Composer Richard Rodgers teamed with two separate lyricists to form long-lasting collaborations that spawned some of Broadway's most memorable show tunes. Eighteen years before Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II launched their legendary partnership with "Oklahoma!," Rodgers teamed with lyricist Lorenz Hart in 1925, creating the first of 28 show scores together. "Rodgers and Hart: A Celebration" packs more than 40 Rodgers-Hart tunes into two and a half hours, demonstrating the breadth, wit, and glorious musicality of their remarkable oeuvre. Director Marsha Moode's lengthy production is almost too much of a good thing, but there are delectable pleasures along the way.
Five seasoned performers (Joseph Culliton, Susan Dohan, John Racca, Charlotte Carpenter, and Ann Peck McBride) receive top billing, and they generally tackle the cream-of-the-crop numbers. They are supported by 29 talented ensemble members. The cast is attired in Elizabeth Bowen's black-and-white costumes, best described as New York chic, befitting the sophisticated Rodgers-Hart style. Brandee Williams' choreography is spry and highly evocative of the 1920s–40s, and Eddy Clement's music direction and conducting are superb. Yet the utter simplicity of the show's framework—narration about the songwriters' joint career, followed by songs—ultimately seems dwarfed by Moode's attempts to make this a big production. Numbers that start out as solos or duets frequently expand into huge group efforts, as additional performers stroll onstage. This sometimes disrupts the intimacy of the songs, and the staging begins to feel repetitive.
Yet, the immortal R&H classics, crooned by top-notch actor-singers, provide many exhilarating moments. Carpenter's glorious soprano voice is in peak form in such songs as "Falling in Love With Love" and "My Funny Valentine." McBride elicits chills with the evergreen "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and generates raucous laughs as a murderous black widow in "To Keep My Love Alive." Dohan sizzles in "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "Johnny One Note." Dashing Racca relishes the romantic lyrics in "I Married an Angel" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." Golden-voiced Culliton collaborates fortuitously with Carpenter on "Where or When" and has fine solo moments, such as in "Spring Is Here." The show comes full circle in the final number, with a choral rendition of the terrific "Manhattan," from the earliest R&H show, "The Golden Gaities."
Presented by Downey Civic Light Opera at the Downey Theatre, 8435 E. Firestone Blvd., Downey. Feb. 19–March 7. Fri.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 p.m. (562) 923-1714.