April 18-May 4 , 2008

Click Play to hear a sample of some of the great 40's music you'll from

The Andrews Brothers

Choreographer

Roger Castellano

Musical Director

John Glaudini

Director

Nick DeGruccio

Honorary Producer:

Kathryn Baker Campbell

Associate Producers:

Carole Jones

Joan Wells

Youth Performances Underwritten by:

Nina Glazer

Arts Council for Long Beach

REVIEWS

The 'Wonderettes' formula is reworked for the entertaining

'The Andrews Brothers.'

***Recommended***

By F. Kathleen Foley, Special to The Times
April 22, 2008

Never underestimate the power of drag. From pantos to Python, men have donned women's garb for laughs. The impulse seems atavistic. It wouldn't be surprising if archaeologists were to find cave drawings of Neanderthals in peekaboo saber-toothed skins.

Certainly, Roger Bean understands that drag still packs a punch. That's clear in the West Coast premiere of "The Andrews Brothers," the musical revue presented by Musical Theatre West at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.  Click HERE to read more...

"Boogie Woogie Boys Kick Up Their Heels in Hit Parade"

***3 1/2 Stars!***

(out of possible 4)

World War II was a long, tragic and terrible time for millions.  But the era also produced some amazing music, from hummable ballads to danceable big band to heartfelt anthems still enjoyed more than 60 years later. 

Roger Bean's new jukebox musical, "The Andrews Brothers" takes full advantage of the fact, offering up to 27 vintage hits, some more familiar than others. Click HERE to read more...

Review

"Grigware Talks Theater"
***CRITIC’S PICK***
The Andrews Brothers
The New ‘40s Musical
by Roger Bean

Over Here! was an original Broadway musical from 1974-75 that featured a rare onstage appearance by singer Patty Andrews and showed the face of the American homefront during World War II. It had a serious tone, as well as comic, with original Sherman Brothers songs in the style of the Big Band sound of the ‘40s. Many revues have brought back the music of the ‘50s and ‘60s, the latest and most successful being The Marvelous Wonderettes by Roger Bean. But those glorious ‘40s sounds have somehow managed to elude revues. Now the talented Bean presents The Andrews Brothers, playing at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach until May 4 only, and what a sensational little show!  It may be smaller in scope than Over Here!, but a monumental force of ‘40s showmanship.

Click HERE to read more...

“       

                          By Larry Blake

Do you still remember those great songs from the 1940s like “Hold Tight”, “On a Slow Boat to China”, and “Rum and Coca Cola”?  Do you remember the USO shows of World War II?  If there is still a nostalgic thirst running through your veins for that time in history, then truck on down to Musical Theatre West’s production of The Andrews Brothers and grab some tickets before they’re all sold out.  It is an evening full of that great period music that lovingly pays tribute to those USO shows of World War II. Click HERE to read more...   

"The Andrews Brothers,"

Musical Theatre West, Long Beach, CA

by James Scarborough

Even Rosie couldn’t rivet us to our seats for Roger Bean’s foot-stomping The Andrews Brothers, directed by Nick DeGruccio, with musical direction by John Glaudini, and staged at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.

Musical Theatre West presents us with an exuberant love story. A love story between two characters on an island in the South Pacific. A love story between a nation and their troops stationed overseas. And a love story between a theatrical company and musical performance. Especially the latter. This production indicates yet again that Musical Theatre West is at the top of their game. They continue to stage shows that resonate with walkaway buzz. Each production sizzles. Each exudes energy. MTW is one of the best games in town and, indeed, sets the mark for musical theatre is southern California.

Click HERE to read more...

Darcie Roberts made her MTW debut as Babe in The Pajama Game.  She has appeared on Broadway in Curtains and Busker Alley, and as the title character in the National Tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie

REVIEWS

The Andrews Brothers

By BOB VERINIA Musical Theater West presentation of a musical in two acts by Roger Bean. Directed by Nick DeGruccio. Choreography, Roger Castellano. Musical director, John Glaudini.

The "Good War" had a great score, and some of the best WWII jukebox tunes are drafted for Roger Bean's "The Andrews Brothers," a splashy sendup of a South Pacific USO tour. The plot is foorey-acky-sacky, and much of the broad humor is of a flatfoot (floogie with a floy-floy) variety. But high spirits, combined with an essential respect for America's wartime experience, prompted smiles galore in show's brief Musical Theater West Long Beach engagement.
Bean's means, employed to pleasing effect in the local long-run "Marvelous Wonderettes," are to set up interesting interactions among lightly satirical characters, while they run through a particular era's songbook. Here, three original members of "Forever Plaid" (an earlier hit in the same vein) play a trio of stagestruck 4Fs called upon to stand in for the no-show Andrews Sisters, lipstick, upswept hair, padded shoulders and all.   Click HERE to read more

by Les Spindle

***CRITIC’S PICK***

THE ANDREWS BROTHERS

at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center

Roger Bean is a master at creating high-spirited jukebox musicals (The Marvelous Wonderettes). Now in its West Coast premiere is Bean’s gleeful salute to the USO shows that entertained our overseas troops during World War II. Adding to the appeal is the reunion of three gifted actor-singers (David Engel, Stan Chandler, and Larry Raben) from the original production of Stuart Ross’ Forever Plaid, the granddaddy of jukebox musicals. Stir in a pinup-girl performer (played to perfection by sweet-voiced Darcie Roberts) clearly modeled on Betty Grable, and the stage is set for stellar entertainment. Under Nick DeGruccio’s direction, the potential for fun is realized at every turn.  Click HERE to read more...

by Steven Stanley

Musical Theatre West has come up with the perfect musical for those who found last year’s Altar Boyz a bit too young and edgy for their tastes.  In fact, the highly entertaining The Andrews Brothers is the kind of show which the older you are, the more you will love. 

Written by The Marvelous Wonderettes’ Roger Bean, The Andrews Brothers is the slapstick tale of three 4F stagehands who end up taking the place of the ailing Andrews Sisters at a WWII USO concert, the kind that Bob Hope headlined throughout most of his career. That the three Andrews Brothers, Patrick, Max, and Lawrence, happen to have similar names to Patty, Maxine, and Laverne is purely coincidental…not.  Click HERE to read more...

"EVENT NEWS”

“THE ANDREWS BROTHERS”

… Glowing Tribute to Music That Got The Great Generation Through WWII

By: Joseph Sirota

With three of the most talented West Coast “GUY” musical comedy pros and an equally sizzling “GAL” headliner, this West Coast premiere of Roger Bean’s joyful bundle of WWII musical memories, “THE ANDREWS BROTHERS” is sure to please. Thanks to my parents prudent timing, I didn’t appear on the scene until “the coast was clear”, and WWII was over. By then, most of the great songs revisited in this sweet comic valentine to the era had already helped our country (and allies) keep their spirits up during darkly scary times. But there’s a timeless Americana quality here, with most songs now deemed treasured “standards”. The comedy is “warmhearted” and the singing/dancing “hot” and without exception, well done. This solid Musical Theatre West production, now at Long Beach’s grand Carpenters Performance Arts Center, particularly celebrates the Andrew Sisters’(Patty, Maxine & LaVerne) unique, jumpin’/jivin’ brassy but fun takes on USO favorites-- that made them “America’s Wartime Sweethearts”.  Click HERE to read more...

From the original cast of the hit Off-Broadway show

Forever Plaid (from left: Larry Raben, Stan Chandler and David Engel.  Below is a recent photo of the boys from The Andrews Brothers.