{"id":3685,"date":"2009-11-07T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-07T18:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=3685"},"modified":"2009-11-07T10:08:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-07T18:08:00","slug":"the-music-of-your-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=3685","title":{"rendered":"The Music of Your Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>The subject of 1950 and 1960 harmonizing groups seems to be a popular one. We’ve seen this explored in a number of jukebox musicals, and from a number of different angles. There are musicals that explore the history of the writers, such as \u201cLeader of the Pack<\/a><\/i>\u201d, \u201cSmokey Joe\u2019s Cafe<\/a><\/i>\u201d, or the upcoming \u201cBaby Its You<\/a><\/i> at the Pasadena Playhouse<\/a>. There are musicals that explore the history of particular groups, such as \u201cJersey Boys<\/a>\u201d. There are musicals that combine the music of a number of artists in the story of a fictional group, such as the ever-touring \u201cForever Plaid<\/a><\/i>\u201d and \u201cThe Marvelous Wonderettes<\/a><\/i>\u201d. The author and director of the last show mentioned (\u201cMarvelous Wonderettes<\/a>\u201d), Roger Bean<\/a>, has a new show revisiting the era from a different gender and approach, \u201cLife Could Be A Dream<\/a><\/i>\u201d, which we saw last night.<\/p>\n

In \u201cMarvelous Wonderettes\u201d, Bean told the story of four high school friends and their life through a series of well-known songs, with bits of dialogue between each song. This was very similar to the approach taken in \u201cForever Plaid\u201d. You can read my review of \u201cWonderettes\u201d here<\/a>. \u201cDream\u201d is set in the same universe as \u201cWonderettes\u201d, and focuses on four former members of the \u201cCrooning Crabcakes\u201d (the male choral group that couldn\u2019t sing in Wonderettes). This time the story has a more significant set and plot, but is still a series of well-known do-wop songs strung together to illustrate the story and link together short bits of dialogue. The songs are treated more like performances, and are not integrated into the plot as well as one sees in other traditional musicals. That doesn\u2019t seem to hurt the show–the songs are so well known and well loved that the audience just beams throughout the show. I could see this on the face of one white-haired grandma in the audience, who was just smiling throughout the entire show as the songs of her college years came back to her. Trust me, you do know these songs, which include 1960s standards such as \u201cSh Boom\u201d, \u201cGet a Job\u201d, \u201cRunaround Sue\u201d, \u201cEarth Angel\u201d, \u201cThe Great Pretender\u201d, and \u201cDuke of Earl\u201d. If you enjoyed Wonderettes, Plaid, or just grew up enjoying early 1960s music, you will enjoy this show.<\/p>\n

The story is a relatively simple one. Denny (Daniel Tatar<\/a>\u00e6<\/sup>) wants to win the recording contest prize from the radio station WOPR with his nerd-ish friend Eugene (Jim Holdridge<\/a>\u00e6<\/sup>). Their friend Wally (Ryan Castellino<\/a>\u00e6<\/sup>) works his way into the trio, and while registering the troupe, discovers they need a $50 fee. To get this fee they approach the owner of \u201cBig Stuff Auto\u201d, who sends his top mechanic Skip (Doug Carpenter<\/a>\u00e6<\/sup>) and his daughter Lois (Jessica Keenan Wynn<\/a>\u00e6<\/sup>). Skip ends up joining the band, and Lois convinces her dad to sponsor them. However, Skip and Lois fall in love, which leads Skip to get fired and run away… and the other boys in the band fall in lust with Lois. Will they get back together as a band and win the contest? Will Skip and Lois get back together? This is the stuff of which musicals are made! That\u2019s not to say the story is a strong one or has thematic depth. It is clearly a plot contrivance to permit many great songs to be sung. But one doesn\u2019t go to shows like this for the plot — one goes for the music and the performance. C\u2019mon, was Mamma Mia<\/i> as success due to its uplifting and endearing plot? Did Cats<\/i> run for years because of the plot? Clearly not (although Cats<\/i> didn\u2019t run for the music either… it ran for the dance… but I digress).<\/p>\n

The cast for this show<\/a> is excellent–in fact, one could call it a dream cast (ducks and runs). I was mesmerized with Jessica Keenan Wynn (who I know I\u2019ve read about before): she has such a beautiful expressive face I just couldn\u2019t stop watching her whenever she was on stage. She was a strong singer, and had a personality that came through in her face (although at times her smile seemed overly forced, but that could be directorial). I was also impressed with Doug Carpenter who had this marvelous deep voice and an infectious charm. Daniel Tatar was excellent as always (we\u2019ve seen him in a number of productions, including Last 5 Years<\/i> at the Pasadena Playhouse and Kiss of the Spider Woman<\/i> at the Havoc. But I could gush about all the leads: they were just wonderful singers and strong actors that just seems to broadcast their joy and happiness of doing this show. They were having fun with it, and through their enjoyment, the audience had a blast. It is worth going to see this show before it closes just for the cast alone: they could do this as a concert, and folks would come out happy.
\n[\u00e6<\/sup> denotes members of \"\u00e6\" Actors Equity<\/a> ]<\/font><\/p>\n

If the show had weaknesses, they were on the technical side. The sound design was by the very busy Cricket Myers<\/a>. I found the sound quality variable: there were points where the voices were clear, and there were points where the voices were a bit muddy. This could just have been a technical problem with a particular microphone. The lighting design by Luke Moyer<\/a> was more of a problem. This particular theatre doesn\u2019t have room for follow spots, so moving mirror lighting is used. These lights were either mis-aimed or focused (or the actors were slopping in hitting their marks), because often actors wouldn\u2019t be in the spot, or would be half-in and half-out. I had less of a problem when the moving mirrors weren\u2019t used, although my daughter had difficulties with some of the color choices in the scenes where the projected images were used. Additionally, as each act started, the lighting came up in this weird stepped fashion instead of a smooth brightening–again, very odd. It boils down to the fact that at points in the show the lighting proved to be distracting, which lighting should never do: it should be neutral at worst, and enhance at best. The costumes by Valentino\u2019s Costumes<\/a> were adequately period, although I found (at times) Jessica Wynn\u2019s shoes to be odd — either the high-heels seemed too high or too shiny (again, a distraction that wasn\u2019t needed). The set design by Tom Buderwitz<\/a> was as cluttered as one would expect a basement to be, with suitable period debris scattered around to establish the time and location. <\/p>\n

Other meta-areas<\/a> were good: The production was directed by Roger Bean<\/a> and worked well, although if actors are getting off their marks as indicated above, he might want to freshen it. The choreography by Lee Martino<\/a> was very good and reflected well movements of groups like this, with the additional clumsy humor that was required from the characters. The musical direction by Michael Paternostro<\/a>, with arrangements by Jon Newton<\/a> with additional arrangements by Steve Parsons<\/a>, was quite good, and I was amazed at how they got such a good sounding band squeezed into those little boxes hanging from the top of the stage. The production stage manager was Brigid O\u2019Brien<\/a>, who wins the award for the best bio<\/a> in the playbill.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife Could Be A Dream<\/a><\/i> continues at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre<\/a> through December 27, 2009<\/a> (it has been extended a number of times). Tickets are available through Plays411<\/a>; they are occasionally available through Goldstar Events<\/a>, although they tend only to be put up the week before and sell out quickly. Even with the lighting problems, I recommend you see this show. You will enjoy it.<\/p>\n

Dining Notes:<\/b> Dinner before the show was at Zeke\u2019s Smokehouse<\/a>, always a good choice when going to theatres in Hollywood. Parking is easy, and the food is good and plentiful.<\/p>\n

Upcoming Theatre<\/b>: The upcoming week is a busy one, although not in a theatrical sense. Come visit us in Perris on Veterans Day (Wednesday) at a Day Out With Thomas<\/a> at Orange Empire Railway Museum<\/a>. Next weekend brings two concerts: Erin is going to the TMBG concert at UCLA<\/a>, while we will attending Havdalah with Peter Yarrow at the American Jewish University<\/a>. On November 22 at 2pm we return to REP East Playhouse<\/a> for \u201cM*A*S*H<\/i>\u201d, followed by the next installment<\/a> of Meeting of Minds<\/a> (Frederick Douglass (Ernie Hudson), Empress Tz’u-hsi (France Nuyen), Cesare Baccaria (Joe Mantegna), and Marquis de Sade (Richard Gilliland)). Thanksgiving weekend is currently open; however, it might be taken by a shift of our production for the following weekend (\u201cBaby Its You\u201d at the Pasadena Playhouse<\/a>, December 5 at 8pm… which, by the way, features the actress who played Marie Antoinette<\/a>), due to the fact I head out the morning after we see it for ACSAC<\/a> in Hawaii. That same weekend (December 3, 4, 5) also brings \u201cThe Taming of the Shrew<\/i>\u201d at Van Nuys HS<\/a> — we\u2019ll likely be going to the Friday, December 4 performance. I fly out to Hawaii for ACSAC<\/a> on 12\/5 (hint: registration<\/a> is now open and we have a great technical program<\/a> — so come to the conference).I return 12\/12 (and, alas, this is why we can\u2019t see Equus<\/i> at LA Valley College<\/a> the weekends of 12\/3-5 and 10-12). December 20 brings \u201cMary Poppins<\/a>\u201d at the Ahmanson. We\u2019ll be going to the movies on Christmas Day (as well as having Chinese food), and the likely movie is \u201cNine – The Musical<\/a>\u201d. As always, I\u2019m looking for suggestions for good shows to see, especially if they are on Goldstar or LA Stage Tix.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/b> In light of the upcoming rules<\/a>, you should know that nobody paid me anything to write this review. In fact, I receive no remuneration for any reviews I write.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The subject of 1950 and 1960 harmonizing groups seems to be a popular one. We’ve seen this explored in a number of jukebox musicals, and from a number of different angles. There are musicals that explore the history of the writers, such as \u201cLeader of the Pack\u201d, \u201cSmokey Joe\u2019s Cafe\u201d, or the upcoming \u201cBaby Its Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,28,1],"tags":[448,320,261,301],"class_list":["post-3685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-theatre","category-lj-xfer","tag-other-theatres","tag-reviews-2009","tag-roger-bean","tag-theatre-2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3685\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}