Smokey Joe's Cafe Broadway production on DVD

With this production, we enter the world of the so-called "Jukebox shows"--with songs written not to be performed together, but for commercial release. Smokey Joe's Cafe offers the music of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two anchors of the Brill Building group of songwriters.

I find the Brill Building very interesting. It housed some of the finest songwriters from the Big Band Era and Rock & Roll, including Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Neil Sedaka, and a slew of others. If ever there was a building that deserved a musical unto itself, the Brill is that building. Unfortunately, for me, Smokey Joe's isn't the musical the Brill deserves.

Leiber & Stoller wrote music in the 50s and 60s. While I like some of this music, putting it back to back to back doesn't give me the variety I want in either a musical or a concert. The musical arrangements don't help. I longed for a slow ballad with just piano and bass backing up the singer, to break the monotony. Too much of the music seems to be at the same tempo. Does every singer in the cast have to sound like they're squalling for American Idol? I'm all for the Phil Spector "wall of sound", but once in a while I'll like to bang my head against something else.

Well, according to the Internet Broadway Database, this show ran for 5 years and more than 2,000 performances, so clearly I'm in the minority in my response to Joe. It's not the first time I've been in the minority, nor will it be the last.

Smokey Joe's Cafe The Songs of Leiber and Stoller
Music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Live Broadway production for release on DVD
Cast: Ken Ard, Adrian Bailey, Matt Bogart, Brenda Braxton, Victor Trent Cook, BJ Crosby, DeLee Lively, Deb Lyons, Frederick B. Owens,