Ever since Lori Brystan was a young girl she’s wished she had a time machine.

“I remember thinking when I was 12 years old, ‘Why isn’t there a place like Disneyland where we can go back in time,’ ” Brystan said.

Well, she’s accomplished that dream in a way. She established “Show: The Supper Club” at Code Restaurant in Newport Beach. It first started with a classic supper-club variety show featuring music from the 1930s and ’40s with saucy burlesque dancers. And it generated quite a buzz in Orange County since it offered something truly unique — unique perhaps in Los Angeles as well — a grown-up good time at a reasonable price. Live entertainment and a nice meal — just like your grandparents would have enjoyed.

And she expanded it to other genres, including a night with a Frank Sinatra theme, and most recently “Whole Lotta Love,” which is a tribute to ’70s rock.

But just as Brystan has achieved her aesthetic vision after 5 years of hard work it all could be fading.

The reasons are not entirely clear. I attended “Whole Lotta Love’s” debut Wednesday and was more or less charmed with the program, especially the band, MOB (the musicians joke it stands for “My Other Band,” since they’re all friends who have more regular gigs but come together on occasions like this). I was set to write an article previewing the next two Wednesday performances, but we had to kill the story when Brystan told me in a Thursday follow-up interview they may not happen.

She told me she was having some issues with the restaurant owners, but I couldn’t get a clear read on what they might be. She said the sight lines weren’t right or the staging and she wanted to find a new club that was a “better fit.” And she wasn’t sure whether Wednesday’s show would happen.

Code general manager George Fortier said he wasn’t sure either.

“She was supposed to do a show on Friday and she canceled the show,” Fortier said, referring to a program with an Americana rock theme. “She did the show [Wednesday], but the way it finished it sounded like she wasn’t going to pursue it anymore either.”

Fortier said it appeared it wasn’t making enough of a profit, but Brystan disputes that.

The scale is too large, Fortier said. Too many performers, too many attractions. If she downsized some it could be more manageable. Also, part of the agreement was that after the shows ended Code would transition to a typical club with dancing, a DJ and drinks. But the Supper Club crowd didn’t stick around for the drinking and dancing — turns out it was a different audience. Fortier wished Brystan would start the Friday shows earlier so they could clear out the room in time for the singles crowd, but it wasn’t happening.

“I think it had a lot potential,” Fortier said. “But it was a little bit too overdone. It didn’t need to be that extensive. I think people could have appreciated it [on a smaller scale].”

Word is the producers are confident the Wednesday show will go on, but there’s no guarantee.

Here’s hoping it will. I thought it was a nice, inexpensive way to spend a Wednesday night and appreciate some terrific performances. You probably couldn’t dream up a better mid-week date. Good food, live music and some really unique dancing and other performances. This isn’t dinner-and-a-movie date. This is something you’ll remember. I hope the memories continue. It would be a shame for the show to become a thing of the past. Brystan invested a great deal in her dream and it’s always sad to see a dream deferred.

(Lead singer Michael Olivieri jams with lead guitarist Kenny Hale at “Whole Lotta Love.” The band did an excellent job recreating that late ’60s, early ’70s vibe as Led Zeppelin emerged in the post-Beatles era).

Bookmark to: