You Never Know
Four stars
Footlite Musicals;
directed by Michael Moyer

Once a “big” Broadway musical, this cabaret version of Cole Porter’s You Never Know relies on a merry-go-round of six player-singers rather than high-kicking dance lines and power-punched choruses. Set in the 1929 France of the idle rich, the musical farce follows the sexual exploits of a baron and his butler when they unexpectedly change roles for the night. Their shared amour is Maria, a middle-aged maid determined to rise — at least in the bedroom — above her station. As baron to butler, Bob Penny and Joe Stafford stumble in early scenes but find their beat when the butler becomes the unwitting Don Juan and the baron serves his new master with desert dry wit. Penny’s superb voice (and one oddly arched eyebrow) makes up for his serious lack of physical prowess. Stafford’s comic confidence and singing bravado increase steadily after he slips into the baron’s evening jacket and pursues Maria around the penthouse. Like her character Maria, Cathy Tolzman plays the night for all it’s worth, singing and romance dancing like a flower in second bloom. Though Ginny Spillman has only one solo as the baron’s new conquest, she makes the title song a touching anthem of a woman unhappily in love. After Porter’s kitschy lyrics and easygoing melodies have flown from my head, I remain in awe of the core players’ seasoned vocal interpretations and dead-on delivery of a welcome stream of double-entendres. Through Jan. 27; 317-926-6630.