This Joint Is Jumpin'

Blues and Standards Power the Dynamic 'Dew Drop Inn'

Be prepared for some personal attention if you take a front-row seat at "A Nite at the Dew Drop Inn," a blues cabaret that's running full throttle, courtesy of Theater Alliance. Several of the performers in this souped-up concert take a highly theatrical approach to their music, sashaying right up close to the most accessible audience members and treating them as interlocutors in an impassioned conversation.

When Yvette Manson belts out "That Ain't Right," that ringing, swinging litany of male wrongdoing and female indignation, she stalks fiercely along the front of the stage space -- seemingly daring listeners to disagree. Were you to do so, you feel, your companions might have to scrape you off the floor of the H Street Playhouse.

Such is the no-holds-barred intimacy of this simple 90-minute show, conceived and directed by James Foster Jr. (and which replaces a dramatization of "The Brothers Karamazov" that Theater Alliance previously scheduled). On a stage that's bare except for the piano manned by Ralph Alan Herndon, Manson and her cast mates -- Kimberly Spencer-McLeod, Stephawn P. Stephens and Andy Torres -- let classic juke joint numbers rip. Cafe-style tables arranged around the rim of the performance area create an atmosphere of intimacy (although audiences can also install themselves in conventional theater seating farther back). The performers' black formal attire -- complete with fans and handkerchiefs for the women -- adds a touch of elegance.

Manson's flamboyant song renditions are among the cabaret's most interesting sections; in one number, she strolls along with a baseball bat, miming vengeance on an imaginary romantic rival. But it's the mischievous Torres who steals the show with his semi-talky versions of "Saturday Nite Fish Fry" and "Chicken Shack Boogie." A distinguished-looking gentleman with a salt-and-pepper beard, Torres milks the incongruity of these down-and-dirty turns, wiggling his hips with gingerly relish, knees bent, eyes gleeful.

Some portions of the show are a little more reserved. In a brief tribute to Dinah Washington, Spencer-McLeod delivers "This Bitter Earth" and "What a Difference a Day Makes" with wistful dignity. Stephens brings sufficient liveliness to such songs as "I Hear Some Blues Downstairs" and "Messin' Around," although he doesn't opt for all-out drama, like Manson and Torres. And Herndon doesn't limit himself to piano playing, chipping in with vocals for "Ain't Nobody's Business" and "That Lucky Ol' Sun," among other tunes.

Providing a respite from the blues inflections, Torres and Stephens breathe life into a classic gag routine by Miller and Lyles, a once-eminent vaudeville team. Otherwise, "A Nite at the Dew Drop Inn" is a show for serious aficionados of the blues and related music. Ticket buyers who fall outside that category will yawn; those who fall within it will no doubt wish the "Nite" lasted a week.

A Nite at the Dew Drop Inn: A Cabaret. Conceived and directed by James Foster Jr.; music direction, Ralph Herndon; lighting, Nicholas John; dress design, Erin Nugent. About 90 minutes. Through Feb. 16 at the H Street Playhouse, 1365 H St. NE. Call 866-811-4111 or visit http://www.theateralliance.com.