If Chip Deffaa's George M. Cohan Tonight! seems a bit old-fashioned, like a slice of life from an earlier era, that's exactly the idea. The musical covers the biography of one George M. Cohan, a vaudeville performer who'd become famous for weaning American musical theater away from pompous European fare at the dawn of the 20th century. This one-person show, staring Jon Peterson, weaves Cohen's songs (with a number of additions and revisions by Deffaa) into a life story shot through with American brashness and a love of Broadway. A number of these songs, like "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "Yankee Doodle Boy," will be familiar to the listener whether s/he ever set foot inside of a musical theater. The songs move from Cohan's early life in vaudeville, performing with his family, to an early love affair that his father put an end to, and finally to his accession to Broadway, despite the fact that no one believed his innovative ideas would fly. Peterson's performance is exuberant, though likely -- these songs are so often enthusiastic and bouncy -- to wear all but the most extroverted listener down by the three-quarters mark. George M. Cohan Tonight! finally supersedes Cohan himself, celebrating a certain American male type and bathing him in the kind of nostalgia where one can feel good about waving the flag ("You're A Grand Old Flag" and heading off to war ("Over There"). ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.