BeeHive - The 60's Musical

The titles say it all: “Downtown,” “To Sir With Love,” “It’s My Party,” “Where the Boys Are,” “Respect.” It’s “Beehive, the ‘60s Musical,” and audiences around the world are cheering this exciting and colorful salute to the women who made the music of the 1960s so special – everyone from Lesley Gore to Janis Joplin, from the Shirelles to Aretha Franklin. And everyone in between. Written by agent and playwright Larry Gallagher, “Beehive, the ‘60s Musical” includes 40 beloved hits that take you on a journey through the look, the sounds and the feel of the times. Through song, the eight wailing women of “Beehive” document the dramatic changes that America underwent during the ‘60s, with 43 wigs, 40 costumes, 25 cans of hairspray a week and one very, very hot band. From the earliest part of the decade, when fun, innocent tunes were the order of the day (“The Name Game,” “One Fine Day,” “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”) to the mid ‘60s, when unrest was in the air (“The Beat Goes On,” “You Don’t Own Me”) and finally to the era of women discovering their own empowerment (“Natural Woman,” “Society’s Child,” “Me and Bobby McGee”) “Beehive” will have you dancing in the aisles, singing along and reliving music’s golden era, and a dramatic turning point in our nation’s history. A little definition might be in order: Although the beehive hairdo has become an enduring icon of kitsch, in the late 1950s and early ‘60s it was considered the height of fashion. The beehive was created – primarily as a way to make a woman look taller - by hairdresser Margaret Vinci Heldt in Elmhurst, Ill. “Everybody wanted the beehive, even women with real, real short hair,” she said. “They looked more like anthills than a beehive, then they got bigger and bigger and became hornets’ nests.” With the ascent of the rock band the B-52’s, which featured two women sporting tall beehives (the hairstyle is also known as a B-52), the beehive came to be seen as a reminder of a simpler, sweeter time in music, pop culture and American history. And, of course, “Beehive, the ‘60s Musical” took over from there. “If musicals such as ‘Hairspray’ have whetted your appetite for ‘60s music, girl groups and hairdos that look like ice cream cones shellacked with Aqua-Net, ‘Beehive’ is the show for you. This frenetically paced salute to girl power is ‘Forever Plaid’ with cleavage. Washington Times “This hit-parade revue swings from the sweet sounds of the Supremes to Janis Joplin’ heart-rending rasp. From the conical Aquanet coiffures of the start of the decade to the flowing hippie locks of the Vietnam era, it’s all about the hair, baby.” San Jose Mercury News “Words alone cannot describe this high energy retrospective of the ‘60s. Stories are told through these #1 hits of the era. Come reminisce and have a fun night out with your date, daughter or with the girls!” Plugged In Cleveland