Class of ’63 chews up groovy bubblegum at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre
The first sprig of Christmas greenery to appear this year is courtesy of the Mayfield Dinner Theatre. For many years now, it has been their seasonal tradition to unleash another of their large-scale, lavishly-produced musical extravaganzas that have proven to be great crowd pleasers – and to generate lots of Christmas cheer at the box office. They inevitably take the form of a jukebox revue of the careers of pop stars, a decade of memorable hits, or just about anything else musical onto which they can hang on their holiday bauble.
Their latest is a potpourri of pop music that focuses on a single year (1963) – which, we are told, was “when it all began.”
Class of ’63: A Rockin’ Reunion runs at the Mayfield through January 26.
Nostalgically set in T. Erin Gruber’s generic high school gym, the scene is the 25th reunion of the Class of ’63. We are first introduced to familiar characters by two chipper party planners. There’s the nerdy Bobby (Mike Zimmerman), who yearns for the class beauty queen Francis (Pamela Gordon); along with Chip, the super-jock (Kieran Martin Murphy), and Angela (Simone Denny), who goes on to became a rock diva. All the others you recognize from Grease to Happy Days. You know we’ll get pyjama parties, a scene at the beach, puppy love, bad jokes and pick-up lines like this: “You gotta be a parking ticket because you got ‘fine’ written all over you” – all ending up with the crowning of the prom King and Queen.
After the longish introductions to the characters, the Mayfield finally cranks up their formidable jukebox hit machine and the evening takes off like Johnny B. Goode on steroids. Writer Will Marks fashions an ingenious idea: the evening begins with the reunion and then someone yells “Flashback” and the scene immediately shifts to the kids still in high school. This gives the production the ability to encompass many times and many songs – reaching back from Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White (’55) to Thriller (’82). Apparently these kids never heard of the Beatles, Bob Dylan or Peter, Paul and Mary.
Never mind. You won’t have time or inclination to miss them. Class of ’63 just keeps relentlessly feeding nickels into the Rock-Ola and the hits just keep on comin’: Barbara Ann, The Great Pretender, Blue Moon, Johnny Angel, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, The Wanderer, Be My Baby, Mr Postman. The show performs a deep dive into the product of just about every hit mill you can think of: Motown, The Sun Studio, The Brill Building hit engine, Phil Spector. Walk Like A Man, Let’s Twist Again, Rockin’ Robin, The Monster Mash – the whole American Graffiti collection is hung together with director Kate Ryan’s typical breathless showbusiness flash and glitz; and choreographer Christine Bandelow’s amazing command of every dance craze to find its way into the high school hop. The tight rockin’ score has come to be expected from the well-oiled Mayfield musical dynamo – a tight five-piece band under music director Van Wilmott.
The result is an enjoyable non-stop entertainment – depending on your capacity for bubblegum pop. The cast is excellent at creating the sound of the stars of the time, and one is struck by their ability to send up the music while exhibiting considerable respect for it as well. Ryan has stocked the show with performers of various sizes, colours and sexes. It includes both new and the usual Mayfield stock company: Jahlen Barnes, Melanie Piatocha, Stephanie Pitsiladis and Brad Weibe.
The show is long (especially that opening) and an exhaustion factor cuts in somewhat before it ends. Perhaps a less-known minor hit or two might have helped change the pace. I would have loved to have Pamela Gordon unleash that tremendous voice in one of those 11 O’clock power ballads that has stopped these Mayfield shows in previous outings.
Photos by Ed Ellis
