REVIEW: Big Band Legends is big

Barbara, Sandra and Ann Mantini in Big Band Legends. Photo courtesy of Huron Country Playhouse.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News GRAND BEND – Somewhere around the time Barbara Mantini gives a sassy version of Mambo Italiano, it becomes apparent Big Band Legends is, well, a big production.

It’s got a nine-piece band, six stunning singers in tuxedos and pleated dresses, and two elegant dancers who perform music that

Michael Kilinger, Eddie Glen and Michael Vanhevel. Photo courtesy of Huron Country Playhouse.

marches through the glory days of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Gene Autry, Dinah Shore, Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka, Marry Manilow, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney and the like, all against a backdrop of three panels that serve as screens to reflect images of the singer or show screens from the era while the back wall turns rich shades of red, blue and other colours, in the world premiere last night of a production created by artistic director Alex Mustakas.

Big Bands Legends is the fifth instalment in the Legends series created by Mustakas, following a tried and true recipe of popular music mixed with a dollop of dancing, like the stunning mumbo performed by Kimberley O’Neill and Jesse Weafer, and a dash of comedy, particularly in Eddie Glen’s playful rendition of Danny Kaye’s Tongue Twisters.

There’s no script, no story for this show, just more than two hours of music that will appeal to an over-60 crowd or children of that crowd who grew up with big band music in the house. In fact, some of the slapstick humour is reminiscent of a Sunday evening Wayne and Shuster variety special, like an exchange between Eddie Glen and a bald band member who ends up wearing an ill-fitting black wig.

Seasoned crooner Michael Kinninger is obviously the veteran in the trio of men, demonstrating a particular ease in Dean Martin’s Ain’t That a Kick in the Head. But it’s Grand Bend’s Michael Vanhevel who brims with potential in his debut with Drayton Entertainment. When the two give their version of Play a Simple Melody, a song recorded in 1950 by Bing and Gary Crosby that runs two melodies and separate lyrics, they are a delightful combination.

The Mantini Sisters – Sandra, Barbara and Ann – are wonderful in harmony and yet each is quite stunning on her own, like Barbara Mantini’s sizzling version of Ella Fitzgerald’ Gypsy in my Soul, a fun and sassy performance punctuated by clipped body movements in time with single piano notes.

A tight stage that’s already holding a band of brass, strings and percussion, plus a lovely piano, is enhanced by three podiums to highlight singers, but kudos must be given for stage blocking, especially notable when Glen rides his horse on a stick through the dancers in Ghost Riders in the Sky.

In this opening night, there were a few occasions when voices didn’t reach the right notes and overzealous light rotations caught people in the audience directly in the eyes, but hopefully the kinks will work themselves out along the way.

Big Band Legends is sponsored by Geo-Teck Heating and Cooling Ltd. Media Sponsors are AM 980 and The London Free Press. Design Sponsor is Burnside. Orchestra Sponsor is Music Plus Corporation.

Big Band Legends plays eight shows a week through July 14. Tickets can be purchased online, in person at the Huron Country Playhouse Box Office, or by calling 519-238-6000 or toll free 1-855-drayton (372-9866).