“It’s the Housewives!” World Premiere (12/08)
Note: "It’s the Housewives" will be coming for a return engagement in 2009!
You don’t have to be “diva of domesticity” to love the musical, “It’s the Housewives!”
Like “Spinal Tap” , this behind-the-scenes parody of a famous albeit made up rock and roll group, entertains from the first song to the last (“Call a Repairman”).
Hope Juber’s 18 original songs are ingenious and rollicking enough to stand on their own. Some are parodies of actual rock and roll hits, such as “Be My Babysitter.” “The Reynold’s Rap” (yes, about aluminum foil) proves the willowy, versatile ladies’ dancing capabilities, and it is street dance at that.
The talent between the four megawatt talents on stage bringing the “Housewives” to life on the small, stark stage makes it feels like a megabudget performance. Corinne Dekker, Jamey Hood and
Yes, there are guys in the performance and they are good, too. Jed Alexander plays the profession, the punk/TV Host and the Director. Anthony DeSantis plays “the husband” who leaves his own career to become the group’s manager and gets sidetracked by a “flexible” young thing in the process.
The musical tells the story of a trio of young mothers who form a group to perform first tentatively at a local PTA and on step by step – the first one performing in a Laundromat- to their national rise, and fall.
Action and titles on a TV screen high at the back of the stage helps fill in the action and the storyline. Only in this case, the competition between the housewives can be as serious or seriously funny when it is about who makes the best guacamole dip as about who gets top billing on a national TV show.
The story could be the “Dreamgirls,” or the Supremes or any number of groups that start out small, grows to national acclaim, break up and comes together again in some tear jerking, overemotional way. You can see Destiny’s Child mirror “It’s the Housewives” thie month on E! Entertainment.
Most importantly, like these stars, the “Housewives” are dynamic performers with huge voices and talent that leave you wanting more.
Staged in the tiny, neighborhood Whitefire Theatre in
But, after all, it is Studio City, where co-creator Hope Juber may be a housewife with two kids who started writing songs with her husband from the time they were married in 1982 but hubby Laurence happens to the former lead guitarist of the seminal rock band Wings. And let us not forget that Juber is an accomplished writer, producer, and actress. And add to this list the fact that after Juber built up a catalog of songs and performed them with other women in clubs, Florence Henderson’s daughter Barbara was part of one of the groups – Juber’s dad, Sherwood Schwartz created “The Brady Bunch” show.
With collaborator in Ellen Guylas, a fellow neighborhood gym workout pal, a book developed around the songs. Ellen’s credits happen to include writing and producing television shows, such as the enormously popular and entertaining “Three’s Company,”” Newhart,” and ” Who’s the Boss.”
Director Kelly Ann Ford and choreographer Kay Cole keep the show moving at a quick pace that still allows the audience to appreciate the words and the music. Sharell Martin’s delightful costumes can be side splittingly comical. When Rebecca’s addiction gets the better of her on national TV (not to give it away, we will just say it isn’t sugar or shopping but starts with the same letter), she is dressed in a hilarious turkey costume for a Thanksgiving show, the perfect hilarious song counterpoint to the song “What I’m Thankful For.”)
Judy Garland and Gene Kelly needed but a sketchy back story as a reason for their outstanding musical numbers in backyard “Summer Stock” in the old Hollywood movie, in which, of course, the neighborhood they actually made those movies in was nearby
Whitefire Theatre,
Friday 8:00pm / Saturday 8:00pm / Sunday 3:00pm; running through October 12, 2008
Information and tickets: 323-960-5563
www. Itsthehousewives.com