The Marvelous Wonderettes

A fluff of fun at the Westside Theatre, The Marvelous Wonderettes reveals the sweet and the nasty about four seniors on the night of the Springfield High School 1958 senior prom. Most stories zero in on the "bad girls," always more spicy with their tight skirts, ankle bracelets, and spit curls, but the Wonderettes are "good girls." They were the cute co-eds who looked back on high school as the best years of their lives, the time when they absolutely died of humiliation one day and the next moment swooned over some new heartthrob. They pledged forever friendship with their best girlfriends until the new boy stepped in. They were learning about women's place in the world, and minutiae were the grist of their lives.

The Wonderettes is a girl quartet replacing The Crooning Crabcakes, originally scheduled to entertain at the senior prom but cut because of smoking violations. Giggly and excited in their wide rustling skirts and shoes dyed to match, the Wonderettes include trusty Missy (Farah Alvin), dizzy gum-chewing Suzy (Bets Malone), rowdy gamine Betty Jean (Beth Malone), and vain "lucky lips" looker Cindy Lou (Victoria Matlock). This is the cast, except for one man plucked from each audience to play "Mr. Lee," teacher and prom coordinator. The girls squabble among themselves, mostly about boys and upstaging, but the name of this game is getting to the next of 33 songs. Like any amateurs on their big night, they have some problems synchronizing their harmonies and their cute but awkward moves. By "Lollipop," however, they are smooth and cookin'.

The second act changes the pace and ups the emotion, just as the 1960s changed the tenor of the times. It is ten years later, the 1968 class reunion. The same gym now displays liquor bottles on the punch tables. The Wonderettes' hairdos are teased and sprayed, their clothes glitter with miniskirts over fishnet stockings and high white boots. They have undergone personal changes as well. There is poignancy in their disappointments and frustrations over the years, and joy in some unexpected turns, all illuminated by pop tunes.

The performers are defined personalities, dynamic singers with comedic flair and distinctive stage presence. Alvin's sensible Missy turns out to be teacher's pet (remember Mr. Lee from the audience?). She steamrolls a full-bodied "Wedding Bell Blues" and potent "You Don't Own Me." Matlock's best moments relate some of Cindy Lou adventures with a raunchy "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Leader of the Pack." Bets Malone's vigorous "Respect" and a high-energy "Rescue Me" build a dramatic groove when delivered by pregnant Suzy. Beth Malone reveals the bitterness and vulnerability of this little spitfire with "It's My Party."

The innocent escapism of it all makes for a swell time in today's theatre. Written and directed by Roger Bean, The Marvelous Wonderettes is evocative, sentimental, tuneful and unpretentious. The audience enters, ballots in hand, to vote for "Marvelous Queen of Your Dreams," instructed to use only a #2 pencil. Michael Carnaham's basic gym setting resonates with recorded '50s tunes and spirited slogans, banners, punch bowls, and crepe paper decorations.

Roger Bean keeps up the infectious spirit of nostalgia while allowing undercurrents of tenderness. Brian William Baker arranged meticulous harmonies songs and Janet Miller created witty choreography falling perfectly just over the edge. Jeremy Pivnick and Cricket S. Myers provide dramatic lights and sound. Costumes and wigs by Bobby Pearce are perky enough for Sandra Dee or Lesley Gore. One point, however: In the '50s, stockings all had seams, a detail missed by Pearce who gave his Wonderettes seamless stockings.

The Marvelous Wonderettes received the 2007 Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Musical Intimate Theatre and ran for a year and a half in Los Angeles. Similarly, "Sh-Boom" could ring "ka-ching" for months, if audiences keep shoop-shooping to this free-spirited Oldie but Goldie.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
September 28, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org