Almost a year after its opening on Broadway, The Marvelous Wonderettes continues to  swing  to the oldies with an all new cast. Misty Cotton, Christina Decicco, Lindsay Mendez and Kirsten Bracken belt out songs of yester-yesteryear and rarely miss a beat in the process.

The Marvelous Wonderettes is not a complex musical with a strong storyline, nor does it pretend to be.  For the most part, the storyline of four teenage friends performing as stand-ins at their high school prom fits evenly into the music that dominated the airwaves of 1958. During the ten year reunion, the plot is forced a bit into the more contemporary sounds of the 60’s.  An older audience, which is what the musical often attracts, would be more forgiving of the lulls in the plot in favor of hearing dozens of the tunes they came to hear by a capable cast.

And for a musical weak on plot, the cast proves to be stellar as a whole. Individually, some performances shine over others. Misty Cotton plays the bookish Missy Miller convincingly with a powerful voice and natural charisma in her interactions with the audience. Lindsay Mendez sinks her teeth into the juiciest role of tomboy Billie Jean Reynolds. She is playful at just the right pitch with a surprisingly solid voice, especially on her solo numbers. Bad girl Cindy Lou Huffington and good girl Suzy Simpson are played competently if not uneven at times by Christina Decicco and Kirsten Bracken respectively. Where their acting flourishes, genuinely connecting, the voices do not translate so easily from the numbers of the 50’s to the weightier 60’s numbers.  

Overall, The Marvelous Wonderettes are not as marvelous as they would like, but definitely provide a night of entertainment. The audience reaction may depend squarely upon age. Older viewers will appreciate the trip down memory lane, while younger theatergoers may find the whole production a night karaoke questionably worth the price of admission.

by EJ Jacobs