No request too far out for singing entertainers in ‘Piano Men 2’
“Piano Men 2” is the rare sequel that’s as much fun as the original.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s new production, created by artistic director Mark Clements, has a simple premise. Singing entertainers Steve Watts and Kenney Green-Tilford sit onstage at facing pianos and play audience song requests, collected in advance and collated offstage by production coordinator Sydney Smith, who routes them to the pianists’ computer tablets.
This means that every show is different.
OK, you know you going to hear some Billy Joel (on this night, “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” “Only the Good Die Young” and “Vienna”) and Elton John (”I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues”). But Tuesday night’s enthusiastic audience at the Stackner Cabaret also came up with “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from the musical “Funny Girl” (sung with joie de vrie by Green-Tilford) and the Bee Gees’ “How
Deep Is Your Love,” with Watts throwing in just enough falsetto to make the audience giggle.
The excitable Watts declared the show a tribute to all the piano players working in bars, cruise ships, shopping centers — even the nicer Menards locations. As he pointed out, it’s a show that values enthusiasm over delicacy. That was certainly true on Tuesday, with Watts the boisterous cheerleader egging people on with arms, eyebrows and expressions.
Yet they found time for the genial Green-Tilford’s lovely performance of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and a sweet recollection by Watts of combing through his mother’s record collection.
Tuesday’s show was also not strictly a boomerfest, with Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off ” and the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” served up.
Tuesday’s audience gets an A-plus for playing along, singing along lustily (you should have heard their “Take Me Home, Country Roads”) and even waving Stackner table candles in the air like lighters at a rock show.
As I wrote in my review of the original 2022 production, I’d love to see a woman at one of those pianos in a future installment of this franchise.