“SHOUT”

[rating=4] A trip down “memory lane”! Better yet, a delightful, musical trip down “memory Lane”! That might be the perfect description of the newly, re-imagined version of “Shout” now onstage at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. “Shout” is an amazing musical revue featuring some of the classic female songs of the 1960’s ( ah yes, I remember them well!). Songs like, “Downtown”, “Georgy Girl”,”Son of A Preacher man”,”You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” and many more, written by writers like Neil Diamond, Burt Bachrach/Hal David, UmBurto Bindi/Gino Paoli, John Barry Anthony Peter Hatch ( a number of his songs),Lee Hazelwood and many more. 32 wonderful musical memories performed live in 90 magnificent minutes of pure artistry under the direction/choreography of Rachel Rockwell. Sheer magic performed to perfection!

This show, in its original version was a nice evening of live entertainment with some nice memories of some of the top music of the era, but under Marriott’s creative eye with new arrangements(David Siegel) and of course the magic performed by Rockwell and the Lead Artistic Director Andy Hite ( who himself was a performer at one time) a new , modern version of the show is being presented. They have, with these new arrangements, also added 8 glorious dancers who add a new dimension to this little trip back to the sixties in a production that shows us, the audience, what took place during the “women’s movement”. The 60’s were an important part of this era, a time when women found that they could express their feelings outwardly and these wonderful songs take us on that trip.

While the music is marvelous, it only works if the talent on the stage is up to the standards set by the original recording stars who made these songs one that can be memories to those of us who grew up in those times. The cast that Marriott has assembled is what truly makes this 90 fabulous minutes , that will take us to another place, a new memory for our brain. The 90 wonderful minutes we spent in Lincolnshire. The five women who make this such a special event are: Carey Anderson ( making her Marriott debut, who I am sure we will see more of), Brooke Jacob ( another new face, who was brought in from New York, but is up to our standards in Chicago, so perhaps we can convince this long legged singer to stick around), Tammy Mader ( one of Chicago’s favorites both onstage and as Choreographer for many of the local theaters, who by the way is a “hoot” in this show and appears to be having as much fun as we were), Jesse Mueller ( from the local Mueller family that can be seen on Chicago stages almost every night-somewhere) and Raena White ( who truly shows her Gospel background off with “Shout”, a rousing number that gets the entire audience involved- young and old).

The added dance routines, a mixture of jazz, modern and some ballet choreographed by Ms.Rockwell are “dynamite”! and the dancers, while very young, are extremely gifted and talented.Lauren Nicole Blane, Giovanni Bonaventura,Jaclyn Burch,Jarret Ditch,Craig Kaufman,Trisha Kelly,Amber Mak and Sam Rogers and Melissa Zaremba- each and every one does some remarkable work.The other night, another reviewer said that he had seen the “road company” production and was skipping this one- big mistake on his part! This is far from what he saw and once again Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire has hown its talent to take a show and make it a memory- an evening that one can cherish. When we hear any of these songs in the future, we will probably find ourselves seeing the production that we saw at the Marriott. I also want to mention that the orchestra, as always, under the direction of Patti Garwood, the set, although limited ( Thomas M. Ryan), the glitzy costumes ( nancy Missimi) and the lighting by Diane Ferry Williams all added to the magical 90 minutes at Marriott.

This production will continue at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire through August 14th with performances as follows:

Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.,Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.,Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 1 and 5 p.m.

Tickets range from $41-$49 ( seniors and students rec. a $5 discount. There are also some dinner packages available on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at $55 per person ( plus handling fees) and the food service at Marriott is a dining experience. Plenty of FREE parking at the easy to get to Marriott Resort located on Marriott Drive ( just South of Half Day Road ( route 22) and East of Milwaukee Avenue ( route 21) in Lincolnshire.

I suggest that you “GO-GO” to your phone or to your computer to order your tickets right away> You don’t want to be “Wishin’ and Hopin'” that you did, so forget about going “Downtown” and head out to Lincolnshire while you have the chance.

call 847-634-0200   ticketing website www.Ticketmaster.com

to learn more about Marriott Theatre www.MarriottTheatre.com