Drenched in a nostalgia for the 1950s — think hula hoops, poodle skirts and hot rods; think bouffants, bobby socks and beatniks — Allen Summer Youth Theatre’s production of “Rock Around the Block” plunges the audience into the innocent world of Louise’s Luncheonette.
There, a group of singing and dancing teenagers, led by Gracie Stanley, plot to bring Ziggy Springer — only the biggest rock and roll star ever! — to play at their high school dance.
When Ziggy threatens to bail on the gig, however, Gracie and her friends are forced into an elaborate scheme, around which the musical’s comic plot turns.
The production will be unveiled to the public at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Allen Community College Theatre. Admission is free.
Gracie is played by the bubbly Karly McGuffin, whose immensely watchable talents alone form the stanchions on which the entire production rests.
Ziggy is portrayed by Judd Wiltse, who delivers his usual offbeat charisma to the role of the mythic rock-and-roller. While Ziggy doesn’t get a ton of stage-time, it’s worth attending the show simply to see him deliver a Presleyesque performance of the song “Oh, Baby!” Leaning into the microphone with a large, black pompadour wig clinging to his head like a frightened raccoon, Wiltse swishes his hips to the beat, a flicker of the King in his gyrating prime.
The nearest thing to conflict this boundlessly sunny production introduces comes in the form of the “teen queens” — a trio of mean girls, led by Muffin Mansfield (Allie Fager), who spend most of the play hurling snarky comments and curdling looks at the ever-cheery Gracie. Jie Jie Burleson and Lexie Vega play Muffin’s sidekicks with scorn-pouring perfection. But, such is the nature of musical comedies, that by the end of the show the splinters of ice in these teens’ hearts have melted and they’re prancing around the stage in song with the rest of the gang.
This sunny production delivers a parade of outrageously fun ‘50s archetypes.
Angie Whitmore plays Louise, the tell-it-like-it-is diner owner, who delivers her lines in a rich Brooklynese that lands somewhere between Bernie Sanders and the young Rhea Perlman.
Karson McGraw plays Jughead Jarvis, the soda slurping, comic-books obsessed dumdum, whose non-importance to the plot is redeemed by his barrage of daffy one-liners.
Drew Tucker is Donald Spinney, the soda jerk around which an important plot surprise revolves.
The good-souled waitress at Louise’s is played by the ever-excellent Brynna Hollins.
Carolyn Appleton plays Gracie’s one tried-and-true friend.
Parker Smith, as Bob Stanley, Gracie’s brother, owns the funniest moment in a musical long on laughs.
And circling the margins of the play are Sinbad Gallucci — a leather-jacket-wearing greaser — and his moll Misty, a self-described beatnik, who dons a black beret and bangs a tambourine against her thigh when she wants to make a point.
The pair is played with comic excellence by Jake Ard and Abby Valentine.
