Washington Street Players Twist and 'SHOUT!'

With songs like “I Only Want to Be With You,” “Downtown,” “I Couldn’t Live Without You,” “These Boots Were Made For Walking,” and “Sign Of the Times,” the Washington Street Players' production of "SHOUT! The Mod Musical" brought some nostalgia, audience participation and good, ol'-fashioned fun to Saturday night.

Saturday night was the second of five shows for the Players, who also performed a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Two more shows remain: May 7 (8 p.m.) and May 8 (2 p.m.).

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

SHOUT! tells the story of five girls who frequent a go-go dancing bar called "Rainbow Club" in Vietnam-era England. Sheryl Altman plays "yellow girl," Kat Malone is "blue girl" and Molly Quinlin plays one version of "orange girl" and "rainbow girl."

Jessica Price plays "red girl" and Carolyn Cafferelli is "green girl," while Karen Walsh plays the other version of "orange girl." Gwendolyn Holmes plays "Terri Chamberlain."

With playful, witty rapport (e.g.: “now you don’t have to go to Australia to go down under,”) the show touches the hearts of the audience through its openness without interfering with the emotional vibe.

The audience is encouraged to sing along with the girls as they belt out their signature tunes.

“Fabulous, smashing as we say," said Malone. "My favorite thing is getting the audience hooked, getting them to sing and have a good time. They’re the type of songs you want to sing.

"It’s been fun because in my downtime I’m watching go-go dancing videos, watching and listening to songs and videos," Malone added. "It’s been a fun time."

In the second act, the color girls had soliloquys, baring their souls to the audience to give the latter half of the play a decidedly more humanistic thrust than the first.

SHOUT! has very little spoken dialogue; most of the communication is done in song. The numbers sung are chosen to represent the moods of the respective characters, aside from the spoken parts of a matronly narrator and the bartender.

The orchestra pit consisted of music director Bob Cook, who played keyboards, and an accompanying percussionist on an electric drum kit.

“(Saturday night) was a good night," Cook said. "We didn’t have as many glitches as we could have had. I think it went really well tonight."

“It’s improving every night, getting better and better," added director Sal Jones. "The improvements are terrific. The crowd was up tonight. (Friday) night, the crowd wasn’t up. There were some gaps tonight. It’s how you end it. I think they ended it well tonight."

Jones has been doing work in community theaters for over 25 years, with training from Monmouth University in New Jersey. This is the first time with the Players for Cook, a grade school teacher by day.

The rest of the cast members mostly have a long list of theater credits, save for the two teenagers (Millis High juniors Quinlin and Price), whose performances were just as good as the rest.

After there two shows this coming weekend, the Players will perform in Lexington later this month.