Marriott’s ‘Always Something There …’ needs a little something more
“Always Something There …,” the 1980s “mixtape musical” premiering at Marriott Theatre, works best if you let its nostalgia wash over you. Ignore the jukebox tuner’s incongruities and inconsistencies, its one-dimensional characters and paper-thin plot and enjoy the 20+ competently performed tunes by The Go-Go’s, Culture Club, Madonna, Survivor, Pat Benatar, Def Leppard, Whitney Houston and other 1980s hitmakers whose music makes up the score.
Written by Sandy Rustin, who drew upon her experiences growing up in the Chicago suburbs, the formulaic show borrows liberally from 1980s teen movies “Sixteen Candles,” “Pretty in Pink” and “The Breakfast Club.” Tipping its porkpie hat to tastemakers like Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Prince and Freddie Mercury, the show is a pop culture barrage of big hair and scrunchies, bright blue eye shadow, leggings and leg warmers, shoulder pads and rad slang wrapped in candy-colored neon.
The inspiration seems to be “Peggy Sue Got Married,” the 1986 film starring Kathleen Turner as an unhappily married 40-something who travels back in time from 2016 to 1989, her senior year in high school, where she has a chance to reconsider her choices and change her life.
Chicago-area favorite and all-around trouper Heidi Kettenring plays Samantha Craig, a toilet manufacturer representative on a business trip whose husband serves her with divorce papers as she checks into her hotel. And it’s her birthday.
After downing liquor from the minibar, the tipsy Samantha lights the candle on her birthday muffin, makes a fervent wish to “do it all over again” and passes out. She awakes in her childhood bedroom on the morning of her 18th birthday with her adult memories intact.
Perky Christina Priestner plays teenage Samantha, who resembles a young Debbie Gibson (down to the aforementioned hat). Leah Morrow (underused in multiple roles) plays her craft-making, aerobics-loving mother whose bedazzled mom jeans elicited chuckles from the opening-night audience.
Her friends are right out of a John Hughes movie. There’s best pal and budding lawyer Camelia (Emma Ogea); nerdy Winston (Matthew Hommel); fashionista Scarlet (Tiyanna Gentry); and the seemingly ditzy Ella (Anna Louise Bramlett), who’s a Harvard University-bound aspiring psychologist.
Ty Shay plays Johnny, teen Samantha’s domineering, basketball star boyfriend (and eventual husband). And Ian Coursey plays soulful Cooper, her childhood bestie, fellow music lover and the one who got away.
Director James Vásquez’s cast is eager and young (about half are recent graduates or current undergrads (leading lady Priestner is a Fordham University senior), and the pace is brisk. Naturally, Tyler Hanes roots his choreography in 1980s club dance and MTV videos (I believe I saw a reference to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”) incorporating the running man, moonwalk, snake, body roll and other club moves.
The action unfolds on Collette Pollard’s minimal set against neon curtains supplied by lighting designer Jesse Klug.
There’s a message about independence and female empowerment (the assertion from a Joan Jett-inspired rocker played by Genevieve Corkery that society cannot advance without women supporting each other elicited huzzahs from the opening-night audience). But “Always Something There …” needs more work, especially the weaker second act whose penultimate “Shmadonna” number seems to exist to facilitate costume changes.
Speaking of which, some song choices are puzzling (I'm still trying to work out the “Whip It”/ “Material Girl” transition). As is often the case with jukebox musicals, it feels like the creators are trying to shoehorn a tune into the narrative. Such attempts never end well.
Lastly, “Always Something There …” could do what “Rock of Ages” — an equally frothy 1980s jukebox show — does, which is to fully embrace its fundamental campiness. Vásquez’s staging, which incorporates wind and smoke, suggests an inclination to that effect.
Follow it.
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“Always Something There …”
2 stars
Location: Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, (847) 634-0100, marriotttheatre.com
Showtimes: 1 and 7 p.m. Wednesday; 7 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Friday; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 10. Also, 1 p.m. select Thursdays
Tickets: $74.02-$97.50; dinner/theater packages available
Running time: About 2 hours, with intermission
Rating: For most audiences