PLAY IT COOL at the Acorn Theatre

(Seen Sept./2011)

 This little musical with a hidden agenda seems to strike out in all its attempts, except as a vehicle for the talents of singer/actress Sally Mayes.

Set in the seamy side of 1950s Hollywood, it's about a surreptitious gay jazz club, a closeted Hollywood producer, a young Southern boy just off the bus who's come to make his mark as a singer, a good-hearted but dirty cop with a secret life -- all the expected elements that frequent 50s film noir detective film stories.

But somehow, nothing ever comes together, and it all adds up to a campy version of a campy show.