'I Love a Piano': Far From Well Tuned

How does one attempt to do justice to the songbook of Irving Berlin?

Volume, volume, volume.

Nearly 60 melodies by the star-spangled tunesmith are crammed into "Irving Berlin's I Love a Piano," the cheerfully undistinguished revue stopping until the middle of the month at Lincoln Theatre, under the auspices of Arena Stage. To give you a sense of the breadth of Berlin's productivity, this rollout of titles -- from "Blue Skies" to "Puttin' on the Ritz" to "There's No Business Like Show Business" -- encompasses less than 2 percent of the output of the songwriter, whose inexhaustible fingers and mind didn't come to rest until his death in 1989, at age 101.

Stuffing a two-hour show with as many signature songs as possible seems the chief mission of "I Love a Piano," which belongs in the Costco wing of musical theater: It distributes no-frills numbers in bulk. You get bundle after bundle of Berlin favorites, herded into epochal medleys, with sequences tied to Prohibition, the Depression, World War II. As handled by the six perky singers, the effort is encyclopedic but never graduates to anything more than a mechanical panorama.

This touring jukebox musical, directed and choreographed by Ray Roderick, looks as if it could stand a stimulus package of its own. The evening has the flimsy feel of budget-consciousness, as if the whole kit and caboodle had been loaded into the theater from the back of a minivan. The costumes evoke memories of thrift-shop scavenging, and the chintzy set pieces -- an enlarged black-and-white photo of Berlin; an old upright piano that cast members repeatedly have to shove on and off the stage -- are the kind of furnishings better suited to a middle-school multipurpose room than the stage of a major regional theater.

A five-person band accompanies the vocalists as they hopscotch across the song sheets of Berlin's storied career as pop hitmaker, movie songwriter and Broadway composer. Berlin was such a brilliant distiller of popular sentiment that his tunes and lyrics are now threaded into our holidays, pastimes and national identity. "God Bless America" was his. "Easter Parade," too. And "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "Anything You Can Do" and that seasonal fireside blockbuster, "White Christmas." All are sung as part of "I Love a Piano"; during the show, you do find yourself silently marveling, "Did he write that one, too?"

Schmaltz was in his toolbox, but so was wit. (In "Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," he rhymed "Reveille" with "heavily.") His straightforward style piggybacked on the musical fashions of the age, from marches to blues. Like other immigrant writers of his generation, he channeled a passion for the country into sunny morale-building American standards.

Roderick, who conceived the show with arranger Michael Berkeley, devises gratingly thin sketches to lump songs thematically together. "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything You Can Do," for example, are linked in a clunky sequence built around an audition. The six performers are given characters and vague personas, which they perfunctorily carry with them from period to period. (The between-song banter is pretty painful.) Roderick also integrates some basic dance steps -- a dash of Charleston here, a bit of soft shoe there -- into some of the numbers, but only the singers Ashley Peacock and Ryan Lammer exhibit anything close to the necessary athletic polish. (Peacock, it should be added, is a fetching presence throughout the evening.)

Most of the songs are delivered in unmemorable fashion; the group numbers tend to sound better than the solos. The only inspired arrangement comes near the end of the evening in a "double duet" that imaginatively weaves together songs for a quartet of actors.

Those with forgiving natures and hopes for a trip back to a bygone era of musicmaking will find some measure of contentment at "I Love a Piano." A more serious commitment to production standards might have made this a livelier entertainment for everyone else.

Irving Berlin's I Love a Piano, based on the music and lyrics of Irving Berlin. Directed and choreographed by Ray Roderick. Musical arrangements, Michael Berkeley; musical supervision, Stephen Purdy; set, J Branson; costumes, Sam Fleming; lighting, Stacey Boggs; sound, Demetrius Grandel. With Emily Mattheson, Alix Paige, Michael Turay, Jason Weitkamp. About 2 hours 10 minutes. Through Feb. 15 at Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. Call 202-488-3300 or visit http://www.arenastage.org.