Human Nature’s energy keeps audience members on their feet

Any misgivings about -- as it's too-often repeated in the show -- "four white guys from Australia singing Motown" are left behind if you look at where you stand at the end of Human Nature.

And that is, on your feet.

This isn't a rock concert where you start out that way, or a nightclub where only rich people get to sit down. This is the creaky old showroom at the Imperial Palace, an old-Vegas booth-and-table joint where getting out of your seat takes a real effort, and to let you out, pretty much everyone else has to stand up, too.

But there we all are, chugging along to make the house literally shake to the barnstorming, gospel-hour punch of Edwin Starr's "Twenty-Five Miles" and the Four Tops' "Reach Out (I'll Be There)."

And when the four members of the vocal group lead the way up the aisle to sign autographs and pose for photos in the lobby, people rush to meet them because real personalities have come back to the Strip, a place taken over by anonymous acrobats.

Good-looking guys working up a sweat are apparently as timeless as the Motown classics they render. Human Nature has good reason to celebrate at the end of this month, when it marks its second year at the Imperial Palace.

Not too many solid, medium-budget titles managed to land in those hard years, when a six-piece band became a luxury instead of an essential. No big promises could be made to a group whose '90s fame as a boy band didn't jump the pond to the United States, and where even Smokey Robinson's official endorsement didn't guarantee credibility.

But word of mouth has multiplied for these crowd-pleasers who stride right off the stage and on top of the long showroom tables in front, filling a shortage of musical personalities who make a big show of synchronized jacket removal.

The show has improved in subtle ways since it opened, mostly in the pacing. The group's strength was also its weakness: After 20 minutes of vintage '60s hits complete with the energetic, synchronized choreography of matching-tux groups such as the Temptations, where do you take it for the next hour?

Most of the effort has gone into finding some breathing room and defining the four singers as individuals. And I'm told, too late, after I already showed up, that I was a couple of weeks early for a new "singing around the piano" segment that will further enlighten the crowd on the lads' early years, complete with childhood photos.

As of now, the phrase "boy band" is never uttered. And no word is spoken that these two brothers and their high-school friends ever sang anything but Motown. In truth, they only embraced the label's songbook after running their inevitable course as a teen-scream act Down Under.

They do tell us their stirring, a capella harmony on "People Get Ready" was a cornerstone of their earliest days, and they smartly offer more harmonic moments without the band, such as "Just My Imagination."

The four have built-in variety, with brothers Andrew and Michael Tierney providing the higher registers to Toby Allen's deep bass, and Phil Burton's supplying the gruffer sandpaper when a tune such as "Baby I Need Your Loving" demands it.

The show is more effective as a whole than piece by piece, where you can start nitpicking that "What's Going On" feels a little rushed and deflated, or that the lads can't fake the laid-back cool that pervades the original recording of "I Can't Get Next to You." A couple more "deep album" cuts also could fight the over familiarity of the Motown essentials.

But Human Nature makes up any shortcomings with energy and good will, not to mention a palpable effort. If that's not good enough, stay in your seat. Or try to, anyway.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.