Theater Preview: DO RE MI (Musical Theatre West Reiner Reading Series in Long Beach)

GIMME THAT DO-RE-MI, BOYS

The 1960 musical Do Re Mi is about a would-be big shot named Hubie Cram, a wheeler dealer who just can’t make the big time. As his wife Kay says, they have 400 hula hoops in their garage and the phase has already passed. This time Hubie has acquired 300 jukeboxes; for money, he brings in three retired shot machine mobsters to muscle in the jukebox racket.

With the hit song “Make Someone Happy” and not much competition (even Camelot got fairly poor reviews), it managed a modest Broadway run of 400 performances. Headlining the cast were the incomparable comic actor/singers par-excellence Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker, the latter perhaps best-known as the mother on TV’s Rhoda. Do Re Mi was not top-drawer Jule Styne (music; his Gypsy was still on the boards), Comden & Green (lyrics; they wrote Peter Pan and Bells Are Ringing with Styne), or Garson Kanin (book; writer of Born Yesterday), the score still contains some snappy tunes and very funny stuff, as you’ll find out on Sunday June 3, when Musical Theatre West gives us a concert-staged offering that’s sure to please.

I can understand why you would hear about a “Staged Reading” and want to bolt in the opposite direction. Don’t let that title fool you; Indeed, in the last year, some of the best nights in the theater have been  found at these events. This is especially true of MTW’s Reiner Staged Reading Series, which offers in this, their 8th and final season, these one-night only concerts of rarely-seen musicals  with movement, astounding  performers, and a full live orchestra provided by Los Angeles Musicians Collective. You won’t even notice the lack of sets, the minimal costumes, or the fact that scripts are in hand for the dialogue (an Equity rule). MTW’s concerts have been  consistently enjoyable, and  Do Re Mi  will be no exception. And the tickets are only 27 bucks, so there’s no excuse to miss this gem.