‘Stars in Your Eyes’ twinkles in Huntington premiere

Tom Titus

On one hand, “Stars in Your Eyes,” now in its West Coast premiere at

the Huntington Beach Playhouse, is an attractive new musical. On the

other, it’s a throwback to the days in the 1940s when Judy Garland

and Mickey Rooney were “putting on shows.”

Though the show, written entirely (book, music and lyrics) by Chip

Meyrelles -- who was in attendance opening night -- is only a few

years old, it will thrust its audience, or at least those more

seasoned members, back to an era when cotton candy musicals were all

the rage. It’s a simple, carefully crafted romantic comedy of the

type that’s been in all-too-short supply these days, with more edgy

musical fare like “Rent” and “Miss Saigon” holding sway over

Broadway.

“Stars in Your Eyes” does take us back, but only 42 years to the

Kennedy era and America’s preoccupation with space. The show centers

on a high school science teacher and his campaign to save the town’s

observatory, all the while drifting from one romantic commitment to

another. Meyrelles’ characters would fit comfortably into the early

‘60s, when the world was a more innocent place and Dobie Gillis was

at the cutting edge of undergraduate humor.

Director Robert Rotenberry, himself a high school teacher

(Huntington Beach High School’s Academy for the Performing Arts),

imbues Meyrelles’ musical with just the slightest of 21st century

edges and musical director Bill Wolfe provides a solo piano

accompaniment that still manages to assert itself, primarily over the

dialogue segments. A little restraint in this area would render the

show more appreciable.

The science teacher, whose head remains in the clouds as critical

events unfold around him, is nicely rendered by Kurt Jarrard, who

attempts to humanize a role that has “geek” written all over it. His

determination to “get with it” by taking dance lessons before his

upcoming wedding to a snobby rich girl is particularly effective.

However, it’s not the high-society maven (Susan Scanaliato) that

the audience roots for, but the dance instructor -- a tall, lovely

blond (Kim Short) who facially resembles a young Debbie Reynolds.

Short excels as both the “right type” for the science guy and a

fierce guardian of a super-brainy student (Nicole Weber) who’s out to

become the first coed at an all-boys’ college.

Overseeing all this intellectual and emotional turmoil is the

observatory caretaker, Mr. Moon, rendered by James C. Mulligan as

sort of an “Our Town” stage manager, only applying his considerable

vocal talent in the process. The role must be a breeze for Mulligan,

who in his last incarnation at the former Trilogy Playhouse would

design and build the sets as well as play a major role in the show.

Robert Purcell handles much of the comedy as a retiring school

principal with a passion for gardening -- which his love interest, a

vegetable-hating dance studio owner (Karen Merrill), is out to

divest. Merrill also functions as the “voice of reason” in the

on-again, off-again romance between Jarrard and Short.

Scanaliato, though stuck in a stereotypical role, sharply nails

the stuffy fiancee who’s better suited for fellow idle rich guy, Ryan

McCarthy. Together, they offer an amusing spoof of the privileged

class enjoying its privileges, as Jimmy Stewart once observed an eon

ago in “The Philadelphia Story.”

Webber gives her brainy student a good, hard attitude, but the

problems with her character are beyond Webber’s control. Her subplot

simply wasn’t introduced soon enough in the story, and thus comes off

as more of an addendum or an afterthought.

Backing up the principals are five young ensemble members who

function both as students and (in one rather bizarre case) college

interrogators. These talented supernumeraries are Courtney Gates,

Dani Kerry, Rich Moss, Nathan Singh and Neil Starkenberg, whose

primary task is presenting choreographer Jimmy Hippensteil’s catchy

dance moves.

“Stars in Your Eyes” is something of a dichotomy, an old-fashioned

musical written in the 21st century. The Huntington Beach Playhouse’s

pleasantly un-edgy production demonstrates that there’s still room

for a little warmth and fuzziness in musical theater.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.