A Night in Berlin the Jazz Age at Royce Hall

A man, dressed impeccably in tie and tails, steps up to a mike and, in a focused, rounded falsetto, completes the close, perfect harmony.

This could be a musical interlude from a 1930-vintage movie, but for a couple of days this week, it is the past as brought back to life by Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester, visiting Southern California at the beginning of a U.S. tour that will take them to Carnegie Hall. Wednesday they were at the Irvine Barclay Theatre; Thursday they drop in at UCLA's Royce Hall.

Raabe, in his Rudy Vallee-like voice, and his band have been performing in Berlin for more than two decades, and since 2001 they've traveled here to woo Southern California. Those who haven't caught them live have perhaps encountered them on YouTube, where their gorgeous re-creation of the 1920s and early '30s has been extended to include mock Jazz Age renditions of such present-day hits as “Lady Marmalade" and “Oops ... I Did It Again."

“A Night in Berlin," the program that Raabe and the 12 instrumentalists are performing locally, sticks to songs written mostly around 1930 -- songs that speak of love yearned for and found. Or that speak, perhaps, of a gorilla in a villa in the zoo.

This last is an example of the sort of German novelty number that Raabe and his compatriots present alongside such better-remembered tunes as “Just a Gigolo," “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" or, a song they perform to absolute perfection: “Cheek to Cheek."

“A Night in Berlin," Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. 8 p.m. Thursday. $32 to $75. (310) 825-2101