Arts Agenda - Moe better blues

Nicknamed “the father of rock, rap and roll,” Louis Jordan recorded so many rollicking, slap-happy tunes that any musical tribute only needs the flimsiest of framing devices. Which is fortunate, because the revue Five Guys Named Moe, the debut production of Jomandi’s 22nd season, is built on a particularly unsturdy skeleton.
One night hard-drinkin’, no-good Nomax (J. Samuel Davis) listens to radio in the wee hours and receives a visitation that’s either a quintet of zoot-suited guardian angels or an upbeat version of the DTs. Big Moe (Carlton Leake), Little Moe (Eugene Russell IV), Four-Eyed Moe (Rearcous Smith), No Moe (Julian Leake) and Eat Moe (Jahmal Adderley, the most gymnastic dancer) offer a kind of intervention based on Jordan’s songs, offering either life lessons (“What’s the Use of Getting Sober”) or what not to do (“Safe, Sane and Single”).
Despite the show’s audio problems, in which speakers distort and mics go out, the exuberant cast is hard to resist, frequently dancing in the aisles. The audience, slow to warm up on opening night, eventually sang along to numbers like “Caldonia” and “Push Ka Pi Shi Pie.” For the latter, two Moes dropped the lyrics, like confetti, from an overhead catwalk, then led nearly all the attendees in a conga line. Five Guys Named Moe’s motivational message may be a bit insipid and the white-tiled set walls rather ugly, but the players and Jordan’s songs are perfectly footloose and fancy free.
Five Guys Named Moe plays through Nov. 19 at the 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th St., with performances at 8 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 3 and 8 p.m. Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun. $20-$35. 404-876-6346.