'SHOUT!' Comes Alive at Town Hall Tonight

With its longstanding tradition as Holliston’s prime venue for theater, the Washington Street Players are bringing something heartfelt, relieving, and relevant for this spring’s musical.

The Players will be opening their five-show run of "SHOUT! The Mod Musical" at 8 p.m. Friday night at . There will also be performances on Saturday and May 7 at 8 p.m. in addition to 2 p.m. matinees on Sunday and May 8.

With songs from the 60s and 70s throughout the show, the audience may feel compelled at times to sing along. And that's precisely the point.

“The melodies come along just fine," said music director Bob Cook. "It’s the challenges with the harmonies, singing and dancing is a challenge. Learning their (the actor's) parts in the beginning was difficult, and they’re getting it together, that’s a positive thing.”

And while singing along is the chief attraction of this show, it’s the raw humanity set against the Vietnam-era cultural currents that is emotionally gripping.

The play takes place in the "Rainbow Club," a bar that features go-go dancing pods. Five girls, each with a unique story, discuss their lives to discover they’re not so different or alone.

Jessica Price and Molly Quinlin are juniors at Millis High School and are the youngest members of the cast.

“We learned how to work through a lot of problems. We definitely learned how to be better actresses and singers,” Quinlin confessed.

“I’ve only ever done musicals with our school, so it’s better to get out and experience different things,” Price said.

Sheryl Altman is playing "yellow girl," Kat Malone is "blue girl," Quinlin plays one version of "orange girl" and "rainbow girl." Price plays "red girl," Carolyn Cafferelli is "green girl." Karen Walsh plays the other version of "orange girl," and Gwendolyn Holmes plays "Terri Chamberlain."

“These seven women have been very, very committed to working it all out,” explained director Sal Jones, detailing the weather and illnesses and other things that interfered with their original plan for a February show.

“The music helped,” said choreographer Christina Alfonso. “You can definitely listen to each song and see the transitions between each number. They had their favorite steps and they actually had a lot of great moves with the dances that are popular.”

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors and are available at the door or by calling 508-429-5444.

The Players will also take to SHOUT! to Lexington for three shows next weekend.

“It’s been an exciting show, we’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of stuff to do, a lot of stuff to learn," said Nate Callahan, stage manager and male lead in ," the Players' last show. "The last four nights we’ve been getting the lights set up, the sound, everything that goes on behind the scenes.”