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"Route 66 Revisited — The Roots of American Rock and Roll," takes the audience from Chicago to Los Angeles, making seven stops along the famous highway, while spanning as many decades. En route, the AMT showcases its spectacular cast of singers and dancers.
Opening at Chicago's Southside Supper Club in 1949, Michael Minor performs Fats Domino's hit "Fat Man," followed by Michelle Mishler who does a steamy version of "Knock Me A Kiss."
Angela Birchett, in her second AMT production, wraps up the set with an outstanding rendition of "Down By the Riverside."
The second stop is the Cool Sip Soda Shop in Missouri in 1957, where AMT's bandleader Charles Ancheta proves he is not just a musical genius, but he can sing too, as he blasts out a terrific version of Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls Of Fire." Thanks to the theater's video system, we can also watch his flying fingers scald the piano ivories.
Todd Mitchell follows that up with Chuck Berry's immortal "Johnny B. Goode."
The Rusty Revolver in Kansas in 1963 is the next stop, where Minor, Mitchell and Wess Cooke do a fine version of the Four Seasons' "Walk Like A Man."
The highlight of this act, though, is Clarence the Singing Moose who, perched securely on Minor's right arm, gives Johnny Cash a run for his money with "Ring Of Fire."
The last stop in Act 1 is the Peace and Love Fest in Oklahoma in 1969. This starts off with guitarist Dave Pedrick's outstanding rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," performed à la Jimi Hendrix.
Cooke belts out "Bad Moon Rising," and his rich baritone voice is a lot easier to understand than that of John Fogarty. And Creedence Clearwater Revival comes back a second time with Birchett doing Tina Turner's version of CCR's "Proud Mary."
In a nice transition, Mitchell begins the 1967 John Lennon/Paul McCartney tune "With A Little Help From My Friends" very Beatle-ish, but ends the song as Joe Cocker performed it two years later at Woodstock.
Act 2 takes us to Amarillo, Texas, in 1975 and New Mexico in 1985, with such great songs as the Eagles' "Hotel California," performed by Mitchell and Cooke, and the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" (with slightly edited lyrics), by Mitchell, Cooke and Minor.
Randall Frizado, who tries to inject humor in each scene with varying success, has his best shtick here as Michael Jackson performing "Thriller," which comes complete with walking zombies.
The tour ends in Hollywood's Palladium theater. Here, in a very nice touch, Ancheta and the rest of the band sing, appropriately enough, "American Band."
By the way, each of the seven scenes sets the mood with a few lines of Bobby Troup's famous "Route 66," first recorded in 1946 by the great Nat King Cole.
"Route 66 Revisited" is another example of the excellent caliber of entertainment the AMT brings to Lancaster County. Its stellar cast of singers and its small but spectacular quartet of dancers are a delight to watch and listen to.
The show's set design and dazzling lighting effects help foster the mood of the show, and the costumes, as always, are superb.
This wonderfully entertaining tour through musical history along an immortal highway runs through Aug. 8.
So come on, and get your kicks on Route 66.
E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com
