Review: Two rousing musicals harness woman power

Two theater productions in Charleston right now are serving  as effervescent, toe-tapping proof that local audiences will enthusiastically root for heroines who assert brain power, all while belting out rousing numbers. 

First, Charleston Stage has a glitzy go at the musical adaptation of the beloved film Legally Blonde. At Pure Theatre, the world premiere of Pleasure Never Lies has a go at the male gaze of gender dynamics. 

Women’s rights have taken more than a few tumultuous tumbles on the national playing field of late. It’s heartening, then, to see plots featuring self-possessed females besting those who are aimed at them continue to rate — even if only as entertaining, Broadway-style fare. 

Legally Blonde

You’re likely familiar with the source material for Legally Blonde, which is the film adaptation of Amanda Brown’s novel on the pink-positive plight of Elle Woods. Her blonde ambition takes the form of recapturing the heart of her college sweetheart Warner by joining his class at Harvard Law School.

Credit: Reese Moore Photography.

This is the first production I’ve seen of the musical, which debuted on Broadway in 2007, featuring music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach. At Charleston Stage, where it runs through May 4, a lavish, lithe show doles out easy-on-the-ears numbers, infectious eye-candy in set and styles, numerous comedic turns and generally feel-good vibes. 

Directed by Marybeth Clark, Legally Blonde production features music direction by Sam Henderson conducting a nine-piece orchestra; inspired, energized choreography by Cara Dolan and rightfully rosy scenic design by Adam Jehle and costume design by Hayley O’Brien. 

And, while it likely won’t nestle in your psyche for the long haul, it amiably bubbles along, from its first frothy number borrowing from Elle’s stock phrase, “Omigod You Guys,” which is sung by Delta Nu sorority sisters who later become a Greek chorus for Elle. 

Unapologetically fair-haired and feminine, Elle rarely wavers from those tried-and-true ways, though learns that they need not be mutually exclusive to making full use of her mind.

At Charleston Stage, this is buoyed by a charismatic, winning performance by Camryn Duckworth, with an able assist from Raymond Cronley as the lightweight love interest Warner; Abigail Vernon as the self-serious Vivienne; Eddie Weaver as the earnest Emmett and Joe Spiotta as the starchy, sketchy Professor Callahan. Props go in particular to Rylee Coppel as Elle’s manicurist pal Paulette, portrayed with a Boston brogue and likeable comic zeal.

All in all, this pink-polished show giddily washes over you like the hallmark hue the company is projecting on the Dock Street Theatre facade. The struggle may be rosy of tone, but, girlfriend,  it remains all too real. 

Pleasure Never Lies

Its abiding appeal (evidenced by multiple tours and some sold-out shows in this production) may also bode well for Pleasure Never Lies, the world-premiere, Charleston-hatched work at Cannon Street Arts Center via Pure Theatre through May 3. 

Credit: David Mandel Photography

Directed by Sharon Graci, the new musical converges the considerable talents of two Broadway veterans, Charleston’s Brad Moranz (music) and Marshall Hagins (book and lyrics), along with a half-dozen actors, a four-person band and bird puppeteers, too. 

Taking place mainly in an ornithology lab in a Papa New Guinea jungle, we follow rag-tag group of post-doc scientists researching a feathered swell under the guidance of their eyes-on-the-prize professor, Charles (Matt Shingledecker). 

New to the cohort is Sam (the sweet-piped Kindred Moore), an aspiring ornithologist with bold notions on bird-mating that could up end the fittest Darwinian.  Female choice, she asserts, is the true driver of evolution. 

That runs afoul of the scientific status quo, one readily embraced by Charles, a biologist and her paramour. On the other hand, a post-doc named Tyler, is open to her theories. All this plays out in hummable, smart numbers that make sport of scientific rigor in songs like “A Special Kind of Hell,” lamenting the post-doc path, and “Observable Facts,” and human impulses too, by way of songs like “I’m Not Gonna F*ck it Up” and the culminating “Pleasure Never Lies.” These segue with explorations of pitfalls of male-female dynamics like “Honest Signaling” and “Females Choose the Song.” 

All are accompanied by live music (with music director Demetrius Doctor on keys; Ron Wiltrout on drums; Jake Miley on guitar and Jake Holwegner on bass). They also get regular assist also from dynamic bird puppets highlighted in scrims in an effective set designed by Madison Berry.

True, on the performance I attended, some of the cast had quite achieved solid footing, wither in delivery of song or characterization, but it fully engaged all the while. Standouts were Tiffany Parker as Sheila, a documentary maker with an imperfect past, who immediately gained strong and comedic command of the stage–and kept it. She was well-matched by Teresa Catherine as her love interest, post doc Becky.

With its probing questions, smart score and absorbing story, there is much to mine in Pleasure Never Lies, and much to celebrate in mounting a new work with talent from Charleston and beyond.

Like the bold notions entertained by the inquisitive Sam, Pleasure Never Lies puts forth just the brand of experimentation and professional rigor that can help ensure our local arts scene evolves and thrives. But enjoy it for yourself. After all, pleasure never lies.

Want to go?

• Legally Blonde:  Shows run through May 4.  Adult tickets are $59.25 to $101.25.  Dock Street Theatre, 135 Church St., Charleston. 

• Pleasure Never Lies:  Shows through May 3.  Adult tickets are $50; students, $12. Pure Theatre at  Cannon Street Arts Center, 134 Cannon St., Charleston.

Award-winning City Paper arts writer Maura Hogan is founder of Culture South.

Related

Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.

Help support independent journalism by donating today.

[empowerlocal_ad sponsoredarticles]

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}