Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara, last year’s musical sensation performed and written by Vanessa Claire Smith and Jake Broder, is back in a revamped version of the show about the novelty jazz duo, Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Newly arrived at the Geffen Playhouse’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater under the direction of filmmaker Taylor Hackford, the production sounds better than ever in its new home, which has been transformed into a quasi-nightclub space that will have you happily mistaking Westwood Village for the Vegas strip.
I enjoyed the show when I saw it last summer at the Sacred Fools Theater (it subsequently moved to the Matrix Theater in the fall). But it’s been a while since I found myself swaying from beginning to end in my seat, unable to sit still as the terrific seven-piece band, front-loaded with fabulous horns, kept the room aloft. And it’s as a concert musical that Louis & Keely thoroughly captivates — the thrilling rise of an act and the inevitable collapse of a marriage told through the flowing feeling of seemingly improvisatory riffs.
Less successful is the way the piece has been dramatically tweaked here and there to resemble a bio-pic. Various projected settings, including a silly- looking golf course and a few new characters, most notably (and ineffectively) Frank Sinatra (a casual Nick Cagle), attempt to expand the work’s sight lines and scope. Hackford seems to be testing whether the material has the makings of another Ray, the Oscar-winning film he directed on the life of singer Ray Charles. (It might, but a movie would entail starting from scratch.)
The strength of Louis & Keely doesn’t lie in its narrative (or potential cinematic) breadth but rather in its performance intensity. The good news is that, despite the groping around for new dramatic possibilities, Hackford is loyal to the work’s theatrical core. The newly added clumsy scenes replacing the old clumsy scenes aren’t allowed to overshadow that old black magic of the couple’s act.
Hearing “Embraceable You,” “Just a Gigolo,” or “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” miraculously clears the air of all the false starts and awkward missteps.
“Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara," Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood; 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Fridays, 3:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays; $55 to $65; (310) 208-5454; running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.
