WHAT’S UP!


Visually and acoustically loud ‘Suds’ not pitch perfect but fairly fun ride


By Charlene Baldridge SDUN Theatre Critic


At Balboa Park’s Starlight Bowl on June 17, Starlight Musical Theatre opened its 64th


summer season with a San


Diego-sprung, four-performer piece titled “Suds: The Rocking 60’s [sic] Musical.” Written by San Diegans Melinda Gilb, Steve Gunderson and Bryan Scott, with musical arrangements by Gunderson, the cheerful, enjoyable survey of songs popular in the 1960s continues through July 4. It is suitable for the entire family. Opening night pre-curtain


and pre-Act II cheerleaders were Artistic Director Carlos Mendoza and Marketing and Public Relations Director Ryan Fahey. Both whooped it up, asking if everyone was having a good time. Fahey even announced that he would play the role of Cornelius in Starlight’s upcoming “Hello, Dolly.” It doesn’t get more “aw shucks!” Perhaps that’s in keeping with Starlight’s 1946 origins, when just about everyone did it for love. Starlight, which has had its financial ups and downs recently, is operating this season with a non-union orchestra. Longtime conductor Parmer Fuller is no more on


the podium, and for “Suds,” excellent San Diego composer/ keyboardist Rayme Sciarone is music director, keyboardist and conductor with four additional players in the pit. Perhaps in an effort to


make sure that the four actor/ singers – Samantha Mills as Cindy, Anise Ritchie as Marge, Courtney Corey as Dee Dee, and Kürt Norby as all the Men – will be heard in the 4,200-seat amphitheatre, sound designer Jennifer Edwards cranks it up to the highest decibel. The results are seldom balanced between singer and other singers and between singers and orchestra. Sadly, the musical numbers, which include such ‘60s hits as “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” “Please Mr. Postman” and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” range mostly from loud to louder. Also sadly, “close harmony” sometimes means singers are close to pitch, but not on it; but it’s so loud and so cute and so colorful, maybe no one will notice.


Suicidal Cindy works as


a Laundromat attendant. It is her birthday and she discovers with the arrival of the mail that she is responsible for some deceased relatives’ IRS debt; that her cat, Fluffy, has been killed by a Corvair; and that her


pen-pal boyfriend has dumped her for someone with better penmanship.


When the Clorox bottle


proves empty, and the plastic knife won’t cut her wrists, she


“Suds” 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays though July 4


Starlight Bowl 2005 Pan American Plaza Balboa Park Tickets $10-$75 (see website for Kids Free program) starlighttheatre.org


232-STAR


ties some long johns around her neck and attempts strangulation by washing machine. Along come competitive guardian angels Marge and Dee Dee, who set about solving all of Cindy’s problems by finding her a new boyfriend. Ridiculous that a man is all one needs to solve one’s predilection for suicide, but hey, the entire thing is ridiculous and inane, and that is its appeal. Fluffy, mindless


San Diego Uptown News | June 25-July 8, 2010


17


Performers in “Suds” include (from bottom clockwise) Kürt Norby, Saman- tha Mills, Courtney Corey and Anise Ritchie. (Courtesy Ken Jacques)


entertainment is good for what ails you, though the audience applauded less loudly as the evening wore on. Let’s blame the sameness, the incessant airplanes and a certain lack of truthiness emanating from the


company. In order to play this material successfully, one has to believe. Norby is the only one who comes close to sincerity. In his seriousness one finds hilarity. The rest is all chatter and noise.u


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