There were two teams at work at Pittsburgh Public Theater Thursday night: Five Broadway-class vocalists matching one another for stage presence and comic timing and their silent but everpresent partners, the songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb.
The award-winning revue "The World Goes 'Round" comes to PPT as a show with long legs, stretching back to 1991 when it ran off-Broadway for more than 400 performances, then toured for 10 months, cementing its place as standard-bearer for celebratory revues.
This could be considered Kander and Ebb 101, but without dialogue, nothing to explain their frequent collaborations with Liza Minnelli ("Cabaret," "The Rink," "New York, New York") or the lesser-known gems that are a part of this "World." What it lacks in that connective tissue, it makes up for in the pairings and arrangements of songs.
Despite the team's mega-musical success with "Chicago" and "Cabaret," most people, even fans, will need to keep their programs handy for songs from shows such as "70, Girls, 70" and "Flora, The Red Menace." It's 10 songs into the show before fingers snap and Tari Kelly belts out "All That Jazz."
Kelly is a natural for the material, having previously played Sally Bowles in the Public's "Cabaret" in February 2007 and understudied the Liza role in "The Boy From Oz" on Broadway. Here she gets to channel her inner Carol Burnett, too, on numbers such as "Arthur in the Afternoon" from another Minnelli vehicle, "The Act." There's just a trunk on stage as she starts to sing of how her day builds up to her date with Arthur, who in the person of hunky Rob Sutton emerges from behind the trunk, wearing sunglasses and playing the cool boy-toy to the hilt.
"Arthur" follows on the heels of "Sara Lee," a comic love song to the baker of boxed treats, played with delight by Patrick Boyd, an accomplished singer-dancer whose Broadway credits include the "Grease" revival starring Rosie O'Donnell and the first national tour of "The Producers," which opened in Pittsburgh.
Boyd and Kelly end the first act on roller skates, courtesy of "The Rink," with Boyd in particular showing an ease that hints of some flashy dancing to come. He plays it a bit too nerdy to be the heartbreakingly invisible "Mr. Cellophane" (from "Chicago") -- although it's cute staging to have him first coax then chase the spotlight -- but he, with the rest of the "World" team, really goes to town in Act Two.
The show has been building on strengths, with the performers on a mostly bare stage working with just a few simple props, like the takeout cups in the hyper "Coffee in a Cardboard Cup" ("70, Girls, 70").
As Act Two opens, four performers jingle along to "Ring Them Bells" while Michele Ragusa, recently seen on Broadway in "Young Frankenstein," gets to spread her comic wings in the number from "Liza With a Z." She sports eyeglasses again for another laugh-out-loud turn in "The Grass Is Always Greener" with the delightful Rosena M. Hill. They mine the great Fred Ebb lyrics for all the humor of a celebrity and housewife trying to decide who leads the more wonderful life -- although they make a break with the 1981 original from "Woman of the Year" by swapping out Rona Barrett for a mention of Oprah.
There's a stretch in the second act that shows how a revue can work without the banter, letting the music and lyrics speak for themselves.
After Rob Sutton's emotionally charged "Kiss of the Spider Woman," three pretty songs about romance and relationships -- "Only Love" (from "Zorba"), "Marry Me" ("The Rink") and "A Quiet Thing" ("Flora, The Red Menace") tell the tale of a romance played out by Kelly and Boyd, with some help from their friends. They finish with a dance number that needs no words, appropriately titled "Shoe Dance." There's a tango, tap, a big kiss and then it ends in a waltz, with the pair finally collapsing, apparently in exhaustion.
That leads to the very funny "Pain," which could be taken as a playful parody of "A Chorus Line" with such lines as: "Choreographers, aren't they the meaning of 'S'? Aren't we the meaning of 'M'?"
Hill, who had opened the show with "And the World Goes 'Round" from "New York, New York," gets the lucky call on "Maybe This Time" from "Cabaret," which ends with other songs of hope in a three-way belt-fest, including Sutton on "We Can Make It" and Ragusa on "Isn't This Better."
Building to the end, the company performs a sinister "Money, Money," which as we know, makes the world go 'round, and "Cabaret" in five-part harmony. It ends with the piano pushed forward on stage and a globe on top. Cast members spin it, point to a country, and sing "New York, New York" in French, Chinese, German and Swedish before Hill hits on the right place, smiles a brilliant smile, and ends it with the theme as we know it from the Martin Scorsese film, starring Minnelli.
As a nod to that other team, directors chairs with the names "Kander" and "Ebb" are brought out for the finale.
The director and choreographer, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, doesn't resort to too many of the expected full-on Bob Fosse dance touches, although we know he often worked with Kander, Ebb and Minnelli. A few props, lighting tricks and costume changes were all that were needed so as not to get in the way of the performers or the music. Up next for Dodge, directing and choreographing the new production of "Ragtime" at the Kennedy Center in April.
The music is performed by a sextet at the rear of the staging area, with movable upright piano played by music director Michael Rice. When the trumpeter's mute fell to the floor during a quiet solo by Ragusa, it was a rare misstep in an evening that was mostly on the money.
Ragusa continued on like the pro that she is. As the song says, one day it's kicks, then it's kicks in the shins. Either way, the world goes 'round.
"World Goes 'Round" continues through April 5; tickets: $35-55; pgharts.org or 412-316-1600.
First Published: March 13, 2009, 11:00 p.m.