Musical Director Is a Man in the Shadows in Hit Show ‘Club Indigo, Memories in Blue’

Audiences love “Club Indigo, Memories in Blue.”

The high-spirited homage to the songs of the ‘30s and ‘40s, playing at Burbank’s Golden Theatre, has been a hit since it opened last February; it recently extended its run through June 16.

Gregory Scott Young, the Golden’s artistic director and the show’s director and choreographer, has received much of the praise, as has the talented song-and-dance ensemble of 16. One person often missing from the glowing reviews, however, is the show’s arranger and musical director, D. Jay Bradley.

“No one’s seemed to appreciate what I do,” Bradley said ruefully. Although his stint as “Club Indigo’s” conductor and pianist is a visible one, most of his work took place long before the show opened. Of the material that he and Young wanted to include, only a couple of musical scores were available. He put the rest of the material together himself: listening to records, then transposing the music and creating arrangements to fit the show.

Clocking in at a very full two hours and 15 minutes, “Club Indigo” features a glittering two-story set, more than 50 songs, innumerable costume changes and a dozen full-scale production numbers. The tone, too, is wide-ranging: from the pathos of “Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?” to the sexy razzmatazz of “Sweet Georgia Brown” and the torchy “The Man I Love.” Bradley, who has served as musical director for more than 60 local shows, worked with each of the performers on the material.

“I really prefer actors to singers--because they’ve got to perform the song, not just sing it,” he said. “Like Jim Graft, who sings ‘Night and Day’: He’d never heard it before, never worked on a song like a monologue. I’d say to him, ‘You’re telling a story here. Who is the person you’re singing to? Who is you ?’ Also, when people haven’t had a lot of experience, I tell them, ‘This is where you breathe. This is where you pause. This is how you pronounce this vowel.’ ”

A native of Anaheim, Bradley, 32, was deep in classical piano studies when the musical-theater bug bit in high school. “I loved performing onstage, but I wasn’t much of a dancer,” he said, speaking of the transition to rehearsal pianist. “And I liked being in control, telling people what to do.” In his current role as conductor, however, some of that power is diminished; the band is positioned above and behind the stage. “Usually you’ve got a simpatico sight and sound relationship between the performers and accompanist,” Bradley lamented. “Here, I’m half-blind.”

When it comes to the show’s period, he and the 30-year-old director/choreographer are obviously dealing with material outside their personal experience.

“I know the era from films, records, talking with people who worked then,” Young explained. “I love the sound of that time; it makes me want to dance.” Young, who at 16 was already running his own theater, Santa Cruz’s Company for Dinner, has been applauded in the past for successfully mounting large-scale shows such as “West Side Story” on the Golden’s less-than-large stage. “It’s not about the challenge of getting a lot of bodies on a stage,” he said. “I think about the concept: Can I make it work?”

In this case, Young strove for a recognizable look and feel of the period (older audiences have praised its authenticity, he says), balanced with his own quirky, often comedic, personal touches. “I knew I didn’t want Big-Band numbers or a seedy cabaret,” said the director, who will stage the premiere of Rue McClanahan’s musical “Oedipus Schmedipus” at the Golden in July. “This is a little different, off-the-wall, than what’s usually done. If I think I’ve seen something before, I never use it. Everything I do is totally original.”

“Club Indigo, Memories in Blue” plays at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Golden Theatre, 139 N. San Fernando Road in Burbank, through June 16. Tickets: $12 to $15. Information: (818) 841-9921.