Audiences at Florida Repertory Theatre are being transported back to the swinging 1960s with "Shout! The Mod Musical" with some iconic songs that are sure to take you down memory lane.
This is a show packed with polyester mini skirts and knee-high boots as well as a ton of great songs that inspired a new awakening for women throughout the 1960s including "Downtown", "These Boots We're Made For Walking" and "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", just to name a few of the 30 songs that make this musical revue rather than a musical play.
The costumes really help set the time period and the set puts audiences right in the heart of London.
Don't expect much depth or any story in this show as it doesn't exist. In fact, the characters don't even have names but instead are identified by colors. Five very colorful women gave a standout performance as each wrote to a "Dear Abby" style columnist for a fictional magazine called Shout! Columnist Gwendolyn Holmes, who is never seen, and only heard, however, sounds much more like Lady Whistledown from Bridgerton and I truly love this. Her advice to the young teen women is dated and by today's standards, downright absurd which actually makes it comical. Some of the funniest lines in this show I believe are delivered by the columnist.
The five main characters in the show have beautiful voices and are absolutely a pleasure to watch.
They include Taylor Aronson as Blue Girl, Natalie Brouwer as Yellow Girl, Renee Jackson as Green Girl, Bailey Reeves as Orange Girl, and Jacqueline St. Pierre as Red Girl. Each has its own unique style and alto voice, but they blend beautifully together.
While the orchestra is only partially seen they too do an amazing job and never miss a beat.
The show takes us up to the early 1970s as women's lib really took hold and no longer was girl-looking-to-meet-boy, get married, cook, clean, and raise a family. This is truly a show for the pioneer women who helped girls and women in general to become anything they want and that was a gratifying and liberating ending for me, and it was really about my mother's generation whom we should all be grateful to. It gave me pause to think about that.
Overall, I enjoyed this show filled with hip-swiveling hits and eye-popping fashions and there is still time left to catch the show as it runs through April 13th. For more information visit FloridaRep.org or call the box office at 239-332-4488 or toll-free at 877-787-8053.
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