The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘The Bikinis’ show wraps this weekend
You might want to think pink, as in pink or yellow polka dot bikini, that scantily designed swimwear that defines in two pieces on women and resembles abbreviated underwear.
Hard to believe it was named for the site of a nuclear weapons test site, the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Conceived by French engineer Louis Reard in 1946, it has been heralded as one of the most popular female beachwear ensembles, an $811 million industry annually.
Recently, the bikini has been reincarnated in an entirely new fashion statement thanks to cowriters Ray Roderick and James Hindman and composer and musical arranger Joe Baker as a beach party musical “The Bikinis.”
Debuting at the Goodspeed’s Terris Theatre in Chester back in 2012, it is now toasting up the stage of Waterbury’s Seven Angels Theatre until Sunday.
Grab your plaid blanket and rub on the suntan lotion and journey back to the 1960’s for some musical fun in the summer sun.
You’ve made good friends with the “Jersey Boys,” but now it’s time to make room on stage for the Jersey Girls. In 1964, four BFFs on a lark enter a talent contest wearing (you guessed it) bikinis and win the Belmar Beach boardwalk banners. Two teenage sisters from Paramus, Jodi (Erin West Reed) and Annie (Brittany Mulcahy), join forces with their impetuous cousin Karla (Chelsea Dacey) from Philadelphia and their best bud Barbara (Samantha Rae Bass) from Staten Island to make their summer fun memorable — and you’re invited along for the roller coaster ride.
With a parade of 30 favorite tunes like “It’s Raining Men,” “Dedicated to the One I Love,” “It’s in His Kiss,” “I’m Every Woman,” “Under the Boardwalk” and “Chapel of Love” as well as brand new songs like “In My Bikini” and “Sandy Shores,” you’ll find yourself dancing in your seat and humming right along.
According to Ray Roderick, “The show is about fun, females and friendship. It’s 75 percent songs we know and love and 25 percent new material. It showcases women in a positive way, written by men who love them.”
Calling it “a joyous party,” Roderick finds it “an easy, breezy show where the women don’t stop. They are a talent pool that delivers and has fun in the process.”
Stating that the musical’s title is a metaphor for the struggle for equality women face, he feels they are empowered by it, even as they are still vulnerable. The quartet of females in the show relive their past but focus, two decades later when they reunite, in the here and now.
The great rock and roll music of the ’60s and ’70’s is wrapped around the original talent contest, where the goal of the girls is to get on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” and fast forwards to their gathering when they meet to save the Sandy Shores Mobile Home Beach Resort, a favorite landmark on the Jersey beach that is being threatened by a land developer who wants to take over and build condos.
Back in 2007, at the Briny Breezes Trailer Park in Florida, the owners were each offered a million dollars to move and “The Bikinis” is loosely based on that true story. In addition, it touches on the innocent fun of that era as well as the Vietnam War, the Woodstock event, flower children and the rise of women’s voices. “The Bikinis” is “a coming of age story that views the world through their eyes.”
Come rediscover the great songs of the 60’s and70’s as this one hit wonder girls’ group reunites as women. Come hear them roar.
For tickets ($30 or 4 for $89 using code BEACH), call Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Road, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at www.sevenangelstheatre.org. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.