Revue’s a ‘Grand’ Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein

When you hear whispering behind you in a theater, your first impulse might, understandably, be to turn around and shush the offenders.

At the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue “A Grand Night for Singing,” however, it’s hard to bear a grudge against the whisperers, because they’re just, innocently, trying to place the songs.

Sample conversation:

Wife: “What’s that song from?”

Husband: “Um, ‘South Pacific,’ I think.”

You (thinking, in game-show-host mode): “Bzzzzz. I’m sorry. The correct answer is ‘Allegro.’ ”

But if you tire of the audience banter at International City Theatre’s staging at the Center Theater in Long Beach, you can always pay attention to the show itself, which is pleasantly staged by Jules Aaron and choreographer Lee Martino, and winningly performed by a cast of five.

A Broadway entry that managed a 1994 best musical Tony nomination despite its fluffiness, “A Grand Night for Singing” is a sweet little diversion that culls more than three dozen songs from “Oklahoma!,” “The King and I,” “Carousel,” “Flower Drum Song,” “Cinderella” and so on, and strings them together so that they map the progression of romantic relationships.

Like other musical revues, it is lovely in that it puts well-known songs into new contexts, enabling you to hear them anew. But it is frustrating in that the contexts sometimes feel forced, and they don’t add up to a satisfying story.

The show’s strength proves to be its musical arrangements by Fred Wells and orchestrations by Michael Gibson and Jonathan Tunick. In some instances, songs originally written as solos or duets--including “Some Enchanted Evening” and “I Have Dreamed”--have been turned into lushly textured choral numbers. Other tunes benefit from lively new settings: “Honey Bun,” for instance, becomes a choral jazz number, complete with scat lines that imitate instruments, and “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair” becomes a slow, sexy, jazzy number performed by the ladies as they flow through angled, Fosse-like dance moves.

Aaron’s staging plays up the fun, too. A couple’s romantic ride in “The Surrey With the Fringe on Top”--built from a rolling trunk and a fringed umbrella, and pushed along by a male cast member--is followed by “Stepsisters’ Lament” from “Cinderella,” in which two dateless women console themselves by commandeering the surrey for their own ride, which proves much harder to push with these annoying and supposedly heavier women in it.

The five singer-dancers--Michal Connor, Robert Marra, Stefanie Morse, Jessica Pennington and Jennifer Stein--are appealing and versatile (though ever so occasionally off-pitch), with the big-voiced Connor and the pop-infused Pennington emerging as audience favorites. The five-piece band, under keyboardist Michael Farrell’s direction, provides lively, supple accompaniment.

Lighting designer Tom Ruzika displays a fondness for dreamy, moonlit effects, which enhance the elegance of Bradley Kaye’s Art Deco-ish set.

Overall, the show pretty much lives up to its title, for it proves to be a grand--if not exactly great--night of singing.

* “A Grand Night for Singing,” Center Theater, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends July 11. $28-$32. (562) 938-4128. Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes.

Michal Connor, Robert Marra, Stefanie Morse, Jessica Pennington, Jennifer Stein.

An International City Theatre production. Conceived by Walter Bobbie. Orchestrations by Michael Gibson and Jonathan Tunick; musical arrangements by Fred Wells. Directed by Jules Aaron. Choreography Lee Martino. Set Bradley Kaye. Costumes Diana Eden. Lights Tom Ruzika. Stage manager Richard R. Chapin II.