THE RADIO TRIO
The Radio is played by a trio of women singing close harmony, much like the “girl groups” that dominated American music in the early 1960s. The “girl group” sound emerged as a blend of barbershop quartet and rhythm and blues, and it was made popular in Vaudeville in the 1920s by the Three X Sisters, a trio of white women from Maryland and Brooklyn. In the late 1940s, doo-wop, a style of popular music in which a small group of backing vocalists use nonsense words or syllables to support a lead singer, was developed by teenagers in African-American communities. Girl groups of all races quickly adopted elements of the doo-wop sound.
The first Black girl group to go mainstream was The Bobbettes, a group of young teenagers from Harlem, New York. Their 1957 hit “Mr. Lee” was about a math teacher they disliked. Soon, The Shirelles, a girl group from New Jersey, hit number one on the pop charts with “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” written by Carole King. Producers Barry Gordy–the founder of Motown Records—and Phil Spector, began searching for and developing their own girl groups. By 1963 the radio waves were dominated by groups like The Crystals, The Ronettes, and The Marvelettes.
The Three X Sisters publicity photo with an additional note to their hair dressing studio. Circa mid 1930s.
The most successful of these was The Supremes, who went on to release 12 U.S. number one hits between 1964 and 1969.
The trio of women singers has made many appearances in musical theater over the years. Other examples include Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors, The Dynamites in Hairspray, the Dreamettes in Dreamgirls, and the Schuyler Sisters in Hamilton.
In this production of Caroline, or Change, director Michael Longhurst and choreographer Ann Yee have conceived of the Radio trio as a Greek chorus. The Greek chorus is one of the oldest techniques in theater and originated in the Classical tragedies of Ancient Greece such as Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Medea. It often stands in for the people, delivering judgments and sharing their opinions on a play’s action. Here, the Radio is paying homage to both 1960s girl groups and Ancient Greek theatre. This marriage of musical and theatrical traditions fits in exactly with Caroline, or Change’s tone and style.•
Publicity photo of The Shirelles in 1962. Clockwise from left: Shirley Owens, Beverly Lee (top), Addie "Micki" Harris, and Doris Jackson.
CAROLINE, OR CHANGE UPSTAGE GUIDE
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