All Hands on Deck: The Musical
All Hands on Deck: The Musical
Conceived by Jody Madaras and Quincy Marr
Book and arrangements by Jody Madras
Directed by Roy Alan
Musical Direction by Chris Leavy
Winter Park Playhouse, Winter Park, FL</strong>
If we got nothing else from WW2, we now have a constant stream of Off Broadway musicals keeping the Andrews Sisters and Glenn Miller in the public eye. With a small, tight cast and an equally large musical section, tonight we return to that eternal USO show aimed at cheering up the troops before they head Over There. The older guy singing is local favorite Todd S. Mummert; his side kick is Joshua Roth with his larger than life smile. The girls are Rebecca Jo Cross and Kayla Kelsey Morales, and the band is prominetly on stage with shy drummer Sam Forrest front and center. We all have to do our part, I guess.
The show is split in two notional segments; the first set somewhere between Jacksonville and Miami, and the second an impromptu radio broadcast due to some mysterious weather phenomenon. But the tunes stay in the same genre: upbeat classic pop tunes. All the songs are fun. “Atkinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe,” “Bring Enough Clothes for Three Days,” and “Der Fuehrer’s Face “ are the fun tunes you never hear; “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” “Sentimental Journey” and “Bei Mir Bist Du Schein” are the ones you hear over and over yet never lose your taste for. There’s a strong patriotic theme; “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “America the Beautiful” and a call out to the veterans in the audience give the whole show an even higher patriotic sheen; and with the tight stage spacing it’s hard to do much choreography beyond a little very tightly compressed tap. Put on your flag pins, forget your least favorite candidate and march right down to this show.
For more information on Winter Park Playhouse, please visit http://www.winterparkplayhouse.org
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