Open Door back with ‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe’

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The cast of “Smokey Joe’s Café” includes (front row) Missy Karle, Reneisha Jenkins and Nelson Green and (back row) Rudy Foster, Qiana McNary, Christine Perkins and Mario Mazzetti.

Updated: January 23, 2012 4:26AM

Oak Park’s resilient Open Door Repertory Company, having overcome a number of obstacles that would have threatened the survival of a less determined organization, might very well call itself The Little Theater Company That Could.

The feisty community theater group took the wraps off its intimate new 73-seat permanent performance space at 902 S. Ridgeland Ave. on Oct. 21 with the long-awaited opening of its first show in 32 months, “Smokey Joe’s Café: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller.”

During the lengthy transition, Open Door had faced a host of stumbling blocks both in finding the right location as well as bringing it up to code.

More tribulation struck days before its inaugural production when illness depleted director/choreographer McKinley Johnson’s cast, sidelining one of its eight members, for whom there was no understudy.

In show business tradition, the remaining promising young ensemble — Reneisha Jenkins, Missy Karle, Qiana McNary, Christine Perkins, Rudy Foster, Nelson Green II and Mario Mazzetti — soldiered on.

If the audience noticed minor tweaks to the revue’s playlist, no one was taking umbrage. Though some of the dance numbers, while well executed, lacked symmetry the missing performer would have provided.

“Smokey Joe’s Café,” which debuted on Broadway in 1995, features nearly 40 catchy pop rock ’n’ roll and rhythm and blues songs by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, such as “Kansas City,” “Poison Ivy,” and “Yakety Yak.”

Anyone (from the Baby Boomer crowd to their parents) who grew up listening to Elvis Presley, Peggy Lee, the Coasters and the Drifters will find nostalgia embedded in this fast-paced two-hour revue.

What’s lacking, however, is any semblance of a storyline or plot. Instead, as the songs spin out, familiar themes surface involving the mercurial nature of love, heartbreak and human nature. Also, there’s a thread, “In the Neighborhood,” that’s loosely woven among the songs that recognizes the people who shape the lives of those they encounter.

Nelson’s expressive voice shines through in “Searchin’,” McNary pulls out all the stops in “Saved,” and there’s good chemistry between Foster and Jenkins in “You’re the Boss.”

Karle wins audiences over with her vulnerability in “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” and Perkins, later joined by McNary, charms with “Some Cats Know.” Meanawhile, Mazzetti, equally adept in serious and comic numbers, is a talent to watch.

Behind-the-scenes support came from a pit band that included music director Tammy O’Reilly, keyboard; Joseph Davis, percussion; Kenneth Smith, guitar; Jaime Martinez, bass; and Clayton Bail, tenor sax.

Prior to the move, Open Door staged plays and musicals at Hatch Elementary School in Oak Park for some 12 years.