Life Could Be A Dream

[Jim3k]

OK. Admittedly this review may not edify people on East Coast, no matter what their love of 50s-60s doo-wop music may be. This show hasn’t yet hit Broadway, AFAIK, but it will be.

Today I saw this musical here in the SF Bay East Bay and it is a gas. Written and directed by Roger Bean, it is a nostalgic look at the doo-wop music of the late 50s and early 60s—music my era Blue Devils listened to (sometimes wafting from the dorm rooms down the quads) and hummed on a daily basis.

It opened in LA and has played in San Diego and San Jose. I guarantee it will be playing in venues around the country soon. It is a delightful performance by a quintet (four males, one female). They are led (in talent) by Derek Keeling, who is a Broadway lead singer—did Grease and Million Dollar Quartet. But the other four, here at least, were also marvelously talented. Their range was terrific and when they did three and four part harmonies, they sounded like the original artists.

Amusingly, before Keeling came on stage, one of them seemed remarkably like a young Bowzer (Jon Bauman) of Sha Na Na.
The music itself is done, for the most part, with the ‘original’ arrangements, at least as played during those years. There are a couple of older songs, (i.e., “Mama Don’t Allow,” “Sunday Kind of Love”) which had been reworked in the Fifties to create their doo wop versions, so you get those, not the Forties versions. But they are few.

Most are powerful and recognizable melodies: Sh Boom, Get a Job, Tears on My Pillow, Unchained Melody by the soprano (Sharon Rietkerk), The Magic Touch and more.

I must also say that Bean has fit the music to his story line very well.

If you are in the Bay Area, it is at Walnut Creek's Lesher Center through October 5. Otherwise, keep an eye out for it in your area. (I recognize that the cast may change, but so be it.)

[devildeac]

OK. Admittedly this review may not edify people on East Coast, no matter what their love of 50s-60s doo-wop music may be. This show hasn’t yet hit Broadway, AFAIK, but it will be.

Today I saw this musical here in the SF Bay East Bay and it is a gas. Written and directed by Roger Bean, it is a nostalgic look at the doo-wop music of the late 50s and early 60s—music my era Blue Devils listened to (sometimes wafting from the dorm rooms down the quads) and hummed on a daily basis.

It opened in LA and has played in San Diego and San Jose. I guarantee it will be playing in venues around the country soon. It is a delightful performance by a quintet (four males, one female). They are led (in talent) by Derek Keeling, who is a Broadway lead singer—did Grease and Million Dollar Quartet. But the other four, here at least, were also marvelously talented. Their range was terrific and when they did three and four part harmonies, they sounded like the original artists.

Amusingly, before Keeling came on stage, one of them seemed remarkably like a young Bowzer (Jon Bauman) of Sha Na Na.
The music itself is done, for the most part, with the ‘original’ arrangements, at least as played during those years. There are a couple of older songs, (i.e., “Mama Don’t Allow,” “Sunday Kind of Love”) which had been reworked in the Fifties to create their doo wop versions, so you get those, not the Forties versions. But they are few.

Most are powerful and recognizable melodies: Sh Boom, Get a Job, Tears on My Pillow, Unchained Melody by the soprano (Sharon Rietkerk), The Magic Touch and more.

I must also say that Bean has fit the music to his story line very well.

If you are in the Bay Area, it is at Walnut Creek's Lesher Center through October 5. Otherwise, keep an eye out for it in your area. (I recognize that the cast may change, but so be it.)

Sign me up! Music is from my elementary school years and before but I've listened to plenty of Doo Wop (see Pandora) since extensively broadening my musical horizons, even back to the Big Band era.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

After finally seeing, and thoroughly enjoying, Jersey Boys this past
summer while in London, I look forward to seeing/hearing this in the near future!