Photo Credit: George Katsekes Jr.
Roger Bean’s beloved jukebox musical, The Marvelous Wonderettes, warms Sunset Playhouse’s stage with ’50s-’60s pop tunes. The four-part harmony accompanies light comedy that briskly bounces through the girl group’s performances in high school and during a class reunion years later. Director-choreographer Becky Spice taps into the fun of Bean’s script, engaging delicate dynamics with a charming quartet of personalities.
The show opens at a high school prom in 1958. The Wonderettes have been called in as last-minute musical replacements for the boys glee club. Amy Barrett is a calm, confident diva as the towering Cindy Lou. Kassandra Novell is robust and passionate as Betty Jean, Cindy Lou’s rival in the group. The antagonism between Novell and Barrett is a fun central conflict for the first act. Kimberly Giddens is gracefully nervous as Missy, who’s struggling to deal with her crush on a teacher. Jackey Boelkow rounds out the cast as Suzy. Boelkow is somewhat dizzying as an endearingly off-center personality who is dating the guy running the lights for the prom.
The 15-minute intermission between acts one and two represents a decade. Performing at a 10-year reunion, the four friends are a little older. They’ve all been through quite a lot. (Suzy’s pregnant, and all four of the women are dealing with various issues that have arisen in their lives.) Bean mixes popular girl group hits of the ’50s and ’60s with lesser-known pop tunes in a fun and easy plot that allows each of the four actresses an equal share of the fun.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Through Feb. 1 at Furlan Auditorium, 700 Wall St., Elm Grove.
