SRT’s ‘Marvelous Wonderettes’
Set in the gym of Springfield High School USA at the Class of 1958’s Super Senior Prom and 10 years later at its reunion is a jukebox musical that starts out giddly-fun and builds into a wonderfully heartfelt play.
“The Marvelous Wonderettes,” an Off-Broadway hit by Sierra Repertory Theatre (SRT) collaborator Roger Bean, is an audience-pleasing powerhouse of a production that features four strong female leads who successfully embody four wildly different caricatures that Bean created to play with and against each other while acting out storylines in the two acts inspired by the 1950s and 1960s hits they crank out onstage nearly continuously throughout
The four leads as they are introduced in the first act, are song leaders of the girls’ glee club, called in by the choir director at the last-minute to harmonize as the prom’s headliners after the leader of the boys’ all-star glee club is suspended for bad behavior.
Self-absorbed femme fatale Cindy Lou is played by SRT artistic associate Camryn Elias, who never fails to shine on the SRT stage. Only here, she is joined by equally talented co-stars who serve to further uplift each other and the production with every line, musical note, dance and comic move.
Betty Jean, Cindy Lou’s “tough girl” frenemy, is played by the southern California-based Ciarra Stroud. As awkward, neurotic, marching-to-her-own beat Missy, New York City-based Abby Tucker goes completely over the top to deliver a performance that is quite reminiscent of Lucille Ball from her I Love Lucy days. Suzy, her bestie, is a gum-popping ditzy All-American blonde, played by Kaylee Kay, a Boston Conservatory graduate whose latest work include productions aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas.
Two of the four are engaged in a serious rivalry for the affections of the same boy while another is pre-engaged to the fella who is working the lights. The fourth, when asked to spill about her true love, reveals she has the hots for the choir teacher. All of the romantic foils are mere references except for the latter one, who, seemingly a member of the audience (but actually a “plant”) is briefly brought up onstage to become a good-natured element of the show.
The first act features 1950s hits while the second act, which takes place in the same gym a decade later, mixes in some ’60s tuneage. The actors do a great job “aging” from giddy teens to young women marked by the woes and real-life challenges of becoming grownups.
Directed by SFRT Artistic Director Jerry Lee with choreography by Executive Producer Scott Viets and music directed by John Jay Espino, the show plays through May 18 at the Fallon House Theatre at Columbia State Historic Park.
Matinee performances are Wednesdays at noon and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. with evening shows Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. Go to sierrarep.org for more details and tickets.
