This past Friday night we were off to our final show of our 2006-07 Broadway season (well, technically there is one more show... but we already know we are going to miss it)...
... as you can see it's All Shook Up! If you think about it for about 2.3 seconds, you probably have figured out it is one of those "songbook" musicals ala Mamma Mia! (what's with all the exclamation points!!), where a "story" is crafted around the music of an artist or group... again, you don't win a prize if you figured out this one is all about the music of Elvis Presley!
I wasn't expecting much out of this one. I knew the music would be entertaining, but these type of musicals tend not to be the shining example of a "best book of a musical." My expectations were so low that even before it started I told Todd that I already had my opening line of my blog...
All Shook Up? They should have called it Return To Sender!
How's that for catty theater queen? (Sidenote: surprisingly enough, Return to Sender was not one of the 24 Elvis songs of the night) But honestly, it was not too bad... again, it really couldn't go too wrong with Elvis music, which I have to admit I have grown quite fond of over the past several years. That said, I can also see why it didn't even last a year on the Great White Way. It suffers a bit from multiple personality syndrome. A little bit Happy Days (the lead character Chad is more Fonzie than Elvis)... a little bit Footloose (young man tries to change uptight town that doesn't allow kissing or dancing in public)... a little bit Shakespeare (girl dresses up as boy to win boy's affection)... and a little racial drama (interracial romance blooms in 1950s small town America).
Also, it couldn't quite decide whether to take itself seriously or not... a few times the show gave a wink at the audience before they burst into the Elvis song... and the songs started with quite the straight face. As you can gather, I was a fan of the former.
Overall, the cast was pretty good. We had an understudy for the lead of Chad, but wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't the pre-show announcement (though, again a warning to you Fantasia... we're going all the way to NYC to just see you!). Our D-list "celebrity" for the touring production show was Susan Anton as the sexy, older woman Miss Sandra. I give credit to the show for being smart enough to include one thing that usually never disappoints (at least in my eyes)... and that's a curvacious black woman... and Jannie Jones as Sylvia was certainly a bright spot.
The rousing high note of Burning Love closed the show, so I left with a pretty good taste in my figurative musical mouth and a spring in my step... ultimately, not award-winning or wow-inducing... but a solid, no-brainer night of entertainment.
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