|
The song-writing duo Mike Leiber and Jerry Stoller wrote the songs that could have made up the soundtrack for the 1950s and '60s.Their extensive catalogue of songs includes many hummable tunes, including "Jailhouse Rock," "On Broadway," "Yakety Yak" and "Love Potion #9." And certainly the names of the artists that rocketed to fame on the wings of Leiber and Stoller songs are household words - artists like Elvis Presley and bands like The Coasters and The Drifters.
Over 30 of Leiber and Stoller's best known (and some less well-known) songs were put together by producers to form Smokey Joe's Cafe, titled after their 1955 hit for The Coasters by the same name. What made this duo's body of work worthy of stage adaptation was the innate theatricality embodied by virtually each song's structure. At a time when many were simply writing bad rhymes with semi-unintelligible plot lines, Leiber and Stoller were producing little playettes with each song they released. These songs tell stories, from the more humorous tunes recorded by The Coasters to the moother sounds of The Drifters. They even took a crack at country when they wrote "Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello," recorded by Elvis Presley. The two started their song writing careers young, first teaming up in 1950 when they were both just 17. They instantly realized how much they had in common, both being R&B fans though they lived in predominately white neighborhoods. By 1953, Leiber and Stoller had penned what would become one of rock 'n' roll's best-loved songs, "Hound Dog." The version of the song that is heard in Smokey Joe's Cafe was originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton, and a revised version of "Hound Dog" was later made famous by Elvis when he recorded it in 1956. Smokey Joe's Cafe first opened on Broadway on March 2, 1995, at the Virginia Theatre, and received seven Tony nominations that year, including one for best musical. Touring companies have since taken audiences from Germany to Japan back to rock 'n' roll's glory days with the memorable tunes featured in this show. In its Sacramento and Music Circus premier, audiences are sure to be similarly transported back to the days of do-wop, drive-ins, and that great song-writing team of Leiber and Stoller. |