The 1960s were a challenging decade for the United States, full of political strife, societal upheaval and wars in foreign lands, but for every obstacle there were gleams of goodness, especially across the burgeoning world of popular entertainment and mass media.
With the development of TV and radio came the proliferation of pop music; a new tool for the voices of the few to be heard and messages of love and peace to be disseminated.
Enter “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” the brand new play showing at Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado. It looks to celebrate those voices, particularly those of women, and their influence on pop culture with their contributions to the musical landscape.
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T” was written by Kerry Meads and Vanda Eggington, Coronado inhabitants who have a long history with producing plays about the ’60s at Lamb’s. In fact, 30 years ago, they produced “BOOMERS,” another show about music from the ’60s, and in 2000, they produced, “American Rhythm,” celebrating 100 years of American music.
In this newest production, Meads and Eggington shine a spotlight on many of the biggest names in popular music of the ’60s, notably, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, and The Supremes. Actually, so many artists get a mention in the 90-minute production that it’s more of a floodlight than a spotlight.
With a stage set up like a ’60s variety show, the retro-modern look so perfectly captured by Austin Powers, the scene was as welcoming as walking onto the Ed Sullivan show or a late evening TV special. There were brightly colored symmetrical circle patterns around the frame of the performance area and a long curtain of tassels hanging from the ceiling that evoked the feeling of being hugged by a leather wearing stranger offering peace, tie-dye, and flowers.
When the lights went down, the tassel curtain served as a screen on which the names and faces of musical icons were projected.
The cast opened the play with an introduction of what the show was to be, delivered as if by the muses, reminiscent of the opening sequence of Disney’s “Hercules.”
This performance wasn’t to be a play, but a guided journey by the band and the cast into the music of the ’60s; a time capsule freshly unearthed full of gilded greatest-hits compilation records.
Within the first 20 minutes of the performance, the cast of six women were divided into two groups, each trio with their accompanying ’60s getups, to do a buffet-style presentation of girl bands.
The groups performed 30-second bits from The Shirelles, The Paris Sisters, The Ronettes, The Mermaids and countless more. To be able to commemorate so many artists in one go is commendable, but by the 20th group, the 30-second change-ups were whiplash inducing.
While the rapid-fire delivery of songs felt a little rushed, the show slowed down to start examining particular artists one by one. In these moments, the cast of singers were able to spread their wings a little bit more and dive a little deeper into their repertoires.
At this point, the cast had already shown an incredible ability to harmonize with each other, their harmonies and accompaniments were divine-like in their fragility and sustenance, but to hear all the performers on their own was an even greater treat.
Janaya Mahealani Jones, through several pieces, demonstrated an impeccable dynamic range that filled the loudest to softest notes with a consistent texture that was so rich you could almost touch it.
Sydney Joyner, who splendidly and successfully stepped up to cover Aretha Franklin, filled the room with her voice, accepting the challenge of trying to live-up to one of the greatest American singers of all time and thriving at it. Her crystalline voice sounded marvelous. It’s amazing she even required a microphone.
Through this back and forth of solo pieces and group arrangements, the pacing of the production struggled a bit, sometimes staying in one spot too long, other times rushing through second-long bits of an artist’s most popular songs. The use of skits and introductions, as well as the accompanying images and titles on the screen gave the plotless play a documentary-like presentation, a very creative direction for musical theater.
Fortunately, the voices carried the cast through the ’60s because the costumes did not.
Despite an excess of costume changes, many of them looked thrown together with no regard to how the performers would look while wearing them. Wigs seemed ready to fall off at a moments notice, and a pair of rainbow boots paired with a black and white checkered dress was an especially unflattering choice to depict what was meant to be colorful go-go girls.
It would be unfair not to mention that the performers changed outfits often enough to depict an extensive amount of iconic styles, but the effort does not match the execution and does not redeem the quality of the costumes.
Tightly arranged and well-researched, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” did its best at granting recognition to as many female musicians of the ’60s as possible. While more development and emphasis put into the substance rather than the style could have benefitted the play, it serves its function well.
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T” is a nice warm bowl of nostalgia soup that has a sniffly audience oohing and aahing to every song they recognize from Senior Prom 1965.
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T” is showing at Lamb’s Playhouse Theater from Wednesday through Sunday and has extended the production run until March 26.
