The Marvelous Wonderettes, Deep Cove Shaw Theatre, 4360 Gallant Ave., North Vancouver, until March 11, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. (plus March 11 matinee at 2 p.m. ). Tickets: $20. Reserve online at firstimpressionstheatre.com or call 604-929-9456. They can also be purchased, cash only, from the Seymour Art Gallery in Deep Cove.
First Impressions Theatre revisits the golden era of girl groups in The Marvelous Wonderettes, Roger Bean’s nostalgic look on a distinctive period in American pop culture.
During the late ’50s and early ’60s girl groups such as The Crystals, The Ronettes and The Supremes helped producers like Phil Spector, with his Wall of Sound, and Motown’s Berry Gordy Jr. dominate the pop charts.
Music critic Greil Marcus, writing in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, says “the music was perhaps the most carefully, beautifully crafted in all of rock and roll – one reason why none of the 20 or so best records in the genre have dated in the years since they were made.”
The Marvelous Wonderettes, which showcases dozens of songs from the ’50s and ’60s, was first presented at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in 2001 before making its way to L.A. and Off-Broadway where it had a long run at the Westside Theater in New York City.
In the musical comedy which opens in 1958, Springfield High Songleaders, Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy and Suzy are called in as last-minute replacements to entertain their classmates at the senior prom with songs such as The
Chordettes’ “Mr. Sandman” and The Poni-Tails’ “Born too Late.” Act 2 has the girls back to perform later hits (such as The Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack” and Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man”) at a 10-year reunion in 1968.
Katherine Alpen, seen most recently in Exit 22 productions at Capilano University, is directing her first musical. The cast for the First Impressions Theatre production includes Laura Gobbo, Carolyn Bergstrand, Jenika Schofield and Sabrielle McCurdy Foreman singing their four-part harmonies backed by a live band under the musical direction of Gordon Roberts.
