'MERMAN': BRASSY, BOLD AND BIGGER THAN LIFE.

Byline: Katherine Karlin Correspondent

IT MAY BE hard to remember a time when Broadway musicals were built around more than, say, a string of hits from a mediocre Swedish pop group, or that the giants of American song - George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter - wrote numbers that quickly became standards, and that these prolific songwriters shared the unlikeliest of muses: a brazen broad from Astoria, Queens, with the build of a linebacker and the voice of a trumpet swan.

``George Gershwin said I could hold a note longer than the Chase Manhattan Bank,'' says Rita McKenzie as Ethel Merman in the one-woman show ``Ethel Merman's Broadway.'' Merman had another talent that enchanted audiences of the '30s and '40s. She was loud. Really loud. No body mike ever nested in the ruffles of her taffeta gowns. And because Rita McKenzie is a mere mortal, she might need a little amplification, she might not be able to hold the ``I'' in ``I Got Rhythm'' quite as long, but she does a credible imitation of La Merman, affectionate enough to avoid satire.

With her flat-footed stance, rectangular smile, and manner of accepting applause like a queen suffering the idolatry of her subjects, McKenzie has Merman's stage presence down pat. But it's through the songs that her performance approaches psychic channeling. And what songs. ``Anything Goes,'' ``There's No Business Like Show Business,'' ``You're Just in Love,'' ``Everything's Coming Up Roses'' - the American songbook is weighted by the tunes Merman introduced. Inevitably, the production omits some (most grievously, the show-stopping ``Rose's Turn''), but the audience gets an earful, gamely accompanied by an onstage combo led by Ron Snyder.

The patter between numbers, including a labored bit in which the star serves cheese and crackers to the audience, seems to be contrived only to give McKenzie's pipes a well-deserved break. We hear fleeting references to Merman's four marriages and two children, but little of her collaborators and co-stars, and nothing of her reputation for being difficult, diva-ish and dense as brick cheese.

Like her friend and rival Mary Martin, Ethel Merman bridged the transition from the chirpy song-based musicals of the 1930s to the darker, book-based shows of the 1950s and '60s. ``Gypsy,'' the glorious tour de force of Merman's later years, gave the star a chance to show off her acting chops as the fire-breathing Mama Rose. Similarly, when she performs ``Some People,'' McKenzie transcends mere impersonation and gives us a glimpse of real star material.

ETHEL MERMAN'S BROADWAY - Three stars

Where: San Fernando Valley Playhouse at the El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through Sunday.

Tickets: $45. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: If you never got to see the queen of Broadway, here's your chance.

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Rita McKenzie gives an affectionate portrayal of a stage legend in ``Ethel Merman's Broadway'' at the El Portal Theatre.