Running at the Florida Stage Theatre, Plaza Del Mar: 262 S. Ocean Blvd, Manalapan, FL, 33462 from June 27-August 31, 2003.

Tickets: $40 Fri and Saturday 8p.m.; $38 Wed and Thurs 8 p.m.; and matinees are $36.

Call (561) 585-3433 for Student Ticket prices.

Cast: Justin Brill, Joan Hess, Jim Madden, Scott McGowan, Ellie Mooney, Lourelene Snedeker.

Directed by Ray Roderick. Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin.

An elderly upright piano sits by itself in the dark of Florida Stage’s current new production, I Love a Piano. It is a musical showcase that pays homage to one of theater’s most respected and beloved songwriters, Irving Berlin. As the lights go down, a band starts to play and a musical escape begins.

I Love a Piano is best described as American history told through music. The music of Irving Berlin, that is. The audience is taken from 1910 to the 1950s by showcasing a piano, which ages through the years. The spotlight shines on six singers who share some of Berlin’s most memorable songs of the era in which he wrote them.

Irving Berlin’s music owes some of its longevity to other artists like Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Diana Krall and Tony Bennett. Berlin’s work has the ability to be interpreted in arrangements that tend to be less theatrical than the 54 titles that are offered in this production. However, the actors who sing these songs are lacking the emotions that are needed to deem the production memorable.

Each of the actors have their shining and comical moments when performing a dance number or two during an instrumental bridge; but when left alone on the stage, they possess a paleness that makes the musical arrangements drab, lifeless, and completely forgettable.

The performances all seem to be monotone, overblown, and quite tacky. As such, Berlin’s music does not receive the proper tribute that director Ray Roderick was aiming for.

Overall, this production in its overblown cheesiness actually provided quite a relief when the curtain fell in a remarkably short two-and-a-half hours.