‘Beehive’ buzzes

The revue celebrates music made by women in the 1960s.

“Jersey Boys” and “Beautiful,” hands down the best of the jukebox musicals, celebrate the legacy of particular artists through a kind of theater concert mashup. But unlike those biographical odes to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (“Jersey Boys”) and Carole King (“Beautiful”), the revue “Beehive: The ’60s Musical” goes wider in its celebration of music made by women in the 1960s.

Newly opened at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton, “Beehive” is the creation of Larry Gallagher, who has stitched together songs from artists as diverse as Lesley Gore, the Supremes, Lulu, Shirley Bassey and Janis Joplin. A tuneful wallow in Top 40 nostalgia, “Beehive” also aims to celebrate female empowerment through song. Though Gallagher’s book comes up shorter than the cast’s miniskirts, the music most certainly does not.

With staging by Jonathan Van Dyke, choreography by Van Dyke and Angela Morando, and musical direction by Caryl Fantel (who leads the rocking, six-piece onstage band), “Beehive” becomes a blend of concert and fashion show. The seven prodigiously talented performers change wigs nearly as often as they slip from one of Kimberly Wick’s costumes into the next, sporting bouffants, ridiculously high beehives, flips, hippie hair and more.

What’s key to the success of the Wick’s production, which packs versions of some 30 songs into a running time of under two hours (including intermission), are the versatile voices of the women who sing those songs.

Sarah Amengual (a University of Miami grad who appeared on Broadway as Maria in “West Side Story”), Amitria Fanae and Trisha Jeffrey are Equity actors; Kristina Huegel, Shelley Keelor, Mallory Newbrough and Leah Sessa are not. Each woman in this beautifully blended cast shines vocally, in solos and groups, whether singing fluffier songs from the early ’60s or the more substantial smash hits that came later.

Happily, the actors get the big audience participation number out of the way early, picking out a couple of theatergoers to get “The Name Game” treatment.

Among the show’s many highlights, Fanae, Jeffrey and Amengual evoke the Supremes as they do a mashup of “Where Did Our Love Go” and “Come See About Me.” Sessa is joyful and wistful as she sings lead on “Walking in the Rain” by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill (who are also celebrated in “Beautiful”) and Phil Spector.

Time was, the folks who make up so much of the loyal theatergoing audience would seek out revues of songs from the ’40s and ’50s when looking for nostalgic entertainment. Now, Baby Boomers have pushed that window into the ’60s. The women of the Wick’s “Beehive” deliver just what they’re longing to hear.

“Beehive” runs through May 14 at the Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, in Boca Raton. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday. Tickets cost $75 and $80. 561-995-2333 or TheWick.org.

THE WICK/COURTESY “Beehive: the ’60s Musical” runs through May 14 at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton.