The audience at the Main Street Playhouse will have the opportunity to relive their prom at the final production of the year, The Marvelous Wonderettes.
The Springfield High prom queen nominees, Missy, Cindy Lou, Betty Jean, and Suzy, eagerly await the votes of the crowd for the “Dream Queen” of 1958 in a play that evokes the femininity of the ’50s and the empowerment of the late ’60s.
“On behalf of the Main Street Players, I would like to welcome you to the last play of our 39th season, The Marvelous Wonderettes.” We are very excited to close out the year with this fun, upbeat, and heartwarming musical. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoy bringing it to you, and that it takes you back to a happier, more innocent time,” said Clara Lyzniak, president and executive director of the Main Street Players.
When the four-harmony girl band, The Marvelous Wonderettes, is called in as a last minute replacement for their prom night entertainment, they perform classics such as “Mr. Sandman,” “Lucky Lips,” and “Stupid Cupid,” as they wait for the ballots for prom queen to roll in, and some tumultuous friendship issues come to light in the process.
Betty Jean (Emily Barona), Cindy Lou (Carolina Pozo), Missy (Brianna Mackey), and Suzy (Gaby Tortoledo), sing of love, heartache, betrayal, and secrets that threaten to tear apart the group.
Betty Jean struggles to have her voice heart as the spotlight runs from her onstage while she scrambles to complete her solos. Cindy Lou is every man’s dream, including those already taken, and Missy is comically obsesses with the idea of a “marvelous” life, or at the very least, a marvelous performance.
Suzy is about as sweet as the gum she insists on saving during musical numbers (by tacking it on fountains and microphone stands), and then retrieving it once she’s finished singing.
The “Dream Queen” is announced and the girls go their separate ways before regrouping as The Marvelous Wonderettes at the 1968 class reunion.
The remnants of severed friendships still stand as the girls contemplate their years out of high school through songs like “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” “It’s My Party,” “Rescue Me,” and “Respect.” The play follows the triumphs and losses of four girls caught in a generation filled with change that shapes them from “marvelous” prom queen hopefuls, to take-charge women of the late ’60s complete with leather jackets and soul-infused solos.
“My husband and I are both late Baby Boomers, once-utopian former hippies, who believe in art and music as a healing and uniting force. I am filled with wonder at the timelessness of these songs, which make no bones about their appeal to the common ground of human emotions – love, loss and yearning,” said The Marvelous Wonderettes director Carla Zackson Heller.
The shift in attitude and era, however, had no bearing on the quality of music which was consistently brilliant, performed by a live band who doubled as the disembodies voices of the boy’s locker room. Andrew Gilbert served as Musical Director with percussionist Jesse Balber and bassist Nick Katz.
The production would not be possible without the direction of Heller, producers Clara Lyzniak and Michael Fernandez, Cindy Castillo as stage manager, and designers Michael Stopnick, Josette Gillete, Marcelo Ferreira, Bill Heller and Dennis Lyzniak. The Marvelous Wonderettes, a family-friendly, musical comedy and off-Broadway hit by Roger Bean, opened at the Main Street Playhouse on Friday, September 27.
The production will run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m., until October 13. Tickets are $25 for adults and $18 for seniors (62+) and students (with I.D.). The Main Street Playhouse is located at 6766 Main Street in Miami Lakes.
Tickets are available online at www.mainstreetplayers.com, and if available, at the door, 30 minutes before show time.