Platters, Coasters, Marvelettes mix and match in timeless showcase

If not for the video walls and computerized lighting, it might be hard to tell just when and where you're seeing a packaged showcase for the music of the Platters, Coasters and Marvelettes.

Matching tuxes never go out of style. Little round tables with candles in a circular nightclub are usually just in the movies. And speaking of movies, how many of them have licensed "Only You" or "Searchin' "?

Timeless in a city that isn't so great at timeless may explain this modest, straightforward show's longevity.

The trio of groups has made it five months in the Rio's round showroom, now independently operated as The Crown Theater. Before that, they lasted seven years at the Sahara, all without much marketing. They could nickname stealth fighters "Poison Ivy" or "Charlie Brown" for the revue's survival skills and ability to fly under the radar.

It's even more remarkable considering the world has no shortage of Coasters or Platters. No other names in pop music have generated more splinter groups and litigation, with Las Vegas-based former Platters Sonny Turner and Monroe Powell part of the longtime tangle.

The groups on display at the Rio may be several degrees removed from the original hits, but they have their own gravity now. Early Clover and Jerome Jackson come off like the real deal when they alternate lead vocals for Cornell Gunter's Coasters (Gunter, however, died years ago).

The Platters have three strong, seasoned voices in Tyrone Sweet, Christy Love Brooks and Gene van Buren. The latter had his own album, "What's Your Pleasure?," on a Motown subsidiary label back in 1982, so he brings his own smooth authenticity.

The Marvelettes these days are Paula Anderson, Farah Melanson and Tonja Foster, rising from the club's basement on a center-floor lift to the strains of "Please Mr. Postman" and pulling a random "Bill" from the audience for "Don't Mess With Bill."

"I have to put you on punishment, 'cause I don't like what's going on," Anderson tells the lucky recruit.

The groups mix and match singers for the opening and the finale, both a cover of John Miles' "Music." And each of the three reaches beyond the groups they represent, mixing in outside favorites such as the Drifters' "Save the Last Dance for Me" (Jackson sang with the Drifters for 18 years) and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."

It would be cool to see them shuffle the deck even more. Since they all share the same four-piece band, and hang around until the finale for a combined attack of "Shout," maybe they could break the long sets by each group into multiple appearances. That would vary the pace and make it more of a cohesive variety show.

The "more the merrier" approach could only help a very silly sketch the Coasters do in old-time melodrama costumes to "Along Came Jones."

The Crown is a room that adds to the show and at the same time creates challenges. That old-movie ambience with the tables and candles is a fun novelty compared with the theater seating of most venues.

But the lighting somehow manages to be all high-tech flashy, yet dark and gloomy at the same time. And the main stage seems so distanced from most of the tables, the singers really have to work the little pod stage and long ramp into the audience.

Not a big deal. Showmanship is not something you have to teach this bunch.

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