But it was an opening, finally! After cancellations due to heat and Thursday’s destructive storm, which ripped up part of the set and tore limbs from many of Washington Park’s stately trees, the show went on, thanks to the hard work of producing artistic director Owen Smith and his reparative crew. This jukebox musical (with the slightly redundant title, no?) is a paean to pop, doo-wop, and R & B songs from the 1950s and ‘60s. A quartet of girls at Springfield High School, USA, (mascot: a chipmunk) is singing at the senior prom of the Class of 1958, having been asked to replace the boys’ group that can’t perform because of disciplinary reasons.
Cindy Lou (Iraya Catalina), Betty Jean (Syd Sider), Suzy (Jasmine Crosson), and Missy (Emma Cornish) are bubbly and determined, decked out in colorful dresses made in home ec and coached by choir director Mr. Lee, whom they adore. Beneath the perkiness, however, rages teen angst, and the love songs they sing for their classmates turn out to be commentary on their own love lives.
Boyfriend jealousy? Artistic competition? You bet! BJ and Cindy Lou are best buds vying for the same guy and the spotlight. Missy has a secret love, though the other three have their suspicions. A vote for the Prom Queen, a contest that includes a one-minute-long talent segment done at the same time, further divides the quartet; and Act I ends with Suzy having a moment (with backup) on “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me.
” Act II brings the four back for.