Porter House

In the world of cabaret, the team of KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler has become known for sophisticated, entertaining cruises through the ocean of music known as The Great American Songbook. These two regularly drop anchor in the musical harbors of such well-known islands of brilliance as Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and Jule Styne. Their latest excursion on the good ship Oak Room, the aptly named A Swell Party, takes us to the port of Cole Porter.

Unlike their earlier shows, which were steeped in amusing and engrossing biographical bric-a-brac, this one focuses more directly on the music. Particular attention is focused on Nadler’s often elaborate arrangements, which take full advantage of the sensational sax playing of Loren Schoenberg and the beautiful bass work by John Loerke. Indeed, one of the show’s high points is a lighthearted dash through “You’ve Got That Thing” in which Shoenberg offers a sax riff to replace the words “that thing” at the end of each phrase.

Sullivan and Nadler don’t treat the material like museum music; their performances of the various songs are vibrant and full of fun. Playful numbers like “Kate the Great” and “Well, Did You Evah?” sparkle like just-uncorked champagne. At the other end of the emotional spectrum, serious songs such as “Wake Up and Dream,” “So in Love,” and “Get Out of Town,” are also given their full due.

Sometimes, these bright entertainers get a little too smart for their own good, as in a long medley that includes “I Love Paris,” “Do You Want to See Paris,” “You Don’t Know Paree,” etc. If you love Cole Porter, why cut up any of the great composer-lyricist’s songs into Swiss cheese? No doubt the urge to include as many Porter songs as possible in the show got the better of them. Happily, Sullivan and Nadler only fall into the medley trap once, and most of their show is so joyous that it’s almost unfair to quibble.

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Not Worth Seeing

In the theatrical wasteland known as Not Clown, now playing at Soho Rep, you will find the seed of a good show. But that seed has not been given any water or sunlight, though you might say that it has been covered with plenty of organic fertilizer. Our advice is to stay upwind of this torturous excuse for a play.

The intriguing idea that died here is as follows: Clowns have been outlawed and so they’re on the run, trying to escape to the safe haven of Latvia. It seems that the angry clowns left thousands of banana peels all over the country, causing injuries and deaths, and the nation truly turned against them. This is good stuff; unfortunately, it accounts for only about 15 seconds of the 90-minute play.

The rest of it is self-conscious and entirely lacking in laughter or insight. The show is structured as a play-within-a-play, but everything about it is labored with the exception of Lee Eddy’s performance as Agnes. She somehow manages to seem real, but that’s hardly enough reason to see this drivel.

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Maxwell is Good to the Last Drop

The Roundabout Theatre Company has provided you with plenty of reasons to buy a ticket to see its revival of Joe Orton’s black comedy Entertaining Mr. Sloane. After all, it isn’t every day that you get to see a star as big as Alec Baldwin and a young actor as hot as Chris Carmack — not to mention Tony Award winner Richard Easton, as reliable as ever — performing in an Off-Broadway play under Scott Ellis’s crisp direction.

But while you’ll likely enjoy all of the above to varying degrees, there’s another aspect of the show that’s reason enough to attend all by itself: Jan Maxwell. This always original and exciting actress not only entertains Mr. Sloane, she thoroughly entertains a theater full of very lucky playgoers. As Kath, an aging, love-starved woman who’s just this side of crackers, Maxwell gives a performance that is at once hilariously broad and touchingly nuanced. She quivers with comic tension as she walks a tightrope that hovers between clownishness and cunning; she’s brilliant, as was Ellis in casting her.

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[To contact the Siegels directly, e-mail them at siegels@theatermania.com.]