'The Andrews Brothers' drops its dramatic stakes

It's odd how two suburban theaters are both currently staging jukebox musicals about USO performers. But where the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire's film-to-stage premiere of “For the Boys” mixes comedy with wartime tragedy, the Chicago-area premiere of “The Andrews Brothers” is just harebrained silliness at Arlington Height's Metropolis Performing Arts Centre.

The premise for “The Andrews Brothers” is simple, yet hard to swallow. When the famed 1940s girl group The Andrews Sisters can't make to a USO show in the South Pacific, three ambitious stagehand brothers (who coincidentally share the surname Andrews) are convinced to don dresses and wigs to do the sisters' act for the Allied troops.

“The Andrews Brothers” was originally cooked up in 2005 for Milwaukee Repertory Theatre by Roger Bean, best known as the author to the 1950s and '60s girl-group jukebox musical “The Marvelous Wonderettes” (a 2008 off-Broadway hit that was staged two seasons ago at Skokie's Northlight Theatre). Now, there's nothing wrong with aiming for sustained silliness, but Bean's work on “The Andrews Brothers” stumbles on many structural fronts. Bean's characterizations are cardboard at best. The three Andrews brothers personalties get reduced to the nearsighted forgetful one (James Nedrud as Lawrence), the shy and stuttering asthmatic one (Patrick Tierney as Patrick) and the clumsy flat-footed one (Matt Edmonds as Max), who always dances on the toes of pinup girl and leggy USO debutant Peggy Jones (Lauren Creel).

Bean also saps the show of any consequential dramatic stakes. For example, Peggy decides very early on which brother she finds the most attractive (cutting short any competition between the brothers to woo her), while it's never made clear if the female-impersonating brothers will suffer any penalties if they fail to convince the troops that they are the genuine Andrews Sisters (who all happen to have lower voices due to temporary “laryngitis”).

With such weak material (particularly the obvious dialogue setups cuing songs in Act I), it's surprising how well the four-person Metropolis cast makes “The Andrews Brothers” work as fluffy entertainment. Directed by Robin M. Hughes and choreographed well by Christie Kerr, the ensemble excels vocally and through their many dance numbers (not to mention all the physical humor of men wearing women's clothing in Act II).

If the air hangar set by Dustin Efird fills the space well, one wishes that the period costumes by Lisa Hale didn't rely on obviously anachronistic Velcro. The fine onstage band could also have been costumed to be more historically appropriate.

At most, “The Andrews Brothers” is a mild diversion that provides a few laughs. Yet, it also gives audiences another chance to wax nostalgic over 1940s hit parade tunes, even if the context is blatantly ridiculous.