Stage: The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman

Rubicon Theatre

Ventura, Calif.

(805) 667-2900

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Seldom has a musical revue so persuasively made the case for a composer, said Bob Verini in Variety. Cy Coleman, who wrote such timeless tunes as “The Best Is Yet to Come” and “Witchcraft,” was a unique talent with a flair for “melding pop, jazz, and parody into ravishing song.” Following “the Ain’t Misbehavin’ playbook,” lyricist­ David Zippel—a longtime Coleman ­collaborator—has crafted a classy ­90-minute musical celebration of the composer’s greatest hits, masterfully evoking the “jazz demimonde” in which Coleman found fame in the 1940s and ’50s. Lending two hands is pianist Billy Stritch, who stays “supercool at the ivories” in the role of Coleman.

Stritch embodies the composer’s “signature showmanship,” said Charles McNulty in the Los Angeles Times. But the rest of the cast performs well, too. Audiences will swoon with delight at Jason Graae’s rendering of “Witchcraft.” Graae may be “no Frank Sinatra,” but he has a “swanky voice” that is up to the challenge of the tune’s difficult phrasing. Lillias White, who won a Tony for her performance in Coleman’s musical The Life, “seduces with a readily available sassiness” in that musical’s showstopper, “The Oldest Profession.” My only complaint is that, because the show eschews plot or dialogue, it moves at a “galloping pace” that can make enjoyment of the songs difficult.

A lack of patter actually works to the show’s advantage, said Rita Moran in the Ventura County, Calif., Star. Rather than shoehorning in contrived or clunky ­anecdotes, Zippel “relies on the personalities and vocal prowess of the cast,” as well as the “smooth support of the band” to carry the show. The confidence turns out to be “well placed,” and allows the ­powerfully catchy tunes to speak for ­themselves. It’s no wonder that the 20th century’s greatest singing talents, from Sinatra to Judy Garland to Nat King Cole, gravitated to Coleman’s works. For ­different generations of listeners, The Best Is Yet to Come may be a “trip down ­memory lane, a reminder of ­musical theater gems, or simply a discovery of Coleman’s legacy.” In any case, they’ll leave humming a happy tune.