The Revue (review)

 Spoilers ahoy!

Kinda/sorta.

Imagine a pair of slightly over-the-top caricatures of a Broadway producer (Rick Batalia) and director (Matt Walker) facing the closure of their own beloved theatre.  They need a hit to bring in massive ticket sales, so begin to pour over musical ideas--sequels to famous films, versions of different stories, etc. each to the style of some specific composer.  Each one therefore (with one or two exceptions) gets at least a piece of a musical number appearing on stage for them--and us--to enjoy.

Now, this is a silly premise.  Silly, and let us be absolutely clear, very fun.  The Revue is the brainchild of Jim Dooley, directed by Matt Walker and brought to life by a startlingly high quality cast of performers!  More than anything, they most bear the responsibility of creating this wild roller coast that just keeps getting sillier and sillier and yet also better and better with pretty much every scene.  From a Jim Steinman version of Titanic Part II, a Stephen Sondheim adaptation of Dr. Strangelove, to Jaws a la Meredith Wilson, and the penultimate piece of brilliance I won't reveal save it is a version of The Wizard of Oz I really want to see, everything just keeps getting sillier but done with increasing skill.  Travis Leland, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Tiffany Daniels and Katie DeShan all give every single number their all.  And it works!

Over the course of the show, the zaniness and left turns keeps getting dialed up.  Not every number will be to everyone's taste (The Sound of Music II did not quite work for me, nor did Castaway: The Musical) but sooner or later most audience members--especially those who like musicals--will guffaw.  That is my prediction, and I stand by it.

The Revue as of this writing (March 24, 2022) has one more weekend of shows--Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday 3:00pm. at the Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third St., Burbank, California 91582.