Review: SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER at Stage Door Theatre

Stage Door Theatre presents the musical Saturday Night Fever featuring music and lyrics by The Bee Gees, and a book by Nan Knighton (in collaboration with Arlene Phillips, Paul Nicholas, and Robert Stigwood). The musical is based on both Nik Cohn's 1975 New York Magazine article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night", and the block-buster film that rocketed John Travolta to fame it inspired in 1977, Saturday Night Fever.

Set in 1977, the plot focuses on a Brooklyn youth named Tony Manero. He lives at home with his parents and younger sister, working a boring job at a paint store. His family struggles to make ends meet as his father has been temporarily laid-off from his job. Tony lives in the shadow of an older brother continually praised by his parents for being a priest. As he hangs out with a quartet of four goofy, dead-beat friends, he understandably seeks an outlet where he can feel special and validated, He finds the attention he is looking for dancing at the local discotheque. There he garners the admiration of the crowd, and tries to form a romantic relationship with the girl of his dreams Stephanie Mangano.

A handsome Daniel Velasquez is near perfection as Tony Manero, His moves slickly through all his dance moves without a hair out of place. Appropriate to his character, he at times a contemporary fashion plate exuding sensuality, while at others socially clumsy and childish. His only flaw is that he doesn't always capture the vocal style of the time period with his songs, though he does sing them well. This is a recurring issue for some of the cast as they miss the mark with their vocal style in this very specific musical time period. The ensemble also seems to make no attempt to blend with one another on group numbers.

Velasquez is paired with Tony's two potential love interests. The first is Annette (Sandi Stock), for whom he can muster only platonic interest despite her persistent efforts. Stock portrayal of the earnest Annette culminates in a heartfelt rendition of "If I Can't Have You" as she laments her unrequited love for Tony. Stock successfully captures the emotion and the style of the song.

Tony's second love interest is Stephanie Mangano (Alexandra Milbrath), a polished and pretty (and slightly older) girl with her sights set on getting out of Brooklyn. She has a certain elegance in the way that she carries herself, but has no palpable chemistry with Velasquez and fails to really establish her character.

Tony's tangle of friends range in humor and believability. I most enjoyed Sean Davis as Joey and Bruno Faria as Bobby C as they had the clearest character choices and seemed the most present throughout the show.

Kat Gold as Candy is a soulful songstress of Disco. With a huge voice and the epitome of the style of the era, she sings songs like Disco Inferno with the all attitude of a reigning Disco diva. Unfortunately her character is never fleshed out in the script, and is disconnected with others through no fault of the actress.

"Disconnected" is the unfortunately the word of the day when it comes to this musical. In an effort to make it a family-friendly show, many of the film's darker elements, including references to racial conflict, drug use, and violence, were eliminated from the plot of the musical. By doing this the writers have removed a good deal of the issues that frame the story, and place the characters at risk emotionally. Though the original movie script has been preserved in most of the stage musical, the songs from the film have been placed as though they should spring organically motivated from the scene. This was not the case in the film, and expecting it to work this way on stage without considerable rewrites is frightfully naïve.

In addition to these inherent issues of disconnection, this Stage Door Theatre production suffers from a few issues of its own. The set design with it's upstage panels separates the action between scenes. Entrances and exits through the panels do not create smooth transitions, and the actors sometimes look awkward coming through them for no reason to sing their songs. Attempts to cover the transitions between scenes could have more effectively been done through the use of projections. The staging of the two brothers in Tony's bedroom, and the second act bridge scene is clumsy. Costuming and choreography are solid, but at some points in the show the dancing stops becoming joyful and exuberant, and just becomes filler.

The sights and sounds of the 70's are awesome - and the clothes, the hair, the music, the dancing and attitude are all there in this production of Saturday Night Fever at the Stage Door Theatre. As much as you may love the film, script issues, scenic design and clear direction may not place this production at the top of your list of favorite shows to see this season.

The original stage adaptation of Saturday Night Fever premiered in the West End at the London Palladium on May 5, 1998, closing on February 26, 2000. After twenty-seven previews, a Broadway production opened at the Minskoff Theatre, on October 21, 1999 where it ran for 501 performances. In January of 2017, NorthCore Productions and 2 Luck Concepts LLC launched a 32-city tour of the U.S. and Canada, featuring a revised book by Sean Cercone and David Abbinanti and new songs by David Abbinanti.

The Bee Gees were a pop music trio formed in 1958, that consisted of Brittish born brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. They had exceptional success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and were prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. With tight harmonies, Robin's clear lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their Signature Sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists. At one point in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Bee Gees have received eight Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, one BRIT Award, and one World Music Award. The Bee Gees have sold more than 220 million records worldwide, placing them among the world's best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Saturday Night Fever will be appearing at the Stage Door Theatre through October 15, 2017. Stage Door Theatre is located at 8036 W. Sample Rd in Coral Springs, Florida. The Stage Door Theatre is a not-for-profit professional theatre company hiring local and non-local nonunion actors and actresses. Their two stages in Coral Springs are open year-round. For tickets and information on their season, you may contact them by phone at 954-344-7765 or on line at www.stagedoortheatre.com.

Cast:

• Tony Manero: Daniel Velasquez
• Stephanie Mangano: Alexandra Milbrath
• Bobby C: Bruno Faria
• Joey: Sean Davis
• Double J: Sean Dorazio
• Gus: Steddy Amory
• Annette: Sandi Stock
• Pauline: Kelly Ziegler
• Pete/Chester: Danny Durr
• Fusco/Frank Senior: Ben Prayz
• Candy: Kat Gold
• Flo: Elissa Solomon
• Frank Junior: Christopher Rodriquez
• Linda: Avery Whitacre
• Jay: Josh Conner
• Maria: Jennifer Fain
• Gabriel: Richard Anthony Forbes
• Connie: Natalie McPherson
• Cesar: Eduardo Uribe
• Shirley: Jenny Hagarty

Crew:

• Director/Projection Design: Kevin Black
• Music Director: Michael Friedman
• Choreographer: Danny Durr
• Set Design: Sean McClelland
• Lighting Design: Ardean Landhuis
• Sound: Rushnay Henry
• Costumes: Jerry Sturdefant
• Stage Manager: Nancy Clay

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