Feelin’ Groovy
Feelin’ Groovy
Musical Direction by Chris Leavy
The Winter Park Playhouse
Winter Park, FL</strong>
Don’t worry about eating the brown acid, this show save the psychedelics for fashion and focuses on the Brill building sound of AM radio. “Feelin’ Groovy” and “Up, Up, and Away” open the show sung in harmony by the whole cast. Backing them we hear Winter Park Playhouse stalwarts Chris Leavy on piano and Sam Forrest on percussion. While anti-war politics are missing, the vocal work makes up for any missed and misremembered moments from four long decades of our collective and hopefully graceful aging. Jeff Clark and Todd Mummert wield a mean falsetto, they give it a tease with Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” but let fly with both barrels with Franki Valli’s “Sherry.” Say what you will about tight jeans, these guys can sing two keys above what a normal guy might hit on a good day, and it carries over to anther toe tapper “Walk Like A Man.” Mirroring the guys we have Luerne Herrera with a heartfelt rendition of Joni Mitchells “Clouds” and Melissa Vasquez belting the soul standards “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” All the troops pulled together to cover the one hit wonder Spiral Starecase’s “More Today Than Yesterday” and wrapped up with a nice Beatles medley, ending with “Hey Jude.” That song still brings a tear to my eye. “Feelin’ Groovy” fits right into the hot summer groove, its pop tunes are suitable for the beach or barbeque and you’ll never runs the risk of potato salad poisoning at the bar.
For more information on Winter Park Playhouse, please visit http://www.winterparkplayhouse.org
