‘Hula Hoop Sha-Boop’: Milwaukee Rep’s ’50s Nostalgia

There appears to bea cultural need to view the past in a simpler, more innocent light. In the1970s, a decade troubled by Vietnamand Watergate, a sanitized version of the ’50s became immensely popular, asevidenced by the rise of films and television shows like Grease, American Graffiti, “Happy Days” and more. Retro ’50s and’60s aesthetics have appealed to audiences ever since.

In 1991, years after“Happy Days” was canceled, Larry Deckel, John Leicht and John Tanner puttogether a feel-good collection of ’50s and ’60s rock tunes and turned it into Hula Hoop Sha-Boop, a light cabaretmusical that debuted at the MilwaukeeRep’s Stackner Cabaret. Havingplayed at venues all over the country, the musical revue makes its way back toits home stage this week courtesy of a joint project between JK Productions andWest 30th Productions.

With littlecomplexity in its plot, the 75-minute HulaHoop Sha-Boop is sheer theatrical comfort food. It’s all too easy toridicule the promo copy in the press release: “A delightful stroll back to thefabulous ’50s which takes us back to the age of innocence [andsegregation and racism],with musical vignettes and comedic stories which recount the days of poodleskirts [and openly sexist workplaces]and soda fountains [and closetedalcoholism]. The days of the birth of Rock and Roll [and the Cold War] are celebrated as the cast sings…”

All criticism aside,and despite the fact that it alludes to a simpler time that didn’t actuallyexist, it’s a fun tribute to days gone by. New York-basedwriter/director/performer Tony Clements returns to Milwaukee to direct the show, which featuresa four-person cast briskly strolling through some 70 classics from the infancyof rock ’n’ roll, including “At the Hop,” “Get a Job” and “Runaround Sue.”

Hula Hoop Sha-Boop runs Aug. 5-Sept. 4 at the Stackner Cabaret.

Also opening thisweek is CarteBlanche’s latest farce, the 1967 Ray Cooney/John Chapman comedy Not Now, Darling. The theatricallycomic, multitalented Michael Keiley stars as fur shop owner Gilbert Bodley, aflamboyant man in his late 40s looking to sell fur to a mobster’s wife. Ofcourse, the mobster’s wife is also Bodley’s would-be mistress, and things get abit more complicated from there…

Carte Blanche’sproduction of Not Now, Darling runsthrough Aug. 15.