Twist, Swim, and Rock to Live Band Beats at Delray Beach Playhouse where ‘BEEHIVE: THE 1960’s MUSICAL’ Celebrates the Girl Groups Decade with Megahit Songs and Dance

We often don’t know how good we had it till that time has long passed. Those of us who came of age in the 1960s, despite the latter part of the decade’s Vietnam war protests and assassination horrors, can’t help but look back fondly at a time when we were young, passionate, and rebellious for equality. When we actually believed gathering and singing about border-free peace, love, and “Flower Power” could change the world.

For young women fighting for equal rights and pay, along with the freedom to choose a rewarding future not defined by marriage, the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s could be life changing. Maybe we all need to, as the Beatles’ song goes, “Get back to where you once belonged” and reclaim our better selves with more than fond nostalgia.

But at least nostalgia is a start. And you can’t do better for a rollicking fun ride down memory lane than by attending the Girl Power, Girl Band 1960s songfest   that is BEEHIVE: The 1960’s Musical where delighted audiences can’t keep         from tapping their feet and rocking in their seats to scores of the decades’ iconic songs. Now appearing on stage (and off, as our six leading ladies are wont to circulate and personally engage) at the Delray Beach Playhouse through September 27.  

Created in the 1980s by Larry Gallagher, if anything, Beehive’s popularity as a jukebox musical journey celebrating popular female vocalists of the 1960s has only grown with each passing decade. The Playhouse’s highly experienced creative team of Director Joseph Zettelmaier, Music Director Elijah Gee, and Choreographer Briley Crisafi did a tremendous job of bringing the super-fast-paced show with its non-stop musical numbers (that we all recognize and love, so there’s no room for even one tiny screw-up) to exhilarating life! 

Starting with perhaps the most exciting opening entrance (thank you executive producer Kevin Barrett) of what’s rarely seen nowadays: an honest to goodness LIVE eight-piece band! I could cheer when I watched the show’s musicians walk up to the stage with their instruments, then line up along the entire back wall where they stayed seated as we saw them play, magnificently, nonstop, during transitions and as accompaniment to every single song! 

I’ll name them here because I consider their contribution equal to that of the talented cast. Musical director Elijah Gee also played keyboard, as did assistant music director Jesse Veliz. Phil Hinton was on keyboard as well. Joined by Mike Haddox on guitar, Julie Jacobs on drums, Andres Aybar on bass, Maureen Amaral on tenor sax and Tom Stancampiano on trumpet. The guitarist even had a cameo when he was pulled out to play flirtatiously up front, doubling as a singer’s love interest.\

The six-member ensemble then entered dancing to the band’s opening number of “Round the Beehive/Let’s Rock,” which set up a high-energy bar. We hear a radio announcer share some brief news items from 1960 to bring us back in time. And then Wanda (Zoe Cantor) – wearing a striking, hot pink Go Go dress with sexy boots to match – steps up to introduce herself and her fellow five leading ladies in a rollicking “The Name Game” number. If you don’t recall the song’s title, you’ll quickly recognize Shirley Ellis’s “Bonana fanna … Fee fy mo” nonsense name-rhyming scheme! That’s how we also meet Gina (Annaya Charlicia who co-serves as Dance Capt.), Pattie (Anneliese Wolfanger), Laura (Rachel Whittington, who also co-serves as Dance Capt.), Jasmine (Noelle Nicholas), and hesitant young Alison (Samara Shavrick), who feels her name is a tough one to rhyme, and is thrilled when she succeeds, nonetheless.

Here I must add that every single one of these lovely vocalists provided powerful, beautiful renditions of their featured sixties songs. As triple-threat actors, they also performed and danced with aplomb! “The Name Game” also provided an early opportunity for audience interaction when Wanda stepped down among us and chose three volunteers to sing out their names to the rhyming Game with her Beehive gang and anyone who wished to sing along. 

In 1960, the “young girls” in our show mostly sported high-teased beehives or flips (Amalia Phend wig design) and extra-bright, flowery or flowing attire (thanks to Penelope Williams’ costume design). I must say they looked pretty good – despite their over-the-top hairdos … and a lot better than my cringey eighth-grade, beehive-teased graduation picture. 

1960 news highlights note a charismatic John F. Kennedy elected president, everybody doing The Twist, and Elvis Presley’s release from the army. Then one of our Beehive group points out that female singers of the time had zeroed in on issues concerning her 13-year-old self. Namely: boys, boys, boys . . . getting them, keeping them, breaking up and getting even. All teen typical. But these young women also felt they were at the forefront of a new generation whose fuddy-duddy elders simply couldn’t understand. Also, typical. (Only later would the sixties come to be defined by a more extreme generational shift spearheaded by counterculture activism and ideology.)

But first these young girls felt the day’s rather innocent love (and heartbreak) songs spoke directly to them. Like Pattie & Ensemble in “It’s My Party … and I’ll Cry if I want to.” “Come See About Me” by Alison & Ensemble, and “You Can’t Hurry Love” by Alison, Jasmine & Ensemble. There’s some developing adult sensitivity in The Shirelles’ reality-check song, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” starring Laura & Ensemble. This song is also famous for being the first song by a Girl Group to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. 

But wistful hope lives on via Alison’s “Where the Boys Are” that follows. Wanda & Ensemble clinches this age of innocence with “Then He Kissed Me” which tells a story of infatuation followed by nothing more than a kiss, but continues in time, culminating in the traditional “happy ending” of a marriage proposal. And so, Act 1 and the Beehive-era comes to an end with Wanda & Ensemble’s titular “The Beehive Dance” before we head into intermission.

Though not listed as separate “Acts,” this does form the perfect break before stiff beehives are replaced by wild and free-flowing hippie hair and barely there miniskirts. Then long and loose, peasant maxis. We enter the age of Doo Wop, and despite 1964’s Beatlemania and “The British Invasion,” we still adore strong female vocalists like Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner. 

Still, November 1963 marks the end of “Camelot” with President Kennedy’s assassination. Civil Rights optimism is also darkened several years later by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968. All the upbeat numbers in Act 1 are suddenly swept into the past, as we return from intermission to an intensely soulful and moving rendition of “Abraham, Martin, and John” featuring Laura, Wanda, & Ensemble. Though I must say, this song, which is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes, is nonetheless so shivery beautiful that it’s well-worth embracing as a tribute to the heroic sacrifice of our greatest leaders and an all-too-contemporary warning to remain vigilant and protect the conscience-driven activists of our times. 

The late sixties also featured iconic songs by British stars like Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man” performed by Pattie & Ensemble, and Scottish Lulu’s rendition of “To Sir, With Love,” sung here by Laura & Ensemble. Along with American Queen of Rock ‘n Roll Tina Turner’s “River Deep-Mountain High” and “Proud Mary” performed by Gina & Ensemble. 

Then came the comment by one of our singers who happened to hitch a ride in 1968 to a farm in upstate New York to meet up with about “a half-million likeminded friends.” At Woodstock, they had three things in common: Peace, Love, and Music. Our Beehive vocalist insists that out of all the performers at the festival, Janis Joplin was her favorite. (Joplin’s lengthy Woodstock set list is legendary.)

We enjoyed a bit of a singalong to the refrain of Aretha Franklin’s powerful “Chain of Fools” by Gina & Ensemble, who followed with a solo of “Natural Woman.” Then Laura entertained us with three fan favorites, ending in “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)/Me and Bobby McGee.” 

Despite its full-speed-ahead profusion of memorable hits, the show was still over too soon, concluding with the Ensemble’s rendition of “Make Your Own Kind of Music.” Speaking of “music,” they then introduced each member of the band who joined the six Beehive superstar singers for bows onstage. All were met by a well-deserved standing ovation.

Before you go, I want to compliment a few more production miracle workers. Stage manager Bridget Linda Froemming kept the endlessly moving and dancing cast right on cue. Striking hexagonal honeycomb patterns projected onto the back wall throughout the show served as frames for photos of famous singers, politicians, and activists of the time, along with notations of musical periods. For this enlightening and artistic backstory presentation, we can thank technical director Jimmy Cartree and lighting designer Desiraé Merritt who worked with scenic designer Kat Davis. Kat Davis also had master carpenter Jeff Davis build two raised platforms at either side of the stage for the performers, and an old-fashioned trunk labeled “Bee Hive Tour Trunk” in the corner, adding functionality and interest. Sound technicians Jackson McKenna and Marcus Smith also performed flawlessly. 

Don’t miss your chance to revisit all the energy and fabulous music of the 1960s. And if you’re too young to have been there and only heard stories of this magical decade, grab this opportunity to dive into the experience – at least from a female point of view! BEEHIVE: THE ORIGINAL 1960’s MUSICAL is playing now through September 27 at the Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th Street, Delray Beach 33444. Tickets at Home – Delray Beach Playhouse or call 561-272-1281.