New York critics have given generally positive reviews to the new Off-Broadway revue Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood, playing a limited engagement at the York Theatre Company’s temporary home (Theatre at St. Jean’s) through Jan. 2, 2022. The show is conceived, directed, and choreographed by Randy Skinner, with a book by Barry Kleinbort, music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, and music direction by David Hancock Turner. The creative team also includes Fred Lassen (vocal arrangements, orchestrations), Rob Berman (dance arrangements), James Morgan (sets), Nicole Wee (costumes), Jason Kantrowitz and Ken Billington (lights), Julian Evans (sound), and Brad Peterson (projections). The cast includes Phillip Attmore, Jeremy Benton, Victoria Byrd, Kaitlyn Davidson, Joseph Medeiros, and Melanie Moore.
DC Metro Theater Arts (Deb Miller): It’s a highly entertaining world-premiere tribute to the legendary composer and lyricist that dazzles with top-notch song and dance performances by a talented cast of six. … From their featured solos to duets and production numbers, they never fail to impress with their outstanding vocals and harmonies, superb movements and flawless coordination. … With the passing of Stephen Sondheim in November, it has become ever-more-timely to honor the immortal works of the great creators of unforgettable American musicals. The York has done that brilliantly with Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood.
Lighting & Sound America (David Barbour): Several decisions have gone into making Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood a cut above the standard songbook revue, all of them linked to one key question: How to deal with the sheer bounty of Irving Berlin’s catalogue? … Step one: Find an organizing point of view. Book writer Barry Kleinbort has narrowed his focus to Berlin’s career in Hollywood. … Step Two: Go into your dance. Berlin’s film musicals were dance-heavy. … Step three: Provide the inside story. Cheek to Cheek is loaded with amusing tidbits about Berlin’s career. … Overall, this is a fleet, effortlessly entertaining eighty minutes.
Talkin’ Broadway (Marc Miller): Well, what do you want from an Irving Berlin revue? Some familiar great old songs, to be sure. Maybe some less-familiar, less-great old songs. Some historical context in which to safely house those songs and explain when and why they were written. And a bunch of vocally and choreographically gifted young performers to sell them. All of these things are in abundant supply in Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood. … Exciting, innovative theater? Loaded with surprises? Not really. But pleasant? Pleasant dialed up to a “9.” … But you know what? It’s comfort food, a dish that suits both the holiday season and these difficult times. How welcome are 80 well-done minutes of Irving Berlin? How deep is the ocean, how high is the sky?
Theater Mania (Zachary Stewart): The revue begins at the birth of the movie musical in 1927, when audiences accustomed to silence from their screen stars were serenaded by Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer. And what was he singing? Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” Berlin was there from the very beginning. … Despite its propagandistic flourishes, Cheek to Cheek is a fine tribute to America’s most influential songwriter. Even if you don’t know his name, you know Berlin’s songs. … Now that Americans are no longer consuming the same mass culture, can there ever again be a songwriter like that again? It will certainly take someone as gifted and prolific as Berlin to step up to the task of bringing a disunited states of America together in song.