By the time the final notes of Aretha Franklin girl-power anthem "Respect" die down, after Friday's opening night crowd whooped and cheered as Anne Chamberlain juggled, flipped and successfully caught an errant microphone, you're totally, completely, utterly in love with the "Marvelous Wonderettes."
Roger Bean created this long-running off-Broadway show that peeks into a 1958 prom. Four lovely ladies, Em Laudeman, Amanda Downey, Anne Chamberlain and Elizabeth Urbanczyk bring the characters to life. Four girls. Four personalities, from sweetly simple Suzy (Chamberlain) to mousy Missy (Laudeman). Aggressive
Betty Jean (Urbanczyk) squares off with flirty
Cindy Lou (Downey) over a man.
Marc Tumminelli, who directed last spring's "Over the Tavern," returns to work his magic.
Revues, by their very nature, often feel a hodgepodge collection of songs in search of a plot. Bean picked tunes that delight without over-dosing on obvious pop hits - and welded them to a reasonably interesting plot.
Tumminelli runs Broadway Workshop, a New York training program for young actors; he found something sweet and charming in the show - and brings that wide-eyed schoolyard sense of innocent discovery to Sanibel. I've rarely had so much pure "fun" at any performance.
So much of what he invents feels both wildly creative and just plain fun. Better, he injects a continuous feel of motion and activity into the show while never letting the silly byplay feel the least bit artificial. Urbanczyk and Downey throwing arms in front of each other in frustration. The tiny Chamberlain in a blonde wig and royal blue disco robe with enough feathers to stuff five pillows hopping up and down in joy at Suzy getting her man. Huge treats - in colors matching the gowns (third period Home Ec) to accompany "Lollipop," complete with glorious sound effects. There's even a disco version of "Mr. Sandman."
I love that Tumminelli pays enough attention to choreograph his characters throughout the show. Laudeman's Missy - a bookish type with wing-tip glasses - looks like she's always thinking about what to do. Wait for Laudeman to grab her moment in the spotlight in the second half; underneath that costume lies a tigress with a mighty roar. Soaring, floating, rip-the-roof-off "You Don't Own Me" brings spontaneous cheers. Urbanczyk brings her powerhouse diva voice to "Lipstick on Your Collar" and a soulful rendition of "It's My Party."
Beyond the sound, the show delights in every single way. "Wonderettes" is, dare I say, a "wonder."
Chris Silk is the arts writer and theater critic for the Naples Daily News. To read the longer version of this review, go to: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/feb/25/review-big-arts-sanibel-the-marvelous-wonderettes/
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