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Written by Michael Muckian, Contributing writer
Nov 4, 2011
Jon Peterson. – Photo: Courtesy
Jon Peterson felt the joy in entertainment slipping away, as talent gave way to contemporary, negative social expression. To remedy that, the English entertainer decided to bring back to life seven of the greatest entertainers who ever lived, to remind people of what they are in danger of losing.
"Song Man Dance Man," Peterson's one-man homage to some of the great performers of the past, opens in the Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret on Nov. 4. Over the next two months the energetic 50-year-old will re-introduce audiences to the talents of George M. Cohan, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Sammy Davis Jr., Bobby Darin and Anthony Newley.
"I chose these performers specifically because each man was responsible for inspiring that spark of joy at his moment and in his time," Peterson says. "This show isn't just a musical revue, it's more of a journey, an experience."
The 110-minute performance will highlight 25 separate numbers that helped each song and dance man define his career. Think of it as a musical history lesson that begins with vaudeville, segues to the great MGM movie musicals and settles with quirky pop-song crossovers of the 1960s.
Peterson even mixes in a little personal history from his days at the Royal Ballet and the Actors Centre in London, where he secretly longed to be Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly rolled into one. Peterson is adamant, however, that even though some performers were better singers or better dancers, each filled the role in such a way as to create the image of an indelible and well-defined persona based on music and movement.
"People ask, ‘Why not Song AND Dance Man,' but there was more to them than that," he says. "The sum total of their gifts was that they sang when they danced, or danced when they sang. Anthony Newley wasn't a dancer, but he inhabited his songs so physically that it became a thing of beauty."
The show's playlist is a "greatest hits" roster from multiple decades. It's also long on signature tunes, from Cohan's "You're a Grand Old Flag" and Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain" to Darin's "Mack the Knife" and Davis's "Candyman." The mix works better than some people might expect, Peterson says, because there is a great deal of connective tissue among the performers, each of whom appears to be part of a greater musical whole that connects all of them at the level of the song.
"I discovered quite a few things about these guys," Peterson says. "Astaire knew and admired Cohan, and he collaborated with Kelly and O'Connor. And O'Connor knew and worked with Darrin, who was friends with Davis, who performed the work of Newley. They were all part of one big living organism of creativity."
Reviews of past performances cite as highlights the singing and dancing abilities of Peterson, who was a New York Drama Desk nominee for his performance in "George M. Cohan Tonight!" Peterson has portrayed a variety of other roles on stage, including Frank N. Furter in "The Rocky Horror Show" and the Emcee in "Cabaret."
In "Song Man Dance Man" Peterson says he doesn't do impressions of his chosen performers, but instead attempts to embody them and take on the characteristics that made them who they were. Some were easier than others.
"I suppose Anthony Newley is easier for me because we're both English, and the subtle differences in the sense of humor to American humor are right there for me, but they all pose challenges," he says. "I just don't want to see any of these amazing people slip from our collective conscience."
ON STAGE
Jon Peterson's "Song Man Dance Man" runs Nov. 4-Jan. 8 at the Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret. For details, go to www.milwaukeerep.com.
