GAY MUSICAL REVUE

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27873, 23 January 1956, Page 16

GAY MUSICAL REVUE

“HARLEM BLACKBIRDS’’ OPENS

A large audience left the Theatre Royal on Saturday evening with memories of noisy good fun and amazement at the suppleness of the dancers in the “Harlem Blackbirds,” the coloured musical revue which began its seven-night Christchurch season.

Boogie woogie, swing and polished but vigorous dancing were the main items on the bill of fare offered by the Negro compere Snd producer, Larry Steele; but they were interspersed by ballet items where enthusiasm compensated for any lack of precision and humorous sketches with subtlety which did not tax the imagination. The ebullient singer, Mabel Scott, known for her recordings, is billed as one of the main stars of the show; and devotees of the blues and swing found themselves thoroughly in accord with the billing. In the Betty Hutton style, Miss Scotf*’ captured the audience and they would have had her on the stage much longer. The keyboard of a grand piano is the happy playground of Maurice Rocco, the boogie pianist who spurns the piano stool. It may have been an accident that first caused him to play standing up; it is no wonder that he continues the practice. A stool would merely be an encumbrance for .his acrobatic feet, which play a big complementary part to his nimble fingers. The throbbing boogie woogie demands of Rocco robust activity, and, along with his dancing colleagues, he must have had a fellow' feeling for firefighters during Canterbury’s heat wave. As a peaceful interlude, Rocco gave a pleasing presentation of two popular classics. Ably backed up by the Four Moroccos, a male quartet, Miss Scott and Maurice Rocco provided the musical entertainment, but dancers provided most of the rest of the programme. Not for a long time has Christchurch seen anything quite so entertaining as Peter Ray’s solo dance. His ability to balance a loaded tea tray on his head while he performs seemingly incredible dancing gymnastics earned hand-tingling applause. Leonard and Leonard, tall, handsome and with the other qualification unavoidable, go through their tap and acrobatic dancing routine with practised precision. Their dancing calls for unflagging vigour. They provide all that. At times lugubrious, at others cheerful, Dewey (“Pigmeat”) Markham, is the revue’s main comedian; but he. had efficient supporters in the dwarflike Freddie and vivacious Flo. . Those are the artists, but it is Larry Steele who keeps the show moving quickly, acts as an admirable foil for “Pigmeat,” sings a calypso, provides off-stage voices and generally shows his influence throughout the production. Gene Kee and his orchestra do not appear to know the meaning of pianissimo; but then the show calls for stridency, active drumming and clashing crescendos. In the heat of Saturday, it must have been a relief for Kee and his men to play “God Save the Queen.”

Saturday’s audience was an appreciative one. When the curtain came down on the whole cast after a wild Charleston, one gathered from the sight of the broad-smiling, colour-fully-dressed dusky entertainers that they, too, had enjoyed the fun.