Fox Valley's frothy 'Breaking Up' misses the jukebox bar
“Sedaka is back.”
Toni Tennille, one half of the 1970s pop duo Captain and Tennille crooned that phrase during the fadeout on “Love Will Keep Us Together,” their 1975 debut single by composer Neil Sedaka and lyricist Howard Greenfield. The thing is, Sedaka — who penned such peppy pop tunes as “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen,” “Oh! Carol!” and “Calendar Girl” — never really left.
The former teen pop star released his first single in 1959. Several hits followed, but by 1963, Sedaka's performing career had cooled. Still, the tunesmith continued writing hits for other artists including The 5th Dimension and Glen Campbell. By 1975, his performing career revived thanks to the success of “Laughter in the Rain,” a downtempo version of his early hit “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” and the aforementioned “Love Will Keep Us Together,” which won the 1976 Grammy Award for record of the year.
Now Sedaka's bright, bouncy tunes have resurfaced again. This time in the form of the Baby Boomer-friendly “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” featuring music by Sedaka and lyrics by Sedaka, Howard Greenfield and Philip Cody.
The frothy, greatest-hits tuner opened this week at Fox Valley Repertory, where an enthusiastic opening-night audience embraced director/choreographer Kevin Bellie's animated, endlessly sincere production of a middling musical buoyed by a tuneful score but weighed down by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters' negligible plot and cliched writing. For all its easy humor and good intentions, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” represents everything that is wrong with the jukebox musical. Falling well short of the standard set by similarly nostalgic gems like “Jersey Boys” and “Million Dollar Quartet,” this show feels contrived, inorganic. It's as if the square peg songs were being forced into the round hole of the narrative.
That narrative unfolds at a Catskill Mountains resort — a pink and turquoise retro-kitsch set designed by Bob Knuth — over Labor Day weekend 1960. It centers on Marge (Christina Myers whose “aw-shucks” innocence recalls a young Mary Gross from “Saturday Night Live”), and her best friend, the malapropism-prone Lois, played by standout Stephanie Herman, a relative newcomer whose sincerity makes this platinum blonde bombshell credible.
After Marge's fiancé leaves her at the altar, Lois bundles her friend off to Esther's Paradise Resort with the hope that a getaway — coupled with a fling with a cabana boy — will repair Marge's broken heart.
The likely cure comes in the form of crooner Del (Michael Brown, looking like he just stepped out of “Jersey Boys”), the resort headliner who's preparing to welcome Dick Clark's “American Bandstand” entourage for what might be his big break. Marge is smitten with the suave singer who romances her in the mistaken belief that her father has connections that can advance his career. Meanwhile, the awkwardly endearing Gabe (Creg Sclavi, who has a sweet tenor voice), a dental student working summers at the resort, develops a crush on Marge.
Last but not least there's resort owner and namesake Esther (Lucille Ball look-alike Heather Townsend), a widow who spends her free time bantering with emcee and resident funnyman Harvey (a well-timed Fred Zimmerman).
There's nothing phony about Bellie's playful, honest production, nor the performances of his likable, eager-to-please cast, who look sharp in Kimberly G. Morris' flirty costumes.
The duets between Myers and Herman (“Where the Boys Are” and “My Friend”) are especially good. Music director Ken Jones has his quartet rockin' and boppin' on tunes like “Lonely Nights” and “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” and soaring on torchy “Solitaire,” which is this show's equivalent to an 11 o'clock number. Also deserving mention is “Calendar Girl,” a hoot of a production number featuring adorably kitschy props. Unfortunately, it's not enough to make a memorable musical.
"Breaking Up is Hard to Do"
★ ★ ½
<b>Location:</b> Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles, (630) 584-6342 or foxvalleyrep.org
<b>Showtimes:</b> 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through May 20. Also 8 p.m. April 26 and 2 p.m. May 17.
<b>Running time:</b> About one hour, 40 minutes, with intermission
<b>Tickets:</b> $32, $42; dinner theater packages available from $52
<b>Parking:</b> Free lot adjacent to the theater
<b>Rating:</b> For teens and older