”Tintypes,” the 10-year-old sepia-colored salute to immigrants, Americana and mostly pre-World War I popular songs, is getting a sweet, lustrous, colorfully staged revival at the Set Gourmet Theatre.
After two years of original you-are-there mystery-comedies, interwoven between, around and even during dinner courses, the Set is turning to more conventional dinner theater programming, offering a show that comes after the meal, with a straightforward presentation and little audience interaction.
Director Steve Scott, choreographer Suzanne Avery and musical director Dan Sticco make good use of the Set`s cavernous quarters and long, flowing aisle. Without the silly participation business of prior shows, they still manage to bounce their performers all over the place, lending this five-person cabaret production a sprawling three-dimensional feel.
More important, they cajole a loving, impressively tireless and enthusiastic portrayal from the five players, charged with devising enough tricks to ward off the boredom of a two-hour evening and only a quintet of voices.
There are several dumb elements to this show, with its slight book about a turn-of-the-century New York street. Long-winded swipes at Teddy Roosevelt peter out, and a second-act pantomime, wherein the Jewish immigrant chases a row of skirts, is cloying, gooey stuff.
But the nice thing about Mary Kyte, Mel Marvin and Gary Pearle`s conception is that it`s short on narrative interchange and packed with about 50 musical treasures, the latest written in 1920 and most of them much earlier. The fare is a nice mix of bellwether classics (”You`re a Grand Old Flag,” ”Yankee Doodle Boy”), folk traditionals (”Shortnin` Bread,”
”Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”) and less celebrated rarities
(”I`m Going to Live Anyhow, `Til I Die,” ”She`s Gettin` More Like the White Folks Every Day”).
Lecresia Campbell`s silvery gospel vocals are the best thing about the show; when she turns the often frolicsome ”Nobody” into a stirring, rebellious anthem, ”Tintypes” quite outdoes itself. But the rest of the ensemble are talented, hardworking, infectious and indefatigable, even when milking the treacly sentiment that ties ”Tintypes” to the current patriotism sweeping the land.
David Mendes and Matthew McDonald are shameless in their deliberately dated vaudeville material, and the women-coloratura Sarah Worthington, Rebecca McCauley and Campbell-probably have no finer or meaner moment than when telling philandering menfolk where to go in ”Fifty-Fifty.”
”TINTYPES”
A musical revue of turn-of-the-century songs, conceived by Mary Kyte, Mel Marvin and Gary Pearle; directed by Steve Scott. Opened Thursday at the Set, 2743 N. Lincoln Ave., and plays at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 9 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Length of performance, 2 hours. Dinner-show tickets are $32.40 to $59. Phone 312-880-6000.
