Sixties come back in style

One would think having a single set and only three characters on stage is an odd way to depict the passage of time, but All Grown Up, the new musical review at Hudson Village Theatre, uses this minimalist approach to great effect.

The simple basic premise sees three girls, Carol (Holly Gauthier Frankel), Frances (Anthousa Harris), and Sandy (Emily Lamarche) evolve from teenaged pyjama partiers fantasizing about their first kisses to middle-aged wives complaining about how their love lives have turned out to be.

Along the way, the girls engage in rousing musical numbers, hits from the era of free love such as Chapel of Love (Dixie Cups), You Don't Own Me (Lesley Gore), or Mama Said (The Shirelles).

The different trials and tribulations each character goes through keep things fresh and interesting. Frances changes from a bookish 'girl with glasses' to the 'librarian who let her hair down,' enjoying a free-spirited lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Carol's marriage hits rock bottom and she tries her best to save it, while Sandy settles into a wedding with someone partly because her parents don't like the man in question.

Even Hudson Village Theatre's historic setting of an abandoned train station goes well with the play's inherent nostalgia. Standing outside near the train tracks after the show, the three actresses spoke positively of their experience. "We met on the first day of rehearsals," said Harris, but it looks like their weeks of work together have also blossomed into a real-life friendship.

Though all three are young, they said it was not too difficult to slip into the skin of older women. "It's a new challenge," said Lamarche. "Musicals are always a little different," added Gauthier-Frankel. However, they all relished the chance to combine play acting with vocals.

Theatregoers on Saturday got to try out a new initiative this year set up by the Hudson Village Theatre. Leaving cars at home, they were able to hop on board a special train, the M & M Express, to ride to the village. One train rider, Mary Young, said it was a "very imaginative" way of doing things, while Maria Tangrdi called it "very convenient."

All Grown Up is running until July 6. The next show on HVT's program, Campbell's Sutra, starts July 9.