"Shout! The Mod Musical"

July 20, 2023 — For the second show of its 20th professional season, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Meredith, New Hampshire chose Shout! The Mod Musical. Performed on the outdoor stage built in 2020 at the height of the pandemic to better protect patrons from the spread of disease, the stage has become a permanent part of the "Winni's" venue. This afternoon's show was presented on the day we've been waiting for all this hot, humid summer with showers and thunderstorms in the forecast almost every day and air polluted by smoke from Canadian forest fires. Today was in the mid-80s, low humidity and clear blue skies.

The show featured five young, talented women with great voices. Their characters were identified only as Yellow Girl (Deijah Faulkner), Green Girl, (Dwan Hayes), Red Girl (Sabrina Koss), Orange Girl (Kelsey McCollaum) and Blue Girl (Emily Song Tyler). The colors referred to the color of their dresses. Great idea! It made them the easiest to identify of any cast I've reviewed in years.

The setting is England in the sixties. Four of the girls are English and one (Yellow Girl) is the only American who has come in hopes of meeting former Beatle Paul McCartney. Each has her own backstory told in song and dialog, and they all refer to a magazine named Shout! for advice on fashion, relationships, love, marriage, etc. An off-stage voice of the magazine advises them, often in unflattering ways. The music is all from the sixties, much of it familiar, such as Wishin' and Hopin', Son of a Preacher Man, Your My World, Downtown and more, all performed with rousing enthusiasm by the five women.

As I looked around at the audience, I noticed a majority were in my age range, no doubt attracted by the music of their era. I hope more of today's 20 and 30-somethings will come to see this show and hear some of the finest pop music produced in living memory. Taylor Swift? Really, now!

Shout! The Mod Musical was created by Phillip George and David Lowenstein. The Winni performance was directed by Timothy L'Ecuyer. Choreography was by Ashley Meeken. Judy Hayward was the music director and Andrew Burns designed costumes.