Review: LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES at Broadway Palm

Broadway Palm kicks off its 26th season with Let's Go to the Movies, a revue created, written, directed, and choreographed by Victor Legarreta. The show is loosely organized (with 'loosely' being the operative word) into three sections: Classic Hollywood, Imagination, and Movie Musicals.

The six performers must have been cast primarily for their singing. Oh, most of them can do a pretty decent time step, but the choreography leans heavily toward the box step. The singing, however, is phenomenal. Sarah Cammarata, Erica Clare, Kira Galindo, Chris Duir, Chasdan Ross Mike and Chris Trimboli all shine whether as soloists, in duets, or in choral singing of the whole ensemble. Kudos to whomever did the arrangements.

At the opening of the show, two large screens on either side of the stage show a montage of all the female stars of the 1930s and 1940s. The music is mostly from that era, although Legarreta throws in a recreation of the legendary Barbra Streisand/Judy Garland duet of "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Forget Your Troubles-C'mon Get Happy" that actually occurred on Garland's television show in 1963. We get another homage to Garland with "Trolley Song." My favorite song in this section was "Triplets" from The Band Wagon featuring huge high chairs and oversize baby bottles.

The second act proved to be a bit more cohesive. The Imagination section of the show included three crowd pleasing duets from animated movies. It took just the opening notes of the introduction to "Somewhere Out There" to draw a collective sigh from the audience. Lovely renditions of "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Whole New World" followed.

Legarreta never met a sight gag he didn't like, and the Move Musicals section had a couple doozies. I laughed throughout the entirety of "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago as the three male cast members portrayed the 'grieving' widows. I won't spoil the fun by describing the others.

One of the most impressive parts of this section didn't involve singing at all. The six performers bounced their way through the train scene of Music Man with impeccable timing and diction.

Legarreta's says in his program notes that he wanted the show to help us forget the day to day "Stuff" that brings us down. He succeeded.

Let's Go to the Movies runs through September 29. For tickets, call 239.278.4422.