginning — it’s to augment him, not to enlarge her.

Prima and Keely Smith’s stormy domestic drama is reminiscent of A Star is Born. Prima, top of his field but on the downturn, finds a young performer with promise. He creates her, weds her, she grows, she outstrips him. His ego is wounded, he is a womanizer. She rises, he falls.

Keely’s affair with Frank Sinatra, although historically interesting, was less effective. Sinatra’s voice and style are so familiar, and although Nick Cagle played it well…who can be Sinatra?

Sadly, Prima loses the love of Keely through his self-centered, ego-driven life.  Her career goes up, his takes a dive.

The heart of the show, well-directed and well-paced, thanks to Taylor Hackford, is the bounce, the energy, the familiar standards, the quality of both voices, and the audience is soon on its feet and clapping.     Lanahan captured his audience with Louis Prima’s signature songs “Just a Gigolo” and the lively “Angelina.” Keely’s songs, in Vanessa Claire Smith’s velvety voice: “Embracable You,” the hearthrobby “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me,” and the sadness of “Autumn Leaves.”

This is a very likable show. Bravo to Michael Lanahan. The understudy stood up and delivered.