By Nancy Oliveri
Chenango River Theatre is taking us back to a mod, mod, mod, mod world!
Kid of the sixties? You may not want to miss the show opening Friday (July 14) at Chenango River Theatre in Greene.
Billed as a musical revue, Shout! The Mod Musical follows the exploits of five “groovy gals” coming of age in one of England’s greatest eras of pop music, and it uses many of those songs to tell their story.
Shout! The Mod Musical is a jukebox treasury of many favorites of that time, from an era that, in retrospect, seemed so fresh and innocent, but that provided the definitive soundtrack for anyone breathing at the time.
Each number in the show is included to evoke some very definite memories for those of us who were around to hear them, with our transistor radios carefully tuned to our favorite AM station. Songs such as “To Sir with Love,” “Downtown,” “Son of a Preacher Man” and the song Shirley Bassey scared the heck out of me with as a kid, “Goldfinger” (… wah waah wah…).
New arrangements of the songs, written by Phillip George and David Lowenstein, will be partnered by what a CRT release describes as “eye-popping fashions and outrageous dance moves,” which may seem tame by today’s standards, but which clearly set the tone for the decades to follow.
IF YOU GO: Shout! The Mod Musical, directed by Kory Yamada, runs weekends from July 14 to Aug. 6 at the Chenango River Theater, 991 State Highway 12, Greene. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays at Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $30. For reservations, call the box office at 607-656-8499, or check out the website at https://chenangorivertheatre.org/.
