BWW Reviews: THE ANDREWS BROTHERS Barge Their Way Onto the Allenberry Playhouse Stage

Let's start with the very obvious: Roger Bean's 2008 play, THE ANDREWS BROTHERS, is not high art. It's not gripping drama, it's not Shakespeare, it's not an English sex farce, it's not Noel Coward. It's something else entirely, something that touches the essence of traditional American musical theatre: it's lightweight fun. And more especially, if you haven't caught up to the rebirth of swing (or to Bette Midler and to Christina Auguilera) and you think that 1940's jazz and popular music is strictly for little old blue-haired ladies, you might want to see this and learn otherwise. This production of the show, directed and choreographed by Allenberry Playhouse regular Mykel Vaughn, has barely opened and its run has already been extended, as is well-deserved, so get your tickets now.

Plot? What plot? Does a jukebox musical typically need a plot? (And if it does, if it's anything like the ROCK OF AGES movie, you won't be able to follow it anyway.) Like a Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters comedy, this features music, dance, and total chaos, in a classic World War Two setting. The thin-as-a-rail excuse for the music is simple: three 4-F brothers working as USO stagehands at a Pacific island naval base are preparing for the big Andrews Sisters show the night before everyone ships out, when word comes to them that the show must be cancelled because LaVerne has chicken pox. "Poor LaVerne!" becomes the refrain of brother Lawrence... who winds up singing her part, in her costume that arrives before the show is cancelled. Because, yep, the girl singer and pinup beauty who arrived early agrees with Lawrence, Max, and Patrick that morale will be ruined without a show... and decides that the three brothers, who may be stagehands but who can - hey, it's a musical, why not! - sing and dance like anything, should go on stage as the Andrews Sisters and do their act. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland couldn't have more "hey kids, let's put on a show!" enthusiasm.

The first act introduces us to Lawrence, Max, and Patrick, respectively played by Allenberry veteran Michael C. Brown and newcomers Gregory Dassonville and Calvin David Malone. All three are very good singers, and their vocal harmonies are more than equal to carrying off the Andrews Sisters... in baritone. The "girl singer" is Peggy Jones, played by Allenberry newcomer Casey Weems, who has little difficulty in pulling off her World War II vintage jazz vocals with the theatre's pit band. A special mention must be made of the band for this show, which not only contributes to the décor in their own WWII Army uniforms, but who may be enjoying themselves as much as the audience is enjoying them. The brothers acquit themselves admirably in a fine trio of "Rosie the Riveter" (complete with the famous poster), and - of course there's a love interest - Patrick and Peggy have a lovely duet of "On a Slow Boat to China".

As for the second act, serious drag is serious business - everyone is prepared to accept that RuPaul is an artist - but most humans find little funnier than men who aren't competent in women's clothing going about in it. This act is the Andrews Sisters' USO show being not-quite massacred by the Andrews Brothers in the more famous trio's outfits and heels. Uncoordinated in women's shoes and utterly unable to manage the grace required to move in skirts, none of them a soprano in the least, they open with a version of "Hold Tight (Want Some Seafood, Mama)" that ought to close a show that's not being performed within a musical. Note cards with words, shoes falling off, and skirts flying up (over wildly patterned boxer shorts beneath) are only a few of the pitfalls that start the USO show, and, despite all possible assistance by Peggy, never leave it. But for all the showbiz disgrace being displayed on stage, at no point is the singing anything but fine.

It's clean. It's wholesome. It's patriotic. Those are three things that normally suggest a modern show might be unappealing to a younger or more sophisticated audience. But no - it's funny as sin. And it's got a performance of "Any Bonds Today" that may be rivaled only by the Bugs Bunny version; it's a bit difficult to determine which is funnier. Kudos to Mykel Vaughn for solid direction and tight pacing, and for choreographing some nicely staged "accidents" on stage as well as the dance routines,

The cast is uniformly talented, and though Casey Weems is barely a year out of her B.F.A., she's showing a definite maturity of performance. Dassonville is a national tour veteran, with fine comic timing as well as a fine voice. Brown's talents are always welcome on the Allenberry stage, and Malone is a welcome addition whom we might hope to see on stage again in the area. The play? It's a thinly veiled excuse to see these four younger talents sing some of the most popular music of the last century.

At Allenberry, extended through May 5 (don't count on another extension; it's the first show of a busy season). Call 717-258-3211 or visit allenberry.com for tickets.

Photo credit: Cindy King

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