The Andrews Brothers, presented by Cabrillo Music Theatre, opens Feb. 5; plays Tues.-Sat., 8 pm; Sat. & Sun., 2 pm; through Feb. 14. Tickets: $25-$55. Kavli Theatre, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 805.449.2787.
It’s 1945 and on a South Pacific island, a USO show is threatened with cancellation when a certain famous trio of singing sisters fails to show up. Three earnest and determined sailors, who happen to be brothers, decide the show must go on so they take their place.
“Cabrillo audiences will delight in the nostalgic music, slapstick comedy, and old-fashioned romance of The Andrews Brothers,” says Carole W. Nussbaum, President and Chief Executive Officer. “With classic songs from the 1940s, the show has something for everyone! And the show’s backdrop - entertaining the troops during wartime - couldn’t be more appropriate, given Cabrillo’s longstanding commitment to the military families of Southern California.”
The show continues the theatre’s longstanding relationship with the troops, which recently culminated with “A Salute to the Military” during the Cabrillo 2009 holiday special, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Nussbaum says, “That memorable performance, dedicated to our military, brought together nearly a thousand members of our armed forces and their families to enjoy the show free of charge.” Cabrillo’s Outreach program, Project Entertainment Troops, will continue in full force during this run.
The Andrews Brothers is filled with more than 25 songs made famous by the Andrews Sisters with a book by Roger Bean (The Marvelous Wonderettes and Life Could be a Dream). It features the Ovation Award-winning ensemble quartet who performed the show at Musical Theatre West two years ago: Stan Chandler, David Engel, Larry Raben and Darcie Roberts. It is directed by Nick DeGruccio and choreographed by Roger Castellano who were both previously Ovation nominated for their work. We asked the “boys,” who were in the original cast of Forever Plaid, what it is like to dress as “girls” when they don drag. For some, it isn’t the first time.
Stan Chandler
Stan Chandler: It’s amazing to think the three of us started working together with Forever Plaid 20 years ago. David and I had recently graduated and Larry was still sweating his way through high school calculus. Ahem. In the show, we were the essence of ’50s niceness. Regular, albeit nerdy, guys. We had heroes like Perry Como. We looked up to J. Edgar Hoover. Guys like us didn’t wear dresses. Plaids had no concept of “drag.”
In real life however, prior to Andrews Brothers, I was the only one who hadn’t performed in drag. It was quite a shock, then, to jump into a frock for the second act of The Andrews Brothers. Additionally, I’d never tap danced in a show so to do that for the first time, in heels and a dress, was a little stressful. Luckily, David Engel was there to help. As Southern California musical theater audiences know, he is the Queen of Drag.
Across the decades, Larry, David and I have remained good friends and I look forward to the next 20 years of work, an occasional glass of wine and buckets of laughter.
David Engel
David Engel: Well, the concept of “Plaid to Drag” is completely backwards to me. It seems my career never stops including high heels and gowns. My very first Broadway show was the original La Cage aux Folles. I was in it for its entire 4+ years and somehow never get too far away from it. I would say doing Plaids was the escape from drag…for a while.
I don’t know how to take it but whenever there is a drag role in a show, I am the first person thought of. Last year, every show I was in had me in drag at least once in the show (except for White Christmas but we did do “Sisters”). I have never been into drag or drag shows. After a while in La Cage it just became costume. Backstage it was a gaggle of screaming drag queens but I never got into it. Though I must say I took to it very easily and I am as comfortable in stilettos as is bedroom slippers.
The problem for me in The Andrews Brothers is to not be too adept in the drag. It is the acting role of a lifetime for me to not look perfectly at home in a wig, lashes, pumps and a frock! What we are doing in TAB is my favorite type of drag. It’s of the Milton Berle variety … sweaty, hairy men trying to pull it off. From the beginning of theatre men in dresses acting girly is a recipe for laughs and I love working that. I love just being a sight gag. It’s a kind of laugh you can’t get any other way.
Larry Raben
Larry Raben: It has been 20 years this year that Stan, David and I began working together in Forever Plaid. No one could have told me about the journey we would take together. The Andrews Brothers is a new and wild adventure in that journey. Playing a role in drag is coming full circle for me. The very first principal role I ever played was the Jack Lemmon role in Sugar, the musical version of Some Like It Hot. It was very clowny drag and there is comedy in just putting on the frock and lipstick and acting girly that you can’t achieve without it.
I love finding the “funny” that comes from a regular guy stuck in a dress. Although we are all glammed up in The Andrews Brothers, as we are trying to pull off the charade, there is no denying the fact that we are men (except maybe for David). I don’t make a very pretty girl and that works just fine for me. I loved watching Jack Lemmon work his feminine wiles to hilarious effect and it is his work and of course the divine Patty Andrews that I base my character on in The Andrews Brothers.
And who knows in what incarnation I’ll next end up singing harmony with David and Stan. I just hope it doesn’t end.
Feature image by Ed Krieger
