“SHOUT!’ HURRAY FOR THIS MOD MUSICAL OF THE 60’S

Let’s get groovy, put on a psychedelic t-shirt, tease your hair into a football helmet and bop on over to the Ivoryton Playhouse for one heck of a musical good time.  Bring a bunch of coins for the live juke box of a band and prepare to party hearty and dance with joy.

Until Sunday, April 6, the tempo will be lively, bouncy, upbeat and fast as “Shout! The Mod Musical” makes musical magic. Created by Philip George and David Lowenstein, the mood is merry and just right for toe-tapping, glad hand clapping and just plain jane fun.

There’s no real deep story line, just a mod magazine “Shout!” that screams current fashions and foibles of females of the sixties, brought to bubbling life by a quintet of glam gals in a vibrancy of colors.  Jennifer Lorne is blue girl, Tamala Baldwin is yellow girl, Mikah Horn is orange, Monica Bradley is green and Bethany Fitzgerald is red. Each gal, dressed in her signature color, has a unique personality and the particular problems that plague her.

In a variety of clothing short and long, spangles and stripes, with appropriate wigs that capture the hair fashions of the day, these girls serenade with tunes like “Downtown,” “Georgy Girl,” “Don’t Sleep in the Subway,” “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ “ and “To Sir, With Love,” thirty great songs in all.

The women who range in age and sophistication from their twenties to their forties, all have questions about men, love and relationships. They address them to Shout! Magazine’s supposedly savvy advice columnist Gwendolyn Holmes (Beverley Taylor) with varying degrees of success.  Set in London, these females want to be strong and independent, “birds” with colorful feathers who are ready and able to fly free on their own.

The magazine’s hipster voice (Steve Phelan) chronicles their journey through the sixties to the cusp of 1970.  Jacqueline Hubbard directs this rainbow hued song fest that captures the changing attitudes of women of that time and place, with a great cast that makes you want to "kick up your heels and shout."

For tickets ($42, seniors $37, students $20, children $15 ), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org.  Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2 p.m.

Grab your go-go boots, squeeze into a mini-skirt, practice the frug, the twist and the swim, and bogey to the beautiful beat!