Kyle Martin’s Piano Man

Kyle Martin’s Piano Man
V3 Theater, Miracle Mile Shops
Thurs.-Mon. 6:30 p.m.
$29.44-$64.44

Shows at the small V theaters at the Miracle Mile Shops come and go with some regularity, but Kyle Martin’s Piano Man has demonstrated some longevity, going on a couple of years. After seeing it, we’re not surprised. Martin does spot-on impersonations of Billy Joel and Elton John, both at the keyboard and microphone and with the costuming, and the four-piece backup band—lead and bass guitars, sax, and drums—are all talented musicians in their own right; all do the two superstar rockers proud.

The show starts with the ferocious instrumental prelude to Joel’s “Angry Young Man” from Turnstiles, the fourth album, the way Joel often opened concerts in the ’70s and early ’80s and a most worthy representation of the classically trained pianist and self-trained composer. When the prelude ends, Martin skips the song itself to segue right into “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” also a truncated version, followed by a medley of “Moving out,” “Just the Way You Are,” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

All the while, the wall of screens behind the band is projecting relevant and engaging images.

“Big Shot,” “Uptown Girl,” and “New York State of Mind” keep the hits, though halved, coming, and “In the Middle of the Night” is the appropriate break at the 35-minute mark for some band-member solos while Martin runs off stage and comes back all glammed up as Elton John doing “Philadelphia Freedom.” Medleys of “Candle in the Wind,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Rocket Man,” and “Benny and the Jets” take up another 30 minutes.

The first encore brings the show back around to Billy with “Piano Man,” naturally. The second encore is Elton’s “Your Song,” his first hit, written by a 17-year-old Bernie Taupin and marking the start of a 50-plus-yeaer musician-lyricist partnership, one of the most enduring in rock ’n’ roll. That’s followed by another Elton song, “I’m Still Standing” and the show ends with Joel’s “You May Be Right” at exactly 80 minutes.

All seats are fine, though we opted for the middle-priced ticket at $49.44 and we were glad we weren’t in the last four rows in the long narrow venue. Still, with the service and order-processing fees, the total came to $71.75, which felt a tad rich for a small show that starts at 6:30, especially since we’d just seen the spectacular Shin Lim in the 1,000-seat Mirage Theater for a total ticket price of $81.06, only $9.31 more. But if you, like us, are big fans of both piano men, you won’t be disappointed in this show, which will start your evening off with a big bang.