Stage is set for surfing

Peggy Quinn was watching TV a few months ago when she saw an ad that would change the family’s summer plans.

The ad was for open auditions for the new local musical “Surf City USA.”

“My mom was watching Channel 3 and I was in the other room working on a science project,” Ashleigh Arnone said. “She told me about it and said, ‘Hey let’s go.’”

Ashleigh, 14, got a part in “Surf City USA,” playing Cindy, a surfer girl in love with the beach and the boys.

“She is obsessed with the Beach Boys,” Ashleigh said. “Supposedly ‘Little Surfer Girl’ was written about her, and she writes a letter to Brian Wilson to see if it is true.”

You won’t find Frankie and Annette anywhere on stage, or one grain of sand for that matter in “Surf City USA,” but both would be completely at home in local resident Shirley Orlando’s musical.

Loosely based on Orlando’s teenage years, the musical takes most of its inspiration from the beach bands of the ‘60s, including Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys and Dick Dale.

The show opens Friday at the Huntington Beach Playhouse in the Central Park Library. With a cast of 21, ranging from Academy of Performing Arts freshmen to community theater veterans, the musical promises to celebrate a golden era of Huntington Beach.

The playwright began work on her first musical during a self-imposed sabbatical after she shuttered her music store in 2004.

“I was spending a year at home to just try to collect myself and go onto the next phase of my life,” Orlando said. “So I just started writing prolifically.

“I had these memories and music in my head from my life and that’s how ‘Surf City USA’ came to be.”

The story, which Orlando describes as “Grease” meets the “Music Man,” follows a young girl who falls for the wrong guy.

“It is a love story,” Orlando said. “The girl is chasing the bad guy, and the good guy is chasing her but she can’t see it.”

With a long history in music, Orlando drew on her family roots as well as the sounds of her youth.

“Growing up with pro musicians, my parents ingrained in me and my siblings with good music,” she said. “All the composers of the ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s.”

Orlando cited lyrics from the musical’s title to sum up its plot.

“Huntington Beach is such a real cool place. They call it Surf City USA. Doesn’t even matter if you call it home, or if you’re just hanging out for the day. You’ve got all kinds of people and all kinds of moods. You got your seashell ladies and your surfer dudes,” she said.

The play wraps up what locals have known for years, but the state has only recently officially recognized — this is Surf City USA.

WHAT: “Surf City USA,” the musical

WHERE: The Huntington Beach Central Library Playhouse, 7111 Talbert Ave.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Thurs. through Sat. 3 p.m. matinee on Sat.; Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. through Aug. 20

COST: $18 to $21

INFO: (714) 375-0696 or www.hbph.com