"Well it goes through St. Louie, down to Missouri, Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty. You'll see Amarillo; Gallup, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona; don't forget Winona; Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernardino."
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The words are by Bobby Troup, written in 1946, but the song "Route 66" is more than a travelogue. It's a paean to Americana. The highway's 2,400 miles of open road between Chicago and Los Angeles scooped up a bunch of telling nicknames as it rolled west from its 1926 designation as part of the then-new national highway system to its 1985 decommissioning, bypassed by bypasses. The nicknames include: "The Road to Opportunity," and, from John Steinbeck, "The Mother Road."
Currently called a "Historic Byway," Route 66 inspired a TV series (1960-64), the jazzy Troup tribute song covered by everyone from Nat King Cole to the Cheetah Girls, and the 2006 Disney/Pixar animated movie, 'Cars." Now it's inspiring a new musical revue at the American Music Theatre, "a musical journey" credited to veteran AMT show maker, Curt Dale Clark and Fulton's Artistic Director Marc Robin. "Route 66 Revisited" takes audiences from a 1949 Chicago Supper Club to the present day Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Boulevard.
The music is great, although Clark and Robin offer no clue as to why "Route 66 Revisited" is dedicated to a road, even though they pay homage to the Troup song, returning to it in each of eight scenes set in soda shops, bars, music festivals and honkytonks. The show opens in 1949, which appears not to have been a good year for songs ("Fat Man," "Knock Me A Kiss"). In 1957, the show starts hearts pumping with AMT Music Director Charles Ancheta's burning "Great Balls of Fire" and Michelle Mishler and Michael Minor's rousing "Rock Around the Clock." A jump to 1963 showcases Wess Cooke in "Always on My Mind," while 1969 blows a lot of (fake pot) smoke with Mishler's "Piece of My Heart" and Todd Mitchell's "With a Little Help from My Friends."
The seven singers, four dancers (one of whom, Melanie Gaskins, is also featured as a singer), and six-man, onstage band bring energy and heart to the snappy two-hour revue.
Act II moves into the late 1970s with Mishler's amazing take on Blondie's "Call Me."
Then it fast-forwards to the 1980s with Randall Frizado channeling the late Michael Jackson in "Thriller," and ends at the present day Palladium with a knock-out version of "American Band," played and sung by the AMT Band. Frizado comes back to belt out "God Bless the USA," which gets the audience on its feet and feels like the finale, with the whole cast on stage.
But Clark & Robin don't end it there, tacking on a "Rock 'n Roll Medley" that has the audience slowly sitting back down. Having signaled the end but not having reached it, the audience is confused.
With its motor courts and roadside attractions, Route 66 was a microcosm of American culture, an icon of free-spirited independence. But "Route 66 Revisited" simply couples a timeline with a highway line, plucking patriotic heartstrings from time to time, but never digging into why "The Main Street of America" truly deserves this tribute.
"Route 66 Revisited" runs through Aug. 8 at American Music Theatre 2425 Lincoln Highway East. Call 397-7700 or log on to http://amtshows.com.
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