Review: THE CHER SHOW Dazzles at North Shore Music Theatre

The single name “Cher” instantly brings to mind the iconic singer and Academy Award-winning actress, but, as the Tony Award-winning “The Cher Show” – a jukebox musical with book by Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys”) that opened at Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre in 2018 – has shown in New York, on a U.S. tour that played the Wang Theatre in March of last year, and now in a dazzling new production at Bill Hanney’s North Shore Music Theatre through November 2, dramatizing the entertainment icon’s life on stage requires significantly more.

It takes not one but three performers to play the legendary entertainer. In Beverly these are, as they were in the 2022 Ogunquit Playhouse production of “The Cher Show,” Madeline Hudelson as Babe, the young Cherilyn Sarkisian of the 1950s and 60s; Charissa Hogeland as Lady, known for the 1970s TV variety shows “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour,” “Cher,” and “The Sonny and Cher Show,” and for movies like “Silkwood” and “Mask;” and Sara Gettelfinger as Star, the glamorous icon who glitters to this day.

Elice’s terrific book plumbs the salient details of Cher’s complicated personal life and illustrious career and cleverly has Babe, Lady, and Star overlap and interact with each other throughout, offering advice, encouragement, and gentle judgement. Eschewing a strictly chronological approach allows for beautiful moments such as Lady and Star reassuring the young Babe about her future, and Babe and Star, near the end of act one, sharing their knowing thoughts on Sonny Bono with Lady.

Throughout her often tumultuous life – including a failed marriage to the controlling Sonny Bono, played here with pluck by Frankie Marasa 5th, a troubled rebound marriage to rock star Gregg Allman (Brenton Cosier) and headline-making relationship with younger actor, and tabloid-proclaimed “Bagel Boy,” Rob Camilletti (Andrew Tufano), career highs and lows that have seen her go from winning an Academy Award as Best Actress for 1987’s “Moonstruck” to hosting a series of television informercials for hair care products – Cher has never strayed far from the spotlight.

Under the sensationally spot-on direction of Kevin P. Hill, and with a company of polished performers, the NSMT production is spectacular from start to finish. It tells Cher’s story with depth and compassion, and brings her music career to vivid life. This is a faithful homage to Cher, not an impersonation or tribute show.

With a seven-decade career in which Cher has racked up 35 Top Ten hits – from her 2023 holiday hit “DJ, Play a Christmas Song” back through “Believe,” “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves,” “Half Breed,” “Dark Lady,” “Take Me Home,” and “If I Could Turn Back Time” all the way to the Sonny & Cher chart-toppers “The Beat Goes On” and “I Got You Babe” – there is a lot of great music to choose from, and every note is well worth a listen, and a look, thanks to the lead vocalists, Milton Granger’s expert musicianship as leader of the band, and the evocative choreography by Sara Andreas which enlivens every splashy musical number.

In Beverly, the show is the proverbial embarrassment of riches, from its full-ensemble opener with “If I Could Turn Back Time” to Hudelson and Broadway veteran Angie Schworer (“The Prom”), as Cher’s mother Georgia Holt, on the character-establishing “Half Breed,” to a Hogeland and Marasa duet on the relationship-defining “I Got You Babe.” Hogeland also pairs well with Gettelfinger on the uplifting “Strong Enough.”

In act two, Gettelfinger brings strength and vocal depth to the power ballads “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” and “I Found Someone,” while Marasa makes “Dark Lady” into a rock-infused duet with Brenton Cosier as Gregg Allman, and the very able backing of the ensemble. Marasa is also most affecting on the plaintive “Baby, Don’t Go."

Adding fire to the music that fuels the show are the instantly recognizable Cher costumes originally designed by the one and only Bob Mackie, who won two of his nine Emmy awards for his work with Cher on television, and a Tony Award for this show. It’s easy to see why here. Mackie’s costumes are like walking pieces of art, every sequin and feather perfectly placed.

Rachel Padula-Shuflet’s hair design and wigs capture Cher’s classic bone-straight black hair, her performance-enhancing cascades of curls, and more. Scenic and lighting designer Jack Mehler makes wonderful use of NSMT’s in-the-round stage, reconfiguring it in flashy tiers and, when appropriate, lighting it like an arena or Las Vegas showroom. 

What this winning production reminds us is that while it may take three performers to play her, Cher is a singular figure – as relevant today as she has ever been and, like this production, so exciting to watch.