Theatre VCU concludes season with “Smokey Joe’s Café”

Theatre VCU presents “Smokey Joe’s Café” in the Raymond Hodges Theatre at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 922 Park Ave., from April 6 to April 22.

“Smokey Joe’s Café” is a musical revue that celebrates the music of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, featuring 39 of the songwriting duo’s most-beloved songs. Leiber and Stoller met as teenagers, ultimately fusing their loves of jazz, blues and rock and roll. Performers such as Elvis Presley, The Drifters, The Coasters and Peggy Lee embraced the team’s songwriting in the 1950s and 1960s.

Nominated for seven Tony Awards, the original Broadway cast soundtrack, "Smokey Joe's Café: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller," won a Grammy award in 1995. The New York production of the show closed on Jan. 16, 2000, after 2,036 performances, making it the longest running musical revue in Broadway history.

Broadway veteran Patti D'Beck, a VCU faculty member, will direct and choreograph “Smokey Joe’s Café.” She is excited about the production. She previously directed and choreographed the show for the Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City.

“It’s going to be more than a musical revue,” D’Beck said. “I want it to tell stories, to bring back memories by revisiting the early Rock and Roll and Doo Wop era. Because of the physical and vocal talents of the cast, I’ve been able to make dance and movement sequences more complicated than when I last staged it for the Pioneer Theatre Company.”

D’Beck has worked on a host of Broadway shows, including such productions as “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Grease,” “The Will Rogers Follies,” “Evita,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “A Chorus Line.” She has worked with Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, Ben Vereen, Bernadette Peters and Rosie O'Donnell (she choreographed O'Donnell's opening number for the 1997 Tony Awards), among many other stars, directors and choreographers.

“Smokey Joe’s Café” is split into two acts with wall-to-wall music. The revue style of the show spotlights singing and dancing. Among the hits to be performed are “Dance with Me,” “Kansas City,” “Trouble,” “Poison Ivy,” “On Broadway,” “Yakety Yak,” “Charlie Brown,” “Hound Dog,” “Love Potion #9” and “Stand by Me.”

Performances of “Smokey Joe’s Café” are April 6-7, 12-14 and 19-21 at 7:30 p.m. and April 15 and 22 at 3 p.m. Ticket prices are $18 for general admission, $15 for seniors, VCU faculty and staff and $5 for VCU students with a valid ID. Tickets can be purchased at the Hodges Theatre Box Office or can be reserved by calling 804-828-6026 or by e-mailing theatretix@vcu.edu.