STAGE REVIEW : Small ‘Broadway’ Entertains in a Big Way

COSTA MESA — The room is small at the Backstage Theatre, but the current production, an original musical revue entitled “Broadway Backstage,” is a big evening of unadulterated entertainment.

There’s nothing actually original about the formula with which “Broadway Backstage” works its musical magic. It is exactly what its title suggests: 31 musical numbers that pop like sparklers out of a behind-the-scenes theater saga rife with romance and rivalry and jokes about New York City. But Linda Ballew, who conceived the show, and Terence Alaric, who did the faultless musical arrangements, have strung their numbers together like an extravagant glass-bead necklace; “Broadway Backstage” is clean, colorful, and unapologetically show biz.

The audience finds itself in a backstage rehearsal hall somewhere on the Great White Way. It’s the afternoon of the opening of a big Broadway show. Make that a gargantuan, overproduced fiasco called “Amazon, the Musical,” which stars a gorilla, an alligator and a waterfall with a color wheel.

Oh, there are some people involved in it. There’s the indefatigable rehearsal pianist, Terry (played by Alaric); the sweetly exuberant stage manager, Chris; and the pompous lech of a director, Warren. And the chorus performers: suave Keith, feisty ingenue Cassie, worldly wise Vanessa and leading-lady-to-be, Jennifer. They wanna sing, they wanna dance, and they wanna survive opening night.

Nerves and nostalgia prompt our little troupe into a retrospective of favorite show tunes. They dovetail so neatly with the plot that it would be impossible to say which came first, the songs or the story, a classic backstage melodrama told with admirable economy and a delectable flavoring of earnest tongue-in-cheek.

No individual is credited with directing the production. In what sounds like the recipe for a real backstage drama, the seamless marriage of script and music are the work of a veritable committee of cooks, which includes (but may not be limited to) the following people: producer Al Valetta, assistant director Dani Ballew, choreographer Marie de la Palme, co-creators Ballew and Alaric, and Beth Hansen, who gets a special “thank you” in the program.

The performers (all of whom the production admittedly aims to showcase) are right on the money in every case. Christopher Campbell has a floating tenor beautifully matched to Jennifer Brennan’s open, golden soprano. Keith Wolfe’s juicy baritone and adorable Cassie Rowell’s piping, girlish lilt are very easy listening. Husky-voiced alto Vanessa McCambridge absolutely smokes through her bad-girl solos. And Warren Draper, whose deadpan characterization of a heel is a hoot, is Mr. Showbiz himself when he gets his moment in the musical spotlight.

The hero of the evening is Alaric, who accompanies all the singers on piano and has created some surprising (and gorgeous) arrangements of some all-too-familiar tunes, as well as many you may not know at all. The wide-ranging selection of songs and Alaric’s delightful stage presence attest to his expertise as a musical comedy man.

There are plenty of delicious details--the one-woman show notice on the bulletin board and the formal, second-act costumes so out-of-place in the Amazon--that widen the aim of “Broadway Backstage” beyond sheer entertainment, at which, admittedly, it succeeds so well. The show itself is a kind of satirical protest against big budgets, high concepts and sets that eclipse performers. “Broadway Backstage” is living proof that less is more.

‘Broadway Backstage’

A Backstage Theatre presentation based on a concept by Linda Ballew. Produced by Al Valetta. With Vanessa McCambridge, Christopher Campbell, Cassie Rowell, Keith Wolfe, Jennifer Brennan and Warren Draper. Musical arranger: Terence Alaric. Choreographer: Marie de la Palme. Lighting and set design: Peter Taylor. Performances Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 8 p.m. through Sept. 13. At the Backstage Theatre and Co., 1599 Superior Ave., Suite B, Costa Mesa. $15 to $16.50. (714) 646-5887.