It’s a Grand Night for Singing at the Walnut Street Theatre’s Independence Studio, and it no doubt will remain so for the run of this cozy Rodgers and Hammerstein revue. Winding through nearly 40 of the legendary team’s tunes, this production is fueled by amorous intentions, driven by a quartet featuring three of Philly’s favorite performers — Jennie Eisenhower, Fran Prisco, and Michael Philip O’Brien (he’s also artistic director of the all-musical 11th Hour Theatre Company) — and Rebecca Robbins, a fine, flame-haired New York import and Walnut regular.
Originally presented cabaret-style by Walter Bobbie in the early 1990s at Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow and Stars before its move to Broadway, the show spans the duo’s career, from hits to hidden gems. For every “Some Enchanted Evening,” that best-beloved showstopper from South Pacific, there’s a lesser-known but no less-charming heartbreaker, such as Allegro’s “The Gentleman Is a Dope,” sung here by Eisenhower with just the right blend of sass and sadness. The Sound of Music,Carousel, State Fair, The King and I, Cinderella, Oklahoma — they’re all represented, plus more, and if nothing else, the evening offers a reminder of the breadth of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s declarations of love.
