The Marvelous Wonderettes
Written and Created by Roger Bean
Directed by Choreographed by Melissa Rain Anderson
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
January 5, 2017
Leanne Smith, Chiara Trentalange, Morgan Kirner, Iris Beaumier
Photo by Eric Woolsey
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
The Rep is starting out 2018 with an upbeat, nostalgic tunefest. The Marvelous Wonderettes is something of a blend between a jukebox musical and a revue, featuring many classic pop hits from the 1950’s and 60’s. There’s not a lot of plot here, and what is there tends to be somewhat silly, but still, there’s a strong cast here and the overall tone is “fun”.
The “story”, or what there is of it, takes place in two acts, set ten years apart, in 1958 and 1968. The “Marvelous Wonderettes” of the title are a group of high school classmates performing at their senior prom. In the first act, we meet the perky, slightly ditzy Suzy (Leanne Smith), the vain Cindy Lou (Chiara Trentalange), the brash Betty Jean (Iris Beaumier), and the assertive Missy (Morgan Kirner), who are all friends but have their conflicts and personal issues that are reflected in the songs they sing. There’s a little bit of an effort at audience participation (asking the audience to vote for Prom Queen, for instance), but for the most part this is something like a concert with a story. The first act highlights songs from the 50’s, such as “Mr. Sandman”, “Lollipop”, “Secret Love”, “Stupid Cupid” and more. The second act, taking place in the same high school gym for the classmates’ 10 year reunion, features 60’s hits such as “You Don’t Own Me”, “I Only Want to Be With You”, “It’s My Party”, and “Son of a Preacher Man”, among others. Through the course of their singing, we get to know the characters’ stories and see how their relationships with one another develop, and it becomes obvious that some of the off-stage characters mentioned are named to fit the lyrics of some of the songs. It’s an energetic show, with an overall comic tone, and it’s a lot of fun despite being obviously contrived to fit the stories of the songs.
The performers here are excellent, bringing a lot of energy, emotion, humor, and chemistry to this show. The biggest voices belong to Trentalange as the sometimes overconfident Cindy Lou, and Beaumier as the alternately confrontational and insecure Betty Jean. Trentalange also stands out for being the character who changes the most between the two acts, and for making this change believable. There are also strong comic performances from Kirner as the determined Missy, and by Smith as the sweet but longsuffering Suzy. The friendships and conflicts between the characters are made credible by the strong cohesive chemistry here, and the vocal harmonies on the songs are also strong.
The 50’s and 60’s look and sound are achieved here with colorful style by means of Adam Koch’s “high school gym” unit set and Dorothy Marshall Englis’s colorful period costumes. Peter E. Sargent’s lighting adds to the mood in various scenes as well, and Rusty Wandall’s sound is crisp and clear. There’s some fun staging of the various musical numbers, as well, choreographed by director Melissa Rain Anderson. The songs, arranged by Brian William Baker and orchestrated by Michael Borth, are appropriately catchy with an authentic era-specific sound as well as being convincingly performed by a group of high school friends.
Overall, The Marvelous Wonderettes is a fun show. It’s definitely on the “light entertainment” end of the spectrum, but it’s very well done light entertainment. With a lot of energy, personality, and a succession of well-known classic pop songs, it’s an entertaining start to the new year at the Rep.
Iris Beaumier, Morgan Kirner, Chiara Trentalange, Leanne Smith
Photo by Eric Woolsey
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is presenting The Marvelous Wonderettes until January 28, 2017
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