POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Kenny Rogers in Command

Kenny Rogers just keeps rolling along. Opening a five-concert run at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, he was the quintessential show-biz artist, masterfully in command of both the music and his audience.

There wasn’t much that was unfamiliar in the music, other than a couple of new originals, both of which effectively reconfirmed Rogers’ ability to craft emotionally charged material.

Most of the evening, however, was devoted to such mega-hits as “Lucille,” “The Gambler” and “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.” The only remarkable aspect of these otherwise unremarkable pieces was that Rogers could still use them to generate such theatrical vigor.

Best of all, he genuinely appeared to be having fun. His enthusiastic readings of “Bo Diddley” and Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” for example, were good enough to make one wish for a wider range of similarly unexpected, and untypical, selections.

Martina McBride, a promising young Nashville singer, opened the program with an attractive set of classic country tunes and a selection from her debut album, “The Time Has Come.”

Rogers continues at the Cerritos Center through Saturday.