There is a good reason why Twyla Tharp is, well, Twyla Tharp. She's one of the world's most renown, ubiquitous choreographers, and her unmistakable stamp can be found leaping all throughout COME FLY AWAY, a superb new dance-centric musical stage show now playing its Los Angeles premiere at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood for a two-week engagement through November 6. Conceived, directed and, of course, choreographed by the Tony Award-winner, this new shortened touring version of the acclaimed Broadway production features not only the brilliance of Tharp's dance art but also the well-known songbook and the inimitable original vocals of Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra.
A truly mesmerizing display that combines the thrill of Ms. Tharp's expressive modern dances with the timeless cool of Mr. Sinatra's confident singing style, COME FLY AWAY swells with an abundance of talented performers that move—correction, float—with electric purpose and agility. As dancers soar and contort throughout the length of the stage, the hard-working on-stage big band with its awesome brass section (led by conductor-pianist Rob Cookman) rockets through a nostalgic roster of Sinatra's monster hits. You'll hear some familiar as well as not-so-familiar arrangements of his iconic songs like "Luck Be A Lady," "Fly Me To The Moon," "Witchcraft," "My Way," "The Way You Look Tonight," "You Make Me Feel So Young," and many others.
Set in a swinging nightclub where love and lust blossom in varying stages between opposite sexes, the show eschews the traditional confines of a true stage musical, relying less on story but rather more on the wordless drama that inevitably develops among four separate couples and the quadrangles that form around them. The songs—and, by proxy, Sinatra himself—act as narrators to the action. One couple explores a tumultuous but irresistible passion for each other, while another extends an awkward meet-cute into a ribald, sometimes hilarious courtship. Tharp's movements and Sinatra's delivery make for a sophisticated combination.
Interpretive dance is, granted, highly subjective, but Tharp simplifies these narrative machinations as universal emotions that are punctuated by song lyrics. While a detriment to most shows, the fact that COME FLY AWAY did not have a straight-on storyline actually helps it be the free-flowing stage show it's designed to be. In this sense, the show shares the same architecture that was built around Tharp's last book-less, all-dancing jukebox showcase MOVING OUT, which devised a show around Billy Joel's songbook. But, I must say, hands down COME FLY AWAY bests that earlier effort unequivocally.
But as much as the audience is entranced by the hypnotic moving pictures produced by these amazing dancers, we also find ourselves tapping our toes to the technical wizardry that it took to have Sinatra's own pre-recorded vocals serve as the soundtrack to these amazing routines. The show starts with the moody darkness of a gorgeous a cappella intro of "Stardust" that then ebbs and flows throughout the show with buoyantly rousing anthems, seductive mid-tempo songs, and haunting torch songs—much like the rocky relationships explored in the interwoven "storylines."
The seamless sync between Sinatra's signature voice and the spirited live band is just jaw-dropping. His instantly recognizable vocals—crisp in diction and inflection—hovers over COME FLY AWAY like an unseen Deity lording over the action of our fateful cast of characters. It seems appropriate then that Sinatra's image finally makes an appearance as a star-lit illustration that gets reverently praised by the cast in the show's finalé.
The specific dancers that were featured at the star-studded Opening Night performance of the show are, unquestionably, true masters of their craft (each daily performance, it should be noted, will feature different dancers in the principle roles). Standouts include Ron Todorowski who plays Marty, the shy, love-struck barkeep who develops an adorable crush on Mallauri Esquibel's Betsy, and the gorgeous Marceea Moreno (Kate) who shares a fierce, saucy, no-holds-barred dance duet with Martin Harvey (Hank) to the tune of "That's Life" that had me repeatedly whispering to myself "wow" over and over again.
