"Beehive" a buzz at Whidbey Playhouse

Clever directors offer a route through a play’s story. At the Whidbey Playhouse’s “Beehive, the 60s Musical” Thursday, Stan Thomas, their board president, followed directors Eric George and Allenda Jenkins’ instructions, dropping crumbs on the stage floor before the lights dimmed.

Using the metaphor of audio technology, he walked a timeline from iPods back to LPs. When the lights came on the six-member cast started this musical revue doing the twist. Over the next two hours they sang their way through the 1960s. Their 28 songs were broken into four periods: girl groups, the “actual” 1960s ushered in by President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the British invasion (the Beatles change everything), and Woodstock and beyond.

This is community theatre at its finest, made more amaz-ing by three fine high school students in the cast: Liv Sundown (Jasmine), Adara Peterson (Pattie), and Sarah Gallagher (Laura). Joining them in the ensemble performance were Germaine Kornegay (Gina), Erin Pitts (Wanda), and Amy Malmaker (Alison). And the four-piece band was great, too.

Pitts, the primary narrator, led the cast, introducing and bridging the scenes. She had the most costume changes. Costumer Cassandra Woodstock started the cast in white blouse and solid colored skirts ranging from blue to yellow. By play’s end they were in loose bell bottoms with matching cloth belts. Geri Thomas’s wig and hair design matched the ‘60s phases, starting with stiff, high hair wigs and ending with their natural hair, fitting Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman,” ably led by Germaine Kornegay.

As the Supremes, Kornegay, Sundown and Peterson got the trifecta of voices, costumes, and hair. Their choreography, managed by the team of Daunne Zinger, Claudia Samson-Losada, Alex Brown, Austin Andrus, and Wendy Rue, was supreme. Much of the dancing and singing was as an ensemble.

Gallagher, as Janis Joplin, stole the show. Her superb voice and mannerisms were complimented by a fifth of whiskey and her long, frizzy, wild hair. So great set design, too.

So many of the songs were classics, to die for, from “It’s My Party,” to “One Fine Day,” “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “Son of a Preacher Man” to the Aretha medley.

The cast, truly, “Make their (Your) Own Kind of Music,” which was a fitting last song.

“Beehive” plays Thursdays through Sundays ending October 1. Ticket information: 360-679-2237 and http://www.whidbeyplayhouse.com