‘Wonderettes’ sequel is fun, brainless and a touch problematic
Do you enjoy straight white people? Like to drink during shows? Prefer disco over Pokémon Go? Then you should check out “The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On.”
The fun jukebox musical by Roger Bean is playing at Stages Repertory Theatre through Sept. 18, and has more hip than brain, more swagger than sense and is swamped in so many shining sequins you’ll have to cover your eyes.
The Wonderettes are four friends who dance like they’re in the ’70s but talk like they’re in the ’50s. They’re straight white women, which, in case you’re not familiar, are the
demographic featured in suburban prom courts, “Three’s Company” and most iterations of the Barbie Doll toy. These are the swooning girls of “Bye Bye Birdie” all grown up, except not, because the only feminist education they’ve received is learning to sing “I Will Survive.”
Cindy Lou (Rachael Logue), Missy Lee (Chelsea Ryan McCurdy), Betty Jean (Christina Stroup) and Suzy (Holland Vavra) are former Springfield High School cheerleaders who come back to their old haunt to celebrate their teacher’s retirement. They also catch up, talk about husbands and perform off of one of those Best Hits compilation CDs made for nostalgic baby boomers.
The plot’s basically tissue paper wrapped around 30-ish hit songs, delivered onstage with panache and precision by this sterling quartet. Highlights include audience participation, Stroup’s immense voice and McCurdy, playing a fierce, scorned woman, plunging to the ground during Thelma Houston’s “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” It’s marvelous and wonderful.
Not so marvelous, on the other hand, are the way the Wonderettes love cultural appropriation. They sing in Japanese, adopt Italian accents and perform from a musical canon created mostly by black people.
They’re also decidedly un-woke portrayals of women, and if the Bechdel test was part of their curriculum they’d have dropped out of high school in a heartbeat. The casual sexism and racism here feels like a little monkey on your back. Pretending it’s not there doesn’t mean it’ll go away. It would ruin the night if the production weren’t so damn cute.
Judging “The Marvelous Wonderettes” by its intentions, though, this musical passes with flying colors, as long as the colors you’re focused on are pink, gold, lavender and teal. This is lovable PG Friday-night entertainment whose politics are meant to be glossed over — which is easy when you’re so actively roused and lathered in soul.
Toward the end, when everyone starts to clap along to “We Are Family,” you start to believe in the song and believe in the musical. These girls know how to throw a party. And that monkey on your back? Best thing you can do is scare it off with a funky bass line.