As Jeff Bristow put it, the show is “a big hug.” Exactly what we need now!Īisle Seat Review NorCal Executive Editor Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Stage manager Jeff Bristow is the good-natured recipient of her attentions.ĭirected and choreographed by Scottie Woodard, “The Marvelous Wonderettes” is a couple of hours of good clean lightweight fun and a welcome escape from the larger world’s insanity. We learn a whole lot about what’s been going on with the girls during their decade after high school, none of it alarming and most of it amusing-for example, Cindy Lou’s continuing flirtation with “Ritchie,” the technician in the lighting booth. Several months pregnant, Suzy is wobbly but manages to be a real trooper even if she has to perform barefoot. Photo courtesy Lucky Penny Productions.Īct Two finds the group reunited ten years later, this time in mod attire (costumes by Barbara McFadden) and with an updated song list (music direction by Ellen Patterson). The Wonderettes are catty but loyal: all-for-one and one-for-all despite plenty of sniping. “The Marvelous Wonderettes” is a couple of hours of good clean lightweight fun and a welcome escape…Ĭomical petty jealousies infect both their performance and their between-songs interactions but never to the point where we’re afraid the group might break up. Sandman.” Their timing and choreography are off just enough to provoke laughs but not cringes, and they gradually refine their act, dutifully plowing through many other anthems of teenage angst.

Backed by a three-piece band, the girls have a bit of a rough start with The Chordettes’ deathless pop classic “Mr. Photo courtesy Lucky Penny Productions.Īct One covers many of the best-known songs of the mid-to-late 1950s. Each of the four performers is a standout in her own way. The scene is the 1958 Springfield High School prom, where we meet Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy, and Suzy (Andrea Dennison-Laufer, Vida Mae Fernandez, Jenny Veilleux, and Kirstin Pieschke, respectively)-a vocal quartet in the poofiest skirts imaginable, on a kitschy set by Brian Watson, who also did the recent “Amy and the Orphans” at Petaluma’s Cinnabar Theater. “The Marvelous Wonderettes” is Roger Bean’s hit jukebox musical featuring 38 pop songs of the 1950s and ‘60s, performed by the cutest-and goofiest-foursome that ever hopped on stage.

Through March 13th, Napa’s Lucky Penny Productions has a feel-good treat in store for everyone watching the bitter drama unfolding in Eastern Europe.

Sax and dotty repeat