‘Jersey Boys’ conductor gets ‘Kooky’ at library show

"Who Loves You, Kooky Baby?"

No?

How about "Big Kooks Don't Cry"?

Perhaps "Koo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ky-bay-yay-bee"? (Please accept our apologies, Sherry baby.)

Fine. We'll go with, quite simply, "Kooky Tunes."

"I was advised that 'Kooky Tunes' would never work in Vegas, it was just too New York and too inside, not the kind of thing Vegas likes," says Keith Thompson, the "Jersey Boys" musical director who is also the maestro of "Kooky Tunes," the comedy/novelty revue coming to the Clark County Library on Sunday afternoon.

"But the Performing Arts Society of Nevada heard of 'Kooky Tunes' and asked me to do it, so we'll see if the prophecy is true or not."

Imported from New York where he once made his home and living -- before arriving in Las Vegas in 2004 to guide the music of "We Will Rock You," "Hairspray," "The Producers" and now the tuneful Four Seasons bio, "Jersey Boys" -- the wacky "Kooky Tunes" is Thompson's cabaret-style invention. Led by its composer at the keyboard, it's a series of vignettes, gags and comedy tunes performed by a six-person cast.

"I used to write novelty comedy material for different cabaret artists in New York, one piece at a time," Thompson says. "We had collected enough material that someone said, 'Why don't you do a kind of best-of thing?' so I got a small cast of people together and turned it into a little show. It's avant-garde, in the same league as 'Nunsense' or 'Menopause: The Musical.' "

Joining Thompson for the Vegas version is his New York collaborator Jay Rogers as featured guest, as well as Vicki van Tassel and Greg Kata (both from "Mamma Mia"), Renata Renee Micatrotto ("The Lion King"), Jason Andino and Christine Hudman.

Despite its childlike name, "Kooky Tunes" is grown-up entertainment. "We have a bit of an identity problem sometimes because it looks like something children might enjoy. We do (the posters) with different-colored letters, but it's not 'Looney Tunes,' " he insists. "It was born out of the cabaret rooms in New York. It's a little sophisticated, a little askew, a little on the edge."

Gauge that for yourself in such bits and gags as the country-song parody, "Bigfoot Left Big Footprints on My Heart," as well as "Sucker," in which the cast attends a Suckers Anonymous meeting, and "Holiday Stories," the latter carrying a piece of advice from Thompson. "Maybe that's one children probably shouldn't listen to," he says. "It's about Christmas, but what everybody really feels about Christmas."

Perhaps the same advisory should accompany "The Dresser Drawer Blues," with its adult connotations. "I probably shouldn't even talk about this," he says, then promptly does. "It's, 'Baby, baby, I wish you were a dresser so I can dig into your drawers.' And it goes downhill from there."

Performed off-Broadway and in clubs from 1997-2004, the revue found its biggest audience in post-tragedy New York, now resurrected here in Las Vegas as that horrible event approaches its 10th anniversary. "After Sept. 11 was when it kind of took off," Thompson recalls. "I was out of town on tour for a little while and when I came back to town, everybody was saying, 'Bring "Kooky Tunes" over here, we need to laugh.' That's what made it hop into high gear."

Can we suggest some "Kooky" additions, Mr. Jersey Boy?

Maybe "Can't Take My Kooky Eyes Off You"? Perhaps "Tell It To the Kook"? Last chance -- "Walk Like a Kook"?

No? Fine. We'll leave it in your professional hands, Mr. T.

You are, after all, the Kook in Chief.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.