Playwright: Nicolas Reinhart and Kyle Blair. At: Hydrate Nightclub, 3458 N. Halsted St. Tickets: www.midtangent.com; $20. Runs through: May 17
The '80s are an easy target, from the bright neon fashions to the sometimes dramatic songwriting. The Bitchfest Club from MidTangent Productions follows an age-old story of an awkward teen trying to fit in with the popular crowd. Instead of working off The Breakfast Club filmwith five teens stuck in a library as inspirationthis one went for more Mean Girls in the story.
The cast has some fun along the way while covering tunes that manipulate the words to suit the plot.
Erin Daly, as the title character Britney Bland, has a nice tone to her voice with Heart's "Alone." The teacher, Ms. Vulvatia Hammerstein, hams it up and has some fun with the students. Her rendition of "Vogue" was similar as to when Coach Sue Sylvester performed it on TV's Glee.
The writers failed a bit on their homework assignments because John Hughes' movies were about characters that were unique, danced to the beat of their own drum and were quirky nonconformists. It wasn't until later that makeover movies were popular, so this one seems a bit Clueless in that regard. There is no Cher Horowitz like in that popular movie, but there is a Madonna Summer.
The plot is about auditioning for a remake of Sixteen Candles but had nothing from the film except for a Molly character reference. Dixie Lynn Cartwright plays Molly Ringballs, missing a ginger wig and the trademark Molly mannerisms, but then makes up for it by being pretty-in-pink lipstick and singing better than the real Ringwald on her last jazz album.
There are a lot of ideas going on, with some of it not not adding up and more music time warps than The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The characters even mention that many songs are not from the '80s as a joke. Jessie J's "Bang Bang" ( out last year ) is brought in for no apparent reason aside from a sharp rap from Hammerstein. Wouldn't "Hot For Teacher" be more appropriate? There were parodies of The Cranberries from the '90s and ABBA from the '70s mixed in to thoroughly confuse the chosen jukeboxand the audience.
There is so much music from the '80s to be parodied that it seems strange to be hopping all over the place. Acknowledging this fault by the writers makes it even more unusual when they could have just fixed it and made this production more cohesive.
These students could study Hell in a Handbag's recent productions and master biting humor a bit more. There are some good moments from the Jessicas, who take a stab at Heathers and hit the mark on the camp factor. They deserve an "A" on their report card for facial expressions alone.
There were was a cast shakeup on a recent night, with Erika Lecaj moving from her Jessica James role to the Amber Ann part. That may have affected things but she seemed up to the task.
Boystown has a fun venue like Hydrate to sample shows like this out so hats off to the producers for thinking outside the box and continuing to spotlight acting with drag in a theater bar setting. This show just needs some more work shopping for extra credit to raise that grade point average.
Overall, the Club team has fun with the material and the audience rose to their feet dancing at curtain call leading right into the night's festivities. At the end a sequel is hinted at in the dialogue. The Bitchfest 2: Electric Boogaloo, anyone?