Oh yes, it's The Great Pretenders

THE GREAT PRETENDERS, now on at the Guild Theatre.

A HARD DAY'S driving, a breakdown en route, a last minute set up, a scrappy soundcheck and no time to relax and focus before the show -- these are a touring company's nightmare and more than enough to knock the wind out of any performer's sails.

Not so for the irrepressible Jason Jay King, the ultimate old style MC with the Mirror International voice. He is the ringmaster, quick-stepping and side-kicking and always standing strong in the centre of the show.

His troupe of Great Pretenders, however, are not quite as resilient

So the show got off to a slow start.

They were still setting up the stage when 20h00 ticked by on the Guild Theatre's clock, and it was 20h30 when the audience was admitted to the auditorium to be lulled by piped elevator-friendly crooning while gazing upon the glitzy set -- paisley filigree flats and a shimmering gold curtain -- and the ghostly figures flitted backstage tending to final touches.

Small wonder, then, that the Pretenders were not at their sparkling best to start off with. None of the three women and four men are at their ease for the opening number, confused and combating shoddy sound production, and afterwards they leave the stage terribly empty.

But all is not lost, as a fanfare announces the arrival of (drum roll) Jason Jay King, showman supreme, to get The Great Pretenders into gear.

He introduces the show with a bit of background to The Great Pretenders, taking the audience back to the days of District Six, and specifically the copycat singers who used to frequent night spots such as the Star Bioscope -- "our own Carnegie Hall".

Enter "The Corner Boys", with their tired humour, tight harmonies, loose routines, and doo-wop backing for Blue Moon and I Only Have Eyes for You, and the show begins to take on a different character altogether.

Gradually the group gets into its stride, first the charming Smiley, then the glamorous Tracey, Dennis the smoothie, and warbling motown mama Molly, and eventually the whole group.

Singing at the Star is a theme that runs through the show, evoking nostalgia for a bygone era which many members of the audience never knew. But music and laughter are universal, and even at those times when performances are less than perfect, the memories make everything all right.

It's a meandering musical journey touching on, "the '20s, the '30s, the '40s, the '50s, the '60s, the '70s, the '80s and even the '90s" according to King.

In three hours or so on stage The Great Pretenders cover material from sources as diverse as Cape Flats Karnaval, Bond themes, The Andrews Sisters and R Kelly.

There are some intriguing takes on classics such as an R&B ballad Climb Every Mountain, Under the Boardwalk as a disco number and the Luther Vandross versions of The Impossible Dream and Evergreen.

Medleys include tributes to Engelbert Humperdinck, Sister Act, The Platters, The Drifters, Shirley Bassey, Neil Sedaka, The Supremes and the other King, Elvis Presley, a la Jason Jay.

A bit of dancing and countless costume changes add extra colour and character.

And to top it off there is Jason Jay King's informative and entertaining high speed patter, accomplished and untouchable.

Could anyone else come out with "... Placido Domingo, one of The Three Tenors along with Luciano Pavarotti and one other ..." without a trace of embarrasment? Could anyone else deliver dated, off colour and racist humour with such aplomb?

The audience love it, almost every minute of it, and their appreciation does not go unnoticed.

"You have been the best Monday night audience we've had this week," gushes Jason Jay King as his parting shot.

And The Great Pretenders are the best show we've had at The Guild Theatre this week.

David Whisson