Lyric romps into Civic Center with ‘Freaky Friday’
Freaky good casting ensures that the durable tale of a mother and daughter who swap places for a day charms in Lyric Theatre’s regional premiere of Disney’s new musical adaptation of “Freaky Friday.”
Directed and brilliantly cast by Producing Artistic Director Michael Baron, Lyric’s is just the second production of the new Disney stage show.
Based on Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel, as well as both popular Disney movies — the 1976 adaptation featuring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster and the 2003 version starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan — “Freaky Friday” has proven both impressively enduring and easily updatable. The walk-a-mile-inher-shoes premise boasts a universal relatability, and book writer Bridget Carpenter cannily revamps the story for the current smartphone-toting generation of teenagers.
Featuring music and lyrics by Tony Award winners Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey — best known for their work on “Next to Normal,” a rock musical about mental illness — “Freaky Friday” boasts about two dozen poppy show tunes. Designed to appeal to teens and youngsters, the numbers offer ample opportunities for belting, even if they aren’t always the most lyrically dazzling.
Oklahoma City actress Jennifer Teel, a local theater mainstay whose previous credits include the Lyric’s Civic Center productions of “Big Fish,” “Sweet Charity” and “Les Miserables,” plays Chicagoan Katherine Blake, a highly organized, perpetually perky and perfectly coiffed small business owner. New York-based performer Celeste Rose, who previously starred in Lyric’s 2015 world premiere of “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” stars as her 16-year-old daughter and polar opposite Ellie, a surly, slouchy and underachieving high-schooler who is still heartbroken over the death of her father.
To stir up interest in her catering business, the overstressed Katherine has decided to plan and prepare everything for her wedding to genial fiance Mike (Mateja Govich) for a big magazine spread, and on the day before, she longs for “Just One Day” of peace from her daughter’s grouchy complaining in the frenzied fun opening number. For her part, Ellie wishes for a daylong break from her mother’s perfectionist critiques.
The pair soon is tussling fiercely over an oversize hourglass, and when the antique breaks, they have been magically switched into each other’s bodies.
With the rehearsal dinner, the big interview and the magazine photo shoot on Mom’s overflowing plate, and with Ellie in danger of flunking junior year if she gets another unexcused absence, hiding out until they can track down the matching magic hourglass and swap back isn’t an option. They’ll just have to fake their way through each other’s day, which they’re both convinced will be a cinch.
Naturally, they quickly uncover some scathing secrets — the sassy tell-off “Busted” is one of the show’s highlights— and learn that each other’s lives are bit more complicated than they’ve believed.
Like many Disney musicals and live-action movies, “Freaky Friday” is unevenly paced, plodding through the setup and then racing frenetically toward the predictable but feel-good finale. Unfortunately, there’s a bit of wrongheaded humor when the family encounters a trio of bumbling cops to the tune of “Bring My Baby (Brother) Home,” one of those nonsensical numbers that makes non-fans hate musicals.
The success of “Freaky Friday” depends on how well the leads pull off the character-trapped-inside-anothercharacter premise, a test Rose passes with flying colors. The mother of a teenage daughter, Teel earns an A-plus, not only perfectly putting on the sarcastic edginess of adolescence but also wringing tears from Tuesday night’s audience with her stellar renditions of the odes “Parents Lie” and “After All of This and Everything.”
They are backed by a classy group of supporting players, including the hilarious Maggie Spicer as Katherine’s uptight assistant Torrey, adorkable Noah Waggoner as Ellie's puppet-wielding little brother, Fletcher, and charmer Sean Watkinson as Ellie's crush Adam, who deserves kudos for successfully delivering the show’s quirkiest song, “Women and Sandwiches.”
Per usual, Lyric’s creative team is as capable as its cast, although scenic designer Katie Sullivan warrants special praise for the magnificently mobile sets, which convincingly take the show on a madcap scavenger hunt around Chicago. It’s a key part of the story that provides the most scandalous moment of the relatively tame teen romp, when Ellie and her pals strip down to their underwear and pose for a photo in a fountain.
The first of three large-scale, fully orchestrated musicals on the slate for Lyric’s “Summer at the Civic” series, “Freaky Friday” continues through Sunday at the Civic Center Music Hall.