Review: LEADER OF THE PACK at Bucks County Playhouse

A young Jewish girl wants to write music. Her mother is supportive but unsure. Girl goes to the Brill Building in Manhattan, the home of early 60s music magic. She finds success. Friends who love her. A husband who deserts her for the lights of Hollywood. Through her own strength and her friends, her heart and her career will go on.  Look, it's Carole King's BEAUTIFUL. It's also LEADER OF THE PACK by Anne Beatts. Don't compare; you'll debe sorry. The Greenwich musical came first, but BEAUTIFUL did it better. 

You don't want to try comparing shows, but some things can't be helped. Although LEADER also played Broadway it feels very much as if it was meant to be an Off-Broadway show. It's thoroughly jukebox musical, right down to having trimmed out details like helpful dialogue and character development; really, it's best viewed as a revue, to the point that major characters like Darlene Love are either not or are barely identified. That may have been fine when this started as a revue with Greenwich and Love playing in it. However, it loses something when it tries to not be a celebrity vehicle.

That said, there are great things about the Bucks County Playhouse production. As soon as the lights come up the audience is treated to some of the best dancing and dancers on stage this past season  This production is worth it just for the high energy dance revue.  This writer could have handled less of the alleged plot movement, especially lacking character development as it does, purely for glittering music and dance.  Also, the two female leads, Kyra Kennedy as Greenwich and Galyana Castillo as Darlene Love, are wonderful.  The show attempts, feebly, to make a plot point of Love and Greenwich breaking a friendship over Tina Turner recording River Deep Mountain High; the closing scene of Greenwich and Love doing a high voltage arrangement of the song together screams for the two to sing cabaret together.

It isn't BEAUTIFUL- but at moments it sure is pretty  Ignore the montage of wedding preparations shown under a live arrangement of Not Too Young (To Get Married).  Skip your disappointment at no motor revving sounds under Leader of the Pack, an arrangement lacking the wonderful teen angst of the original.  Save the excitement for the dance arrangements and for Castillo's belting out a few incredible Greenwich classics.

It's a fine no-effort-required summer show.  Let the extended-set-length singing of some of America's favorite songs of the early Sixties cool your mind as you chill out.  Sing along.  Everyone next to you will.  At BCP through the 20th.  Bring your own revving noises for Leader of the Pack; otherwise sit back and relax.

Philadelphia Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. CATS (Shawnee Playhouse)

17.1% of votes

2. INTO THE WOODS (The Milford Theater)

5.9% of votes

3. NEWSIES (Viviana Theatre)

3.8% of votes

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