Cabaret Review: Deano's back and Dean's got him

When I reviewed Dean Christopher’s Dean Martin tribute show, “Everybody Loves Somebody Some Time,” at the Blue Strawberry last March, I described it as “rock-solid entertainment.” Christopher brought it back to the Strawberry last Friday (September 24th) and, after seeing it again, I’m of no mind to change that assessment.

Dean Christopher as Dean Martin sings "Houston"
Photo by Chuck Lavazzi

The show was, for one thing, largely unchanged from last year. With one notable exception (see below) the song list was exactly the same. Christopher still has Martin's vocal quality and loose-limbed drunk act down pat. Pianist and music director Joe Dreyer is still the perfect musical and comic foil in his role as Kermit "Ken" Lane, who was the real Martin's pianist and music director on "The Dean Martin Show"—a fact which will surprise nobody who has seen Joe’s own cabaret act with his wife Rosemary.

In short, everything about “Everybody Loves Somebody Some Time” that made it so much fun last March was still true this past Friday. So rather than repeat all praise I heaped on it back then, I’ll just refer you back to that original review. Same songs, same great fun.

Instead, let’s talk about what was different, focusing on that addition to the song list. The response from the audience, many of whom were clearly regular followers of Christopher’s show, was enthusiastic as usual—so much so, in this case, that Christopher broke with tradition by performing an actual encore.

And not just any encore. It was the 1967 Bob Thiele (a.k.a. “George Douglas“ and George David Weiss hit “What a Wonderful World.” Unlike the rest of numbers in the evening, “What a Wonderful World” was never recorded by Dean Martin.  But it was an international hit for Louis Armstrong—the first of the four (count ‘em, four) singers that Christopher impersonated with great success while singing it (the other three were Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and of course, Martin himself).

Dean Christopher and Joe Dreyer
Photo by Chuck Lavazzi

That was impressive enough. What made it even more so was the fact that the encore was entirely unplanned. Dreyer gave Christopher a good key (E-flat) and Christopher just took off with it while Dreyer improvised the accompaniment. Christopher does something similar in his “Rat Pack Christmas" show in which he sings “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as a dozen different Hollywood personalities, but that’s scripted in advance. This was purely off the cuff, which is really rather amazing.

The only fly in the ointment was the wireless body mic the Strawberry had provided, which insisted on dropping in and out at random intervals during the evening. It’s the sort of thing that will throw even the most seasoned performer off his stride and while Christopher coped with it gracefully (and in character, no less), it did cause the energy to drop at times while the sound tech tried, without much success, to fix the problem.

To quote a lyric from one of Martin’s hits, “ain’t that a hole in the boat?” Fortunately, the S.S. Dean Martin Christopher appears to be as unsinkable as Molly Brown and a fine time was had by all.

Dean Christopher returns to St. Louis this November and December at The Sheldon Concert Hall with his not-to-be-missed “Rat Pack” show; see his web site for details.

Cabaret, jazz, and other music events continue at The Blue Strawberry on North Boyle. Currently the club requires proof of vaccination and masking, except when eating or drinking, and tables are spaced far enough apart to inspire confidence. For more information, visit the Blue Strawberry web site.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Review: Memories are made of this

When I reviewed Dean Christopher's "Rat-Pack Christmas" show at the Blue Strawberry in December, I called it "90 minutes of rock-solid, raucous entertainment." The Dean Martin tribute show he did at that same venue last night (Friday, March 6) was shorter and less raucous but, yeah, still rock-solid entertainment.

Mr. Christopher is, as I noted back in December, a powerful singer and an amazingly talented impressionist. In that show he captured the stage personas of the core members of the Rat Pack as well as other period celebs, but for me his Dean Martin was the pick of the litter.

Dean Christopher
Photo by Chuck Lavazzi

Mr. Christopher looks nothing like the late singer/actor, but he has Martin's vocal quality and loose-limbed drunk act down pat. It took very little suspension of disbelief to accept him in the role Friday night, and the audience quickly began to respond as though he were Martin in the flesh. That's a neat bit of theatrical prestidigitation.

Mr. Christopher started the show in character, entering from behind the set (a large striped couch and the inevitable drinks table) introducing himself as Dean Martin and his pianist/music director Joe Dreyer as Kermit "Ken" Lane, who was the real Martin's pianist and music director on "The Dean Martin Show." He then quickly dropped out of character to talk about how he became fascinated with Dean Martin as a kid, listening to Martin's songs on the radio and watching his NBC TV show, which ran for nine seasons starting in 1965. "I didn't just like Dean Martin," he said, "I really wanted to BE Dean Martin."

Then he took out his one constant prop (a fake cigarette) and, in the blink of an eye (or swallow of "Jack Daniels" from the drinks table) he did, in fact, become Dean Martin. And credibly stayed that way for the next hour and fifteen minutes.

Dean Christopher and Joe Dreyer
Photo by Chuck Lavazzi

Personally, I always wanted to be Fred Astaire, but I can identify. I'm only a few years older than Mr. Christopher (Small World Department: we even went to the same high school) and I watched that show as religiously as he did. I grew up, after all, in an Italian-American family (my grandma's ravioli was to die for) where it was a weekly ritual. Regardless of what you might think of the rest of the "Rat Pack," I'd say that if you have any fond memories of ol' Deano, this would be your kind of show.

The show is jam-packed with Martin's hits and misses, including a trademark bit from Martin's TV nightclub act in which he'd start a familiar song and then turn it into a parody ("After you've gone / Who'll do the dishes?") in an effort to make his pianist crack up. Equally hilarious was a medley that turned classic tunes into paeans to alcohol ("Every time it rains it rains / Bourbon from heaven").

The hits included everything you'd expect: "Memories Are Made of This" (Martin's first number 1 single), "You Belong to Me" (first recorded in 1952 by Joni James), "Return to Me" (a big hit for him in the USA and Europe in 1968), Lee Hazlewood's "Houston" (the countrified hit from 1965) and, of course, "Everybody Loves Somebody," the theme song of Martin's TV show and the single that knocked The Beatles' "Hard Day's Night" out of the Billboard's #1 slot in 1964. They were all done with impeccable musicianship and in perfect Dean Martin style. An homage rather than a parody.

Dean Christopher and Joe Dreyer do Rio Bravo
Photo by Chuck Lavazzi

There were some audience participation numbers as well, like "That's Amore" and "Volare," both of which gave Mr. Christopher an opportunity to display his ability to work the crowd and ad lib in character (which he did throughout the evening). At one point, for example, he noticed a group at a table off to stage right in what had to be "limited view" seats. He joked with them about having the "cheap seats" and then made a gag out of looking back to the right periodically and asking Mr. Dreyer "are they still there?"

Through all of this, Joe Dreyer was a cheerful and elegant presence at the baby grand. Mr. Dreyer is a familiar figure on the local theatre and cabaret scene and has even done the occasional show himself with his wife, the singer Rosemary Watts-Dreyer. His arrangements were a perfect fit for Mr. Christopher, either as himself or as Martin. His voice blended well with Mr. Christopher's in a re-creation of the scene in the 1959 film "Rio Bravo," in which Martin sang "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" in harmony with Ricky Nelson.

Judging from the SRO crowd at the Blue Strawberry, this is unlikely to be the last time you'll see Dean Christopher on that stage. When he returns, I'd say early ticket purchases are essential. Meanwhile, for information on upcoming shows at Jim Dolan's classy Blue Strawberry, visit their web site.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Review: Christmas bells are ring-a-ding ringing

I think I found a way to lower my energy costs. I just need to figure out how to hook up my house to Dean Christopher's "A Classic-Vegas, Rat-Pack Christmas" show that played the Blue Strawberry last night (December 6). I'd never have to pay an electric bill again.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Dean as Dean

Basically a holiday version of the "Rat Pack" tribute Mr. Christopher has been performing with great success for many years, the evening is an homage to the kind of flashy, mid-1960s Las Vegas nightclub show perfected by legendary performers like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. It's also 90 minutes of rock-solid, raucous entertainment.

Make no mistake: "A Classic-Vegas, Rat-Pack Christmas" is one of the most creatively assembled, perfectly paced, and brilliantly performed acts I have seen on a cabaret stage in quite some time. Mr. Christopher is a powerful singer and an amazingly talented impressionist, capturing the stage personas of not only the core members of the Rat Pack but other period celebs as well. His "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in the wildly oversexed style of Tom Jones, for example, is as hilarious as it is accurate, and his take on Mel Tormé's "The Christmas Song" in the style of Johnny Mathis does a neat job of straddling the fence between parody and affectionate tribute.

The pinnacle of that aspect of the show is undoubtedly his version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which he admits is the Christmas song he hates the most, as it might have been performed by a dozen legendary actors plucked from Turner Classic Movies films. With only a few changes in vocal quality and body language, Mr. Christopher rapidly shifts among personalities as diverse as John Wayne, Boris Karloff, Walter Brennan, Paul Lynde, and Henry Fonda. It's a remarkable piece of theatrical prestidigitation that must be seen to be believed.

The core of the show, though, is the long central section in which Mr. Christopher recreates a Rat Pack Vegas show with such fidelity that you'd swear Frank, Dean, and Sammy were all on stage together. His Dean Martin is especially impressive, completely nailing the singer's vocal quality and "drunk act" shtick with set of lethally funny PG-rated parodies of classic holiday tunes. The Rat Pack set concludes with another theatrical tour de force in which Mr. Christopher's Jerry Lewis joins the rest of the Pack to sing "Winter Wonderland." The ease with which he changes characters with each verse is truly impressive.

The evening isn't all impersonations, though. Mr. Christopher opens with high-voltage performances of Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride" and "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" that overflow with energy and panache. He also jokes and interacts with the audience in true Vegas style. The night I saw the show, some of those audience members had apparently been hitting the wine list a bit too enthusiastically, but Mr. Christopher handled it all with aplomb.

Backing up Mr. Christopher is a seven-piece combo that delivers classic mid-60s big band arrangements under the skilled direction of pianist Joe Dreyer (a familiar figure on the local theatre and cabaret scene). Assuming I wrote their names down correctly, the members of the band (all of whom had solid solos) are Randy Holmes and Chris Miller on trumpets (with Mr. Miller doubling on flugelhorn), Larry Johnson on sax, Jim Owens on trombone, Kevin Gianino on percussion, and Glenn Smith on bass. Mr. Christopher insists that they don't rehearse, but you'd hardly think that based on the quality of their work.

The Blue Strawberry, 364 N. Boyle, presents Dean Christopher's "Classic-Vegas, Rat-Pack Christmas" again on Friday, December 13th, at 8 pm. If it's not already sold out (and it could be, given the size of the crowd when I saw the show) you won't want to miss it. Tickets for it and other upcoming shows are available at the Blue Strawberry web site. To learn more about Dean Christopher's shows, check out his Rat Pack and More site.