The Catskill Chronicle

Story by Carol Montana, photos provided

ELLENVILLE, NY (July 24, 2011) – If you like the music from the 40s, if the memories of Maxine, Laverne and Patty – collectively known as the Andrews Sisters – send you swaying and beating “Eight to the Bar,” or, if you just love a good story accompanied by great music, then Shadowland’s latest production, “The Andrews Brothers” is for you.

Written by Roger Bean who also created Shadowland’s 2010 recording-breaking musical hit “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” “The Andrews Brothers” has been described as part Marx Brothers, Part Hope and Crosby, and part Lucy and Ethel. Whichever part you subscribe to, great music and fun are guaranteed.

The setting is a south Pacific island during WWII, where the three Andrews brothers named Max (Gordon Maniskas), Lawrence (Josh Kenney) and Patrick (Michael Alan Jacobs) are getting ready for a USO show starring The Andrews Sisters. (Did you notice that the characters share a similarity in names with the famous sisters?)

The opening act, pin-up girl Peggy Jones (Erin Crosby) is onsite and ready to rehearse with the boys, thinking they are her backup singers instead of the stagehands they really are. And indeed, their singing is top-notch as they belt out hit after hit like The Hut-Sut Song, Mairzy Doats, Hula Wana-Hini Medley, Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive, and eight other popular songs from the WWII era, getting into the mood for the show.

As Act I continues, a romance develops between Peggy and the shy Patrick, giving director and choreographer Michael LeFleur additional motivation for his oh-so-clever staging of the romantic songs like Slow Boat to China.

The show’s crisis (there’s always a crisis) comes when a telegram arrives announcing that the Andrews Sisters are in quarantine because of LaVerne’s chicken pox, and the show will have to be canceled.

But theatre people know that the show must always go on, and Act II consists of its brilliant resurrection, which includes another 16 wonderful songs, great costumes by Holly Lewis Budd, outrageous make-up, the perfect set designs of Drew Francis, the clever use of props designed by Paul Delamerter, and the appropriately atmospheric lighting design of Ariel Benjamin, plus, of course, the superb singing talents of the quartet of fine actors.

The audience clearly delighted in the songs which featured I Want to Linger, Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree, Rum and Coca Cola, and perhaps the best known Andrews Sisters’ classic, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

Five-star musical accompaniment for this swinging musical is provided by Jake Lentz on keyboard, Larry Balestra and Mark Heinsman on percussion, David Winograd and Bruce Jackson play bass and Zachary Seman, James Fitzwilliam and Lee Stowe share the synthesizer duties, all led by Musical Director Bobby Perry.

There is no doubt that you will leave “The Andrews Brothers” with a song on your lips and in your heart.

You can catch “The Andrews Brothers” in its extended run now through August 14 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and on Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $30 for Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances, and $25 for Sunday matinees. There is a Senior and Student Discount of $2.

The Shadowland Theatre is located at 157 Canal Street in Ellenville. Call the Shadowland Box Office at 845-647-5511.