<b>THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES: Dream On </b>4410 Bailey Avenue, Amherst/O'Connell & Company SpeakupWNY | Buffalo NY and Buffalo News

Through November 24
THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES: Dream On 4410 Bailey Ave. Amherst/O’Connell & Company

For generations across much of the 20th Century, “girl groups” were a major part of the music scene.
These weren’t bands or the classic female fronting a (mostly male) band.
Instead, it was women singing together, ranging from the McGuire Sisters to the Ronettes to the Supremes.
Below that in the hierarchy of music performance were those street corner groups or those which performed in their schools.
In 1958 fiction, one of those groups was the Marvelous Wonderettes in Springfield High School, formed to perform at the Senior Prom.
In this production in O’Connell & Company, the group has reformed a decade later for the retirement party of a veteran teacher in the high school and the four girls are now women: Dasia Cervi’s Cindy Lou: Smirna Mercedes’ Betty Jean; Casey Moyer’s Missy; and, Audrianna Yates’ Suzie.
They are also hooked into the community and high school gossip networks and it’s amazing how much gossip there is in a high school, student or faculty.
Remember?
That’s the first half, that retirement party and the flow of music, heavy on the music of Fifties and Sixties.
The second act is their 20th reunion, with more music, lots of disco and militancy
This is the music of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies.
The afternoon I saw “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” the audience was familiar with the music, saying something.
There is a lot of good music along the way, both ensemble and single, like Mercedes and the group with “I Will Survive” or Moyer and the others with “Love Will Keep Us Together.”
There’s also Cervi and the cast with “You’re No Good” and Yates on the panel with “Lonely Night.”
The four provide the combined “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” and “Someday We’ll Be Together,” reaching back to end of the original Supremes, and “Downtown.”
Creator Roger Bean put together something beyond the “juke box” musicals, with a parade of songs from a composer or a group.
This is an attempt to put some reality into the performers on stage, not just dancing voices.
It all works.
Joey Bucheker is director and choreographer and that’s really needed because music and dancing mix so much on O’Connell & Company’s stage in Amherst.
Bucheker also designed the wigs, important here because of the time and the places.
The scenic design from Reuben Julius Schwartz helps tell the story because of the color backdrop variations in the two acts.
“The Marvelous Wonderettes” is more than a little fluffy, although it’s well done and the music tells something about time and place.

A.W.