‘Summer of Love ’ brings the’60s to life The Orange County Register

‘Summer of Love’ brings the ’60s to life The Orange County Register

m.ocregister.com | Apr 7th 2011 12:27 PM
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For whatever reason, the concept of the "jukebox musical" has often tended to have a negative connotation, perhaps because the casting of a story and characters from existing songs can come off as synthetic.

In some cases, though, all of the pieces fall into place. "Summer of Love," now in its world premiere production at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, is one such musical, a heady mixture of the idealism, psychedelic images and, most crucially, of the counterculture music of the late 1960s.

See photos from "Summer of Love"

Roger Bean, the show's creator and the director of Musical Theatre West's highly laudable staging, excels within the jukebox genre, having created and crafted such shows as "The Marvellous Wonderettes," "Honky Tonk Laundry" and "The Andrews Brothers."

What's stunning about "Summer of Love" is how it resurrects both the good feelings and the tensions swirling around San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district circa 1967, the year whose summer was dubbed the "summer of love" for the way it embodied the hippie ethos of brotherhood and tolerance, expanding of one's mind and eschewing of bloody military conflicts like the Vietnam War.

Of course, crafting a conventional, musical theater-style storyline in which nearly two-dozen 1960s hits could seemingly flow naturally would be daunting without such conventional elements as a boy-girl romance.

Bean's plot focuses not upon the gaggle of hippies who live hand-to-mouth in a brightly colored Volkswagen bus and in nearby Golden Gate Park, but on Holly (Melissa Mitchell), a young lady from across the bay who has just fled her impending wedding in a panic.

Determined not to wind up like her stuffy, hidebound parents, Holly crosses the Golden Gate Bridge on foot and winds up in the park, where she encounters a small commune who call themselves "The Tribe." "Summer of Love" follows the next 24 hours in her life as she and the hippies strive for mutual understanding while her betrothed, Curtis (Doug Carpenter), tracks her down and tries to win her back.

As the story elements coalesce around Holly and Curtis, the score unfurls with superb, period rock-'n'-roll songs made famous by The Mamas and the Papas, Jefferson Airplane, Linda Ronstadt, Janis Joplin and Blood, Sweat and Tears, among others.

Engulfed by The Tribe's outspoken members, Holly is just a babe in the woods, and the willowy, delicate-looking Mitchell aptly portrays her as equally confused and intrigued by the alternative lifestyle. And though Carpenter's tall, clean-cut Curtis seems to intensely dislike these denizens of "Hashbury," each time he storms offstage, he's drawn back, and you get the feeling that before long he might even join them.

The 10 hippies themselves are all appealingly played, with each given some distinctive character hook. Their de facto leader is the Mother Earth figure everyone calls "Mama." Well-portrayed by musical theater veteran Victoria Strong, she is strong-willed, calm and wise, and in her focal musical numbers, such as "Get Together," Strong comes off much like Judy Collins and other '60s folkies.

Eric Anderson, another local veteran talent, obviously enjoys essaying the buffoonish River, an outrageous hippie whose credo of free love doesn't always sit well with his various ladies. Like Strong, his specialty numbers are solid – notably "Signs," in which his singing blisters, and "Spinning Wheel," where his vocals resemble those of David Clayton-Thomas.

Considering the show's scope, the 12-person cast is relatively small. Yet no weak links exist, with each cast member enjoying his or her time in the spotlight. Highlights include Alyssa M. Simmons' performance of "White Rabbit," Frank Lawson's "War," Michael J. Willett's "San Francisco," Christine Horn's "Piece of My Heart," Mitchell's "Valley of the Dolls" and Carpenter's "This Guy's In Love with You."

Musical directors Michael Borth and Michael Paternostro have gleaned authentic-sounding work from the entire cast and onstage rock band, working from Borth's successfully realized arrangements and orchestrations.

The production's visual elements are no less impressive, what with Lee Martino and Bradley Benjamin's joyous, flowing choreography, Shon LeBlanc's costume designs and Michael Carnahan's set, which resembles two large, open-air lofts. As crucial to the show's emotional tenor are Jean-Yves Tessier's often psychedelic lighting and Lianne Arnold's stunning projections, which palpably resurrect the conflicts of the late '60s with images of Vietnam and of politically and racially based protests.

The wonderful, deeply evocative music aside, what most stands out about "Summer of Love" is how it avoids clichés. Its hippies aren't freaks any more than Holly and Curtis are squares. They're all just in search of common ground.

Contact the writer: emarchesewriter@gmail.com



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