Theatre in Review: Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin... (York Theatre Company/Theatre at St. Jean's)Several decisions have gone into making Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood a cut above the standard songbook revue, all of them linked to one key question: How to deal with the sheer bounty of Irving Berlin's catalogue? Often, these sorts of shows are content to soothe audiences with lineups of the greatest hits. But Berlin wrote 1,500 songs, and even the most careful culling of his best work would keep audiences and performers up until the wee hours. Clearly, a strong point of view is needed, along with the ability to make judicious choices. Cheek to Cheek achieves this by way of a simple, three-step process. Step one: Find an organizing point of view. Book writer Barry Kleinbort has narrowed his focus to Berlin's career in Hollywood -- a career development that, in retrospect, seems written in the stars: After all, didn't Al Jolson sing "Blue Skies" in The Jazz Singer, kicking off the transformational craze for talking pictures? Certainly, few other songwriters ever toiled so fruitfully in the film industry; before long, Berlin's name was turning up in the title cards of his vehicles. It didn't matter who wrote the script for On the Avenue; you were seeing Irving Berlin's On the Avenue Interestingly, we are told that Berlin originally headed west because he feared his Broadway star was dimming thanks to competition from up-and-comers like George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hart. "He's a relic from an earlier age," a cast member says, wryly, channeling the songwriter's worst fears. "The grand old man -- nearly forty!" (Actually, Berlin, who lived to be 101, would bury them all.) But the decision to stick with his Hollywood years makes room for underrated items and rarities along with the expected evergreens. It's a selection that provides real insight into the breadth of Berlin's talent. Thus, we get the little-heard "Reaching for the Moon," cut from the film of the same name. (It was Berlin's first dedicated cinematic effort, and the score was all but scrapped when musicals were suddenly deemed out of fashion.) It is delivered by Victoria Byrd, who also makes a very nice thing out of "Now It Can Be Told," an alluring offering from Alexander's Ragtime Band. Kaitlyn Davidson does very well by the ravishing "Be Careful, It's My Heart," from Holiday Inn; she also finds the sincerity in "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me" from White Christmas, which features some of Berlin's campier lyrics. ("To send me a Joe/Who had winter and snow in his heart/Wasn't smart." It's piano-bar ready!) A special treat is "I Used to Play it by Ear," from Say It with Music, a project that passed through many screenwriters' hands before being terminated in the late 1960s by MGM. All of this makes for some mighty easy listening, but Kleinbort makes a telling point. The standard cliché dictates that theatrical talents routinely wilted in the Hollywood sun, turning out second-rate work while earning piles of money. But writing for films posed a new challenge for Berlin. Broadway's king of revues -- the author of specialty material like "I'm a Vamp from East Broadway," "Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil," and "Rainbow of Girls" -- was, suddenly, required to write songs that fit specific characters and situations. Step Two: Go into your dance. Berlin's film musicals were dance-heavy -- many of them starring Fred Astaire, often with Ginger Rogers -- and, since Cheek to Cheek has been conceived by Randy Skinner, the tap king among our current crop of choreographers, it only makes sense to tap into Berlin's terpsichorean output. The tone is set with "Let Yourself Go," from Follow the Fleet, which kicks off the evening on an ebullient note. Phillip Attmore and Melanie Moore step lively though the fiendishly rhythmic "The Piccolino," from Top Hat. Attmore, Jeremy Benton, and Joseph Medeiros team up for "Dance Crazy" from Easter Parade, and a more dapper trio of gents is hard to imagine. Benton and Moore lead the company in "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing," a routine that stands up against the Danny Kaye - Vera-Ellen version in White Christmas. Benton, by the way, has the knack of blowing through the most intricate routine as if casually strolling in the park, but each of these numbers, paced by Rob Berman's dance arrangements, is skillfully and joyfully performed. Step three: Provide the inside story. Cheek to Cheek is loaded with amusing tidbits about Berlin's career. We hear about the advantageous deals he cut with RKO and Twentieth Century-Fox, the latter of which ended badly with the Sonja Henie flop Second Fiddle. We also learn how Holiday Inn evolved out of a shelved concept for a truly terrible-sounding Broadway revue, how Fred Astaire's off-and-on retirement shaped the casting of several films, and how the awful "Smile and Show Your Dimple" was reworked into the classic "Easter Parade." James Morgan's set design provides an Art Deco bandstand for the five-person musical ensemble along with plenty of room for the cast to cut loose. Nicole Wee's costumes and Julian Evans' sound design are both solid. There are a few times when Brad Peterson's evocative projections (of newspaper headlines and movie posters) land on the performer's faces; occasionally, Jason's Kantrowitz's colorful lighting design (which artfully sculpts the dance numbers) could do more to highlight those faces. Also, a couple of the ballads could do with more incisive interpretations, although with voices like these -- aided by Fred Lassen's vocal arrangements -- it's hard to complain. And, overall, this is a fleet, effortlessly entertaining eighty minutes. Above all, there is the sheer astonishment that Berlin, who had no formal training -- he could compose in one key only -- and a minimal education, became such a master of his craft -- fluent with syncopated rhythms, seamlessly blending many influences into a distinctive musical language, and gifted at rhymes marked by an understated wit. (Consider these lines from "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket:" "I've got a great big amount/Saved up in my love account/Honey I've decided/Love divided/Won't do." The words feel inevitable, yet they still pack a delightful surprise.) As Cheek to Cheek repeatedly demonstrates, a remarkable sophistication is sheathed in an apparent simplicity; to quote another lyricist, it's nice work if you can get it. --David Barbour 
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