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LV Review JEpu^nal 4/22/f4 MGM extravaganza opens on Friday - ' - -.. - /m? Leigh in Gone With the Wind to do it better is i It was October 6, 1927. The audience in New York?╟╓s Warner Brothers Theatre was watching THE Jazz Singer ?╟÷ but more than that?╟÷they were witnessing the death sentence of the silent movie. They sat in stunned si-, lence as they heard the then strange sound of A1 Jolson?╟╓s voice pouring from the screen . . . ?╟úWait a. minute! Wait a minute! ?╟╓?╟╓v- You aint?╟╓t heard nothin?╟╓ yet.. And you ain?╟╓t!!! This week, the MGM Grand Hotel will unveil Donn Arden?╟╓s HALLELUJAH HOLLYWOOD -an aural mosiac, with brightly colored bits of sights and sounds woven together in hypnotic textures; a talking, singing, dancing , flaming, sparkling, exploding, perpetual motion performance. The formal opening of the extravaganza will be Friday, April 26th, however the hotel will pre-sent.preview performances of the show on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, April 23-24-25. Hallelujah Hollywood has it all .'k_ gorgeous girls, breathtaking costumes, sparkling scenery, fantastic production numbers, specialty acts, animals, special effects ?╟÷ presented on the world?╟╓s most magnificent and modem stage in the appropriately named Ziegfeld Room. Donn Arden?╟╓s masterpiece is a real ?╟úhead trip,?╟Ñ however, the grabbiest scenes are provided by the production numbers. As the curtain rises on the super-spectacular, the band strikes up with (what else?) ?╟úStrike Up The Band,?╟Ñ and with ?√ßj that Gershwin gem ?╟÷ followed by another evergreen from GIRL CRAZY, ?╟úGet Happy,?╟Ñ Hallelujah Hollywood is off and winning. The stage is filled with beautiful bodies, sparkling costumes and glittering stage sets. From the star parade ?╟÷ saluting the grand old stars of Hollywood ?╟÷audiences.are whisked on the town witi| Leonard Bernts* teip?╟╓s ?╟úNe^ tork ^few- York,?╟Ñ arid Rodgers and Hart's ?╟úManhattan,** from Words And Music: With Manhattan?╟╓s skylme visible in the background frofn the New York penthouse filled with singers and dancers, audiences are then led on a delightful balletic romp down and around Old Broadway into BROADWAY MELODY OF 1929. Film clips from that academy award winning flick move the production into its first spurt of wayward vitality, the ?╟úRed Rock?╟Ñ number wi guaranteed to steal the spotlight. Eschewing high-voltage sights and sounds that are pure funk?╟÷and thoroughly enjoyable, the stage literally rocks with the wildest, most ?╟úfar-out?╟Ñ treatment of ?╟úFascinatin?╟╓ Rhythm?╟Ñ (LADY BE GOOD), and and ?╟úI Got Rhythm,?╟Ñ (GIRL CRAZY). The two Gershwin tunes never had it so good. KISMET ?╟÷ Donn Arden waves his magic wand?╟÷and Hallelujah Hollywood takes audiences on a musical magic carpet ride to the streets of Bagdad. Opulence gleams in gorgeous colors and bulges the kaleidoscopic Ziegfeld stage with oriental palaces and costumes, swarming bazaars, tall minarets, camels, llamas and harem houris' ?╟÷ everything dreamed of in the Bagdad of storybooks is bundles somewhere in this luxuriance. Audiences thrill to the music of Alexander Borodin, from ?╟úNo' Since Nineveh,?╟Ñ through ?╟úNight of My Nights,?╟Ñ and ?╟úStranger ir Paradise,?╟Ñ to ?╟úRahadlakum,?╟Ñ a' they are swept through tb streets of Bagdad into the garden of the Wazir?╟╓s palace, and then into the palace itself. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS -4? Hallelujah Hollywood resorts to the seductions of nostalgia ?╟÷ taking nostalgia addicts for a loving, longing look back to the turn of the century with a trip through Meet Me In St. Louis, a 1944 MGM picture set in 1903-04. I The film was a real love story between a happy family and a way of living ?╟÷ a home-oriented ?╟╓middle-Western family enjoying a day-to-day living during a time when the days were somehow longer and sunnier, exquisite pleasure was to be found in evening sing-ins around the piano, and the greatest excitement imaginable ^as a visit to the St. Louis Exposition, right there in one?╟╓s home town. ' Woven 'into this simple fabric on the .Ziegfeld stage are BOY NEXT DOOR and the lovely and lively Trolley Song?╟÷with Come ToTheFairbeckoning to the fairgrounds of the St. Louis Exposition. Hallelujah Hollywood?╟╓s visit to the fair takes place at Easter, thus treating onlookers to Irving Berlin?╟╓s EASTER PARADE. Gorgeous showgirls and dancers ?╟÷ and their 'handsome partners ?╟÷ in fabulous finery ?╟÷ linger in such nice old neighborhoods as OH, YOU BEAUTIFUL BLACK and LOVE OF MY LIFE), a huge pirate vessel arrives at the wharf ?╟÷ pirates pillage the village and capture the native girls ?╟÷ taking them back out to sea ?╟÷ where a whip dance leads to a rape scene and the subsequent setting fire of the ship by one of the caged girls. Tarzan ?╟÷ doing it better (? ) The house lights dim and Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor are delighting the audience with Camille ?╟÷ as they did so many years ago. When the lights come up again?╟÷ Hallelujah Hollywood?╟╓s effort to do it better is in the persons of| Carmen Miranda and Grouchok Marx. Back to celluloid ?╟÷ and \ audiences see Wallace Beery and ? Marie Dressier as Bill and Min ?╟÷ 1 from the flick Min and Bill?╟÷only \ to be jolted with the ?╟úbetter?╟Ñ 1 version on stage of Shirley | Temple and Charlie Chaplin. Chorus line at the MGM Grand Hotel DOLL, HOW?╟╓D YOU LIKE TO SPOON WITH ME, SING A LONG, IT?╟╓S A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING, and finally, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS as they wend their merry way along the midway. THE PIRATE ?╟÷ From Gershwin and Berlin, Hallelujah Hollywood travels musically ?╟÷ by sea ?╟÷ to the Cole Porter-scored ?╟úPirate.?╟Ñ This must certainly be the most spectacular offering of Hallelujah Hollywood... Backgrounded by the Porter lilts from the 1948 musical, (NINA, MACK THE This leads to the sinking of the pirate ship ?╟÷ in flames ?╟÷ and to the underwater scene ?╟÷ in which a dolphin does a water ballet with an aquabelle ?╟÷ the dolphin disrobing the lady in the process. Like a finished diamond unable to ignore the rough, Hallelujah Hollywood lapses happily into comedic take-offs on some memorable moments in MGM film-lore. Audiences are pulled from the magic of Clark Gable and Vivian PAPE 31 BEVERLY HILIS COURIER MAY 10, 1974 Brigham Townsend The Desert LAS VEGAS MGM GRAND HOTEL shows a whopping profit for the first quarter of ?╟╓74 and a healthy occupancy figure of $0 per cent. As Louis B. Mayer used to say when he was head of MGM ?╟úDo it big, do it right and give it class.?╟Ñ Keep right on doing it Mr. : Kerkorianf jWjrWhatever you do in Las Vegas you owe it to yourself to see Donn .Arden?╟╓s /?╟ Hallelujah Hollywood^*4t the MGM Grand..