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Some of those marriages weren't all they were cracked up to be -- there was always Sonny and Cher -- but those folks soldiered on, trying to make all those musical-variety shows as sweet-natured and sunny as real life never was.
Another pair of TV darlings turns up in Pete 'n' Keely, a little musical comedy that will introduce audiences to a fictional pair of lovebirds as Steve-and-Eydie-esque as Steve and Eydie ever were.
"There's definitely that nostalgia feel for what it would be like to sit with a TV audience in 1968," says Roy Alan, who is directing Pete 'n' Keely for the Winter Park Playhouse. "It's a totally different type of reality -- what American TV broadcasters thought Americans should think of as reality. 1968 was still sort of an innocent time. So this is a sugar-coated view."
In Pete 'n' Keely, writer James Hindman shows America's "singing sweethearts," Pete Bartel and Keely Stevens, reunited for a live TV special that revisits their years at the top. The only problem is that the two formerly marrieds haven't spoken since their breakup onstage at Caesar's Palace five years before.
The show is an excuse not only for some charged onstage banter but also for the easy listening music of the time -- standards like "Black Coffee" and "Fever," along with new songs by Patrick Brady and Mark Waldrop that mimic those styles.
Pete 'n' Keely is one example of the kind of show Winter Park Playhouse is trying to bring to local audiences -- small musicals that haven't been done in the area or that haven't been done in many years and that connect with audiences in an intimate setting.
Later this season, the little theater will present Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years, a show that premiered off-Broadway in 2002, as well as The Roar of the Greasepaint -- The Smell of the Crowd, a 1965 musical by Anthony Newley and Lesley Bricusse that has not had a professional production here in at least 20 years.
Many audiences members, Alan says, are surprised at how involving musical theater can be in a tiny space like the Playhouse, which seats about 75, rather than in a 2,500-seat theater such as Carr Performing Arts Centre.
"So many of them say, "I didn't realize theater can be like this,' " Alan says.
In Pete 'n' Keely, actors Heather Alexander and Jim Howard are hoping to have that kind of effect.
"It's a show we really connected with," says Alexander, who has appeared in several of the Playhouse's shows. Offstage, Alexander is married to Alan, and they are two of the three partners behind the theater.
"We so often associate that style with spoofs," she says. "But they're very charming, real people. These are not cheesy lounge singers. It has a lot of laughter, and then there are some really poignant moments."
"There's a real feeling of warmth, a genuine affection for the era," says Howard, who is known for his work with Orlando Theatre Project.
Still, the poignant moments don't last long -- not when the long-estranged couple use their TV reunion to cut each other down to size.
Says Alan: "It's very Sonny and Cher in those last years when she was just jabbing him before the camera, and there wasn't anything he could do but look at the camera and smile."
And there's no getting away from the fact that the show really is a spoof, even though Howard says the couple are never conscious of camping it up.
"You really can't do beehives and sequins and not have people think it's campy," Alexander points out.
Howard agrees. "There's some polyester going on," he says.
Elizabeth Maupin can be reached at emaupin@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5246.
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