Fine Godot-like revue of Newley-Bricusse classics at Theo Ubique

In the 1960s, when Swinging London was the center of a cultural revolution thanks to The Beatles, Carnaby Street fashion and all things “mod,” a successful and essentially self-educated actor and singer-songwriter by the name of Anthony Newley teamed up with a Cambridge grad by the name of Leslie Bricusse. And together the pair wrote the scores for “Stop the World – I Want to Get Off” (1961), which became a hit in London and on Broadway, and “The Roar of the Greasepaint – the Smell of the Crowd” (1965), which contained several songs, including “Who Can I Turn To?” (a mega-hit for Sammy Davis Jr.), that would become standards.

Although these two musicals are rarely revived, Newley and Bricusse enjoyed additional success with their songs for films, including “The Candy Man Can” for “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” and the title song for “Goldfinger” (written with composer John Barry).

Now, on the heels of its award-winning storefront production of “Rent,” Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre is presenting an intriguing musical revue, “An Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse Songbook,” conceived and directed by its artistic director, Fred Anzevino, and Courtney Crouse, and featuring, as usual, the exquisite musical direction of pianist Jeremy Ramey, as well as an impressive cast of five.

At the center of the revue are two tramps much like the characters of Sir and Cocky in “The Roar of the Greasepaint,” with Sir (the ideally snooty, self-satisfied David Wesley Mitchell) as the wannabe boulevardier who assumes the affectations of the upper class, and his young disciple, Cocky (played by Graham Thomas Heacock, whose choir boy-like face is voice is matched by a clarion voice of great beauty), as the downtrodden loser and eternal dreamer.

Of course this captures the classic clash of social classes in England. But the notion of two fellows who can’t live with each other and can’t live without each other, and who are either propping each other up or preparing to call it quits — also suggests that Newley and Bricusse might well have been influenced by no less a force than playwright Samuel Beckett. His “Waiting for Godot,” which debuted in Paris in 1953, in London in 1955, and in the U.S. the following year — also features two co-dependent tramps who make their way through life in a state of despair and ever-dashed hopes, and bring a music hall state of mind to their antics. And designer Adam Veness’ set, with its bare-branched tree fit for a noose, bears further echoes of “Godot.”

Both men here also engage in a great deal of fantasy about the lives they wish they were leading, with “Pure Imagination,” from “Willy Wonka,” setting things in play from the start. The less familiar “Mumbo Jumbo” (from “Greasepaint”), displays the Newley-Bricusse facility for wordplay, and their preoccupation with a cannot-win economic system, and “Mustn’t Grumble, Can’t Complain” (cut from another musical), builds on the plight of the average working man.

Joining these two characters is Averis I. Anderson, an African-American actor who not only puts his stamp on the Sammy Davis hit, “Candy Man,” but stands in for “the Negro” in “Greasepaint” who manages to be more successful than Sir. Anderson also does a stunning job with a jazzy take on the anthemic freedom song, “Feeling Good” (again, from “Greasepaint”).

The sole woman in the show — Paige Faye Hauer — adds a fine dash of sex appeal and panache, and looks great in her stylish Steam Punk-meets-music hall garb designed by William More. She brings just the right sultriness to “Goldfinger,” and does a terrific job with “Perfectly English,” about a proper English girl who definitely needs to break free. Ryan Armstrong adds his powerful voice to a number of songs, including “Gonna Build a Mountain,” in which the harmonizing of the performers could not be more ideal.

This is a songbook about street waifs and bounders, a good girl who can be bad, optimists and pessimists, the lonely and the cynical – emblematic characters who make it through each day on a diet of hopes and dreams. A lovely revue of a songbook given just the right context.