Cuppa Joe
Dig on the scene at Smokey Joe’s Cafe.
Not every artist’s work is musical-revue material, but there’s no question that songwriters Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller are more than up to the revue challenge. Their own personal revue, Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller, won a Tony Award in 1995, and its soundtrack won a Grammy the same year. In fact, the New York Broadway production clocked 2,036 performances before it finally closed in 2002.
Now the Shadow Theatre Company is bringing its own version of Smokey Joe’s Cafe to the stage at 1468 Dayton Street in Aurora. The revue showcases 39 songs from Lieber and Stoller’s heyday, the ’50s and ’60s, including such hits as “There Goes My Baby,” “Searchin’,” “On Broadway,” “Kansas City,” “Hound Dog,” “Love Potion No. 9” and “Stand By Me.” Smokey Joe’s Cafe opens tonight and runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through March 14; tickets are $40 tonight (which includes a pre-show reception at 6 p.m.) and $15 to $26 thereafter. For information, call 720-857-8000 or visit www.shadowtheatre.com.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Starts: Feb. 12. Continues through March 14, 2009
