“Smokey Joe’s Caf‚,” a musical revue celebrating the songs of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, is coming to the Des Moines Playhouse, 831 42nd St., in Des Moines.

Leiber and Stoller are noted for helping to create rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s. The play, which debuted on Broadway in 1995 and became the longest-running musical revue in Broadway history, celebrates that time in American culture by performances of 40 of their songs, including “Love Potion No. 9,” “Stand by Me” and other songs originally performed by the likes of Elvis Presley and The Monkees.

Lee Ann Bakros, public relations director for the Playhouse, says the nostalgic value of “Smokey Joe’s Caf‚” makes it a performance with which many people can relate.

“The songs will be instantly familiar to the audience,” she says. “They all have a great appeal to a large audience.”

Bakros says the Playhouse strives for a continued outreach to local actors, and the strong, diverse cast of this play is a sign of it. The play’s producers chose to recruit a local cast, which is made up of veterans and amateur performers, instead of bringing in a national touring company for the production.

“With a local cast, we can assure Smokey Joe’s is performed the best it can for an Iowa audience, not a national audience,” Bakros says.

Timothy Tate, music teacher at Findley elementary school in Des Moines, is one of the newer performers in “Smokey Joe’s Caf‚.” He says this is the first play he has been in since high school.

“I’m a performer at heart,” he says. “When I’m on stage, I feel alive.”

Although the cast may be local and new to the acting scene, Bakros says the play will not come off as amateur, as the cast has gone through intensive singing and choreography practices for the past seven weeks, six days a week. The cast and director will have a question and answer session after their April 27 performance to discuss preparing for a role and acting in general.

“We think the audience would really appreciate learning how much goes into just a single production,” Bakros says. “The Q and A will let the audience find out anything they want to know about it.”

In addition to the practices, Tate says the cast was encouraged to take the music home and practice their songs and dance numbers in their spare time. He says balancing his teaching job and rigorous practices hasn’t been easy, but the final result will be worth it.

“We have a very good band and fabulous singers,” Tate says. “We should be more than ready for opening night.”

What suffered the most damage, Tate says, was the cleanliness of his home.

“When the play is over,” he says jokingly, “I’ll finally be able to clean my place.”