'Misbehavin' ' in grand style at the Strand
The joint was jumpin' last night at the Strand Theatre, with a loud, bold, brassy staging of "Ain't Misbehavin'," the Fats Waller revue, on its 30th anniversary tour. "American Idol" season 2 winner Ruben Studdard stomped and crooned on the renovated stage, but his "Idol" colleague Frenchie Davis, to the grumbles of many, did not.
No matter - her understudy, Teresa Stanley, had one of the strongest voices of the five-person ensemble, and her playful, ribald spirit energized every song she touched. Studdard, meanwhile, reminded listeners why Gladys Knight dubbed him the Velvet Teddy Bear, with a smooth, plush voice and a formidable yet cuddly stage presence.
What Studdard didn't have, particularly, was a strong sense of connection with the audience - but then neither did the other performers, most of the time. They sang at us, not to us; framed in John Lee Beatty's arches-within-arches set, they also often seemed oddly distant from one another, with performing styles and emotions as mismatched as the turquoise, forest green, and royal blue gowns that costume "adapter" Gail Baldoni supplied for the first act.
Even so, Richard Maltby Jr. and Murray Horwitz constructed a durable, engaging show all those years ago, and its highlights shine through no matter what: the rousing title song, the haunting "Black and Blue," the slinky "Viper's Drag," the sweetly suggestive "Honeysuckle Rose," and many more. None of them really needs the bump-and-grind, breast-grabbing, buttocks-slapping treatment supplied by Arthur Faria's choreography, but even such excesses - and the occasional muddy vagaries of the Strand's sound system - couldn't hurt them much.
The sound got markedly, suddenly clearer, if more artificial, partway through Act 2, which also benefited from more harmonious costumes and a more relaxed vibe. By the time Studdard teamed up with Arthur W. Marks (who had already scored big as the Viper) for a fat, sassy, crowd-pleasing singalong of "Fat and Greasy," he seemed to be having a genuinely good time.
So, too, did the nearly sold-out house - including Mayor Thomas M. Menino, plenty of Citibank suits, and 100 students who got free tickets.
It's a fine thing to see this venerable Dorchester venue jumping like that once more.
Louise Kennedy can be reached at kennedy@globe.com. 