Got to see “Show: The Supper Club” at Code Restaurant this weekend and it certainly impressed. I was at a table with Orange County Register theater critic Paul Hodgins and his wife, Anne Valdespino, a features editor with Orange Coast magazine, and while we all indulged in terrific conversation about theater (Paul dazzled me with his insights into my favorite play, “Death of a Salesman,”) all eyes quickly found centerstage as the jazzbo band and the accompanying Satin Dollz charmed us with their singing and dancing.

Between numbers, though, we got to talking about the sustainability of the show. It’s an expensive production, and after seeing it you’ll see why because it’s reflected in the quality of the show, but can it find enough of an audience to keep it going? Whenever I see a truly quality and unique form of entertainment I get that gnawing feeling that it’ll get canceled like a favorite TV show that couldn’t find an audience. But while a show like, say, “Freaks and Geeks” couldn’t win a big enough audience to justify the expense, there’s always the “Hill Street Blues” shows that eventually succeeded when given a good chance. If you have any interest in that era’s art and music, do yourself a favor and check it out. What struck me about it is it’s the kind of thing that could easily devolve into pretense, but its backers and performers sincerely honor the era.

I would think the show’s main enemy is the lousy economy. Will folks shell out the dough for a show that evokes the 1930s, way before most everyone’s time? It’s $79 if you want dinner and the show and a chance to stay at the same table for the rest of the evening, which includes more music and dancing to DJ music. But if you just want your table for dinner and the show it’ll cost you $49. I would think you’d easily spend just as much anywhere else if you get dinner, a show and cap off the evening with some dancing. Probably more, and that’s not even factoring in the aggravation of basically hop-scotching to three separate venues. On the other hand if you have no money in the budget for after-hours partying then you’re staying home no matter what. We’ll just have to see. But in the meantime you’ll want to reserve a table soon. I hear spots are booking fast.

Some highlights from Friday’s red-carpet opening included the two vintage cars parked out front; Gary Bohas, Corona Del Mar’s “napkin artist,” who did quick sketches of some of the Satin Dollz; the powerful singing of Monique, the best vocalist in the bunch; the ridiculous coffeehouse poetry of Derrick Brown (who had laugh-out-loud lines like, “Your polished back arched like St. Louis”); and host Ken Lally who, while introducing Brown, said, “He’s such a good poet he ought to have his tonsils bronzed … one of the Satin Dollz said backstage that’s not all that ought to be bronzed.”

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