‘60s pop music takes over CenterStage tonight
Do you believe, as many people do, that the ‘60s were the greatest era ever for pop music?
You might want to check out the song list for “Suds, The Musical,” which opens tonight at CenterStage, Spokane’s professional dinner theater.
Get a load of these titles:
• “Please Mr. Postman.”
• “The Locomotion.”
• “These Boots Are Made For Walking.”
• “We Can Work It Out.”
• “I Know a Place.”
• “Chapel of Love.”
• “Respect.”
• “Baby, It’s You.”
• “Do You Want to Know a Secret.”
• “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
• “Johnny Angel.”
Those are just a sample, but you get the idea. “Suds” contains 51 songs (many of them performed as part of a medley), and most of them date from within five years, either way, of 1965.
“It’s a great show for summer,” said CenterStage musical director Leslie Ann Grove. “It doesn’t require anything too heavy from the audience. It’s a ‘60s melodrama soap-opera spoof.”
In other words, expect “Suds” to be frothy.
“Suds, The Musical” is what is called in theater parlance a “jukebox musical,” since the songs come straight from the oldies jukebox. Yet it is not an all-song revue. It has an original story line – by co-creators Steve Gunderson, Melinda Gilb and Bryan Scott – with plenty of campy potential.
For one thing, it takes place entirely in a Laundromat – thus the soapy title – at just about the time the Beatles arrived in America.
The story centers around the character of Cindy, who is undergoing a series of personal crises. Her boyfriend dumps her, her parents disappear and her cat dies. So she goes to the local Laundromat and tries to drown herself in the wash cycle.
She is saved by three strangers who shore up her spirits with a combination of love, support and (mostly) song. The story ends on a note of cheer (or maybe Cheer, since this is in a Laundromat.)
Since its premiere at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre in 1988, the show has been a hit at many regional theaters around the country. San Diego Tribune critic Welton Jones called it “chemically impossible to dislike.” This will be its first Spokane production.
The CenterStage cast includes Beth Black, Danae Lowman, Angela Snyder and Buddy Todd. Jessica McLaughlin directs.
Set designer Jason Laws has created a pastel-colored set, complete with movable washing machines, according to CenterStage artistic director Tim Behrens.