Go To ‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe’ For A Serving Of Rock ‘N’ Roll

“Smokey Joe’s Cafe” Wednesday, Feb. 18, Spokane Opera House

What’s not to love?

“Smokey Joe’s Cafe” professionally delivers exactly what most people crave in a night out at the theater: Familiar music, broad comedy and truckloads of nostalgia.

This high-quality Equity touring company shows us exactly why audiences on Broadway can’t get enough of this Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller musical celebration. “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” delivers music that people remember fondly from their formative years; it delivers it without any contrived story or any dialogue whatsoever; and it delivers it at such a fast pace that 39 songs race past in less than two hours, and that counts the intermission.

This entire cast is easily Broadway caliber (many have big-time Broadway credentials), but the songs are truly the main attraction.

You will be astounded at how many of these Leiber and Stoller songs you recognize. Not only will you recognize the big hit titles, such as “Jailhouse Rock,” but you’ll find yourself nodding with recognition at the first few bars of “Searchin’,” “I’m a Woman” and probably a dozen more.

If nothing else, this show will help you understand how Leiber and Stoller shaped the entire direction of music in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. They helped create a little thing called rock ‘n’ roll.

Not always in the most exalted way, however. Some of the Leiber and Stoller songs are novelty songs, like “Charlie Brown” and “Yakety Yak,” which come from their comedy-song collaborations with the Coasters in the late ‘50s.

However, at their best, these two songwriters were incredibly skilled at writing songs that sound timeless, songs that tapped into the blues and boogie-woogie traditions, like the original “Hound Dog,” “Kansas City” and a sultry blues number called “Some Cats Know.”

That latter song is performed with feather boa and a sexy, knowing voice by Reva Rice, one of the standouts of this cast.

This show is so well-directed (based on the Jerry Zaks’ original direction) that the tight, effective musical scenes number into the dozens. However, a few stand out.

One of the best is the high-wattage “Kansas City” number, which captures the pure early-rock energy of that song. It may surprise you to know that Stoller, in an interview, estimated that “Kansas City” was their most commercially successful song ever (yes, bigger than “Hound Dog”).

The men of the cast do a funny, corny bit with “Poison Ivy,” complete with itching. Later, a backdrop of neon signs comes down, and the opening strains of “On Broadway” start up. Stephonne Smith does an exceptional job of making this song sound fresh and immediate. The song is so familiar, we forget that it tells the story of a down-and-out man who dreams of stardom.

The best comedian of the bunch was Jeffrey Polk, who stands about a foot shorter than some of the other men in the cast, but who is an irrepressible physical comic.

Alltrinna Grayson does an eye-opening version of “Hound Dog,” which takes the song back to its roots. As originally written for Big Mama Thornton, it is a saucy blues number from a woman complaining about a hound dog, always “sniffin’ around my door.”

The show ends on a roll, with the beautiful “Spanish Harlem” followed by a powerful version of “Stand By Me” from Alan H. Green.

When the band kicks into the finale of “That Is Rock & Roll,” the Opera House audience was rocking right along with it.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” continues tonight at 8 and Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. Call G&B Select-a-Seat, 325-SEAT, for tickets.