Evaluation: Margaritaville a light-weight however entertaining run-through of in style songs

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The stage model of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia! has grossed greater than $4 billion worldwide because it premiered in London in 1999. It’s no surprise producers and writers are scrambling to show the catalogues of different singers, bands and teams into jukebox musicals.

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It fell to Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley, who labored collectively on such TV sitcoms as The Millers, Elevating Hope, My Identify is Earl and Sure Expensive, to show the songs of Jimmy Buffett and, particularly, his iconic 1977 hit Margaritaville, right into a feel-good musical comedy referred to as Escape to Margaritaville.

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Really feel good it does in its Theatre Calgary incarnation that runs within the Max Bell Theatre till Could 13. It options some distinctive voices, spirited choreography, eye-catching units, jokes that hit the mark, no scarcity of slapstick shenanigans and greater than 20 Jimmy Buffett songs to sing alongside to, and, within the case of Why Don’t We Get Drunk, to shout alongside to.

Regardless of how nicely you costume it up although, Margaritaville continues to be simply bargain-basement Mamma Mia! It’s light-weight to the purpose of being immediately forgettable however, because the title guarantees, it’s pure escape and, by the raucous viewers response it’s receiving nightly, escaping to Margaritaville is what individuals need.

It’s a must to give Garcia and O’Malley credit score. In slightly over two hours, they handle to have somebody on stage nibble sponge cake, strum a six-string, seek for a misplaced shaker of salt, step on a bottle prime, get a tattoo or dream about weight reduction. That’s simply being trustworthy to the lyrics in Margaritaville. There’s additionally the necessity for an lively volcano, buried treasure, tap-dancing zombie insurance coverage brokers, a guitar lesson, a hallucination or two and a few bitter-sweet reminiscing.

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The viewers’s tour guides to Margaritaville are long-time pals Rachel (Katie McMillan) and Tammy (Michele Shuster) who’re having a tropical bachelorette get together earlier than Tammy marries her controlling fiance Chad (an appropriately smarmy Troy Goldthorp). Tammy is the good-time woman to Rachel’s work-obsessed profession lady. Minutes after they arrive on the Margaritaville resort, they spy bartender Brick (Glen Mills) and singer Tully (Nathan Gibb Johnson) whose fundamental job it appears is to maintain feminine vacationers joyful, drunk and glad morning, midday and night time.

As the principle romantic duo, McMillan and Johnson have delicate ballads like Three Chords, Son of a Son of a Sailor, Coast of Marseilles and so they have the robust voices to deliver some vibrant life to Buffet’s mix of nation and calypso. It may be sacrilegious to say so, however, Johnson would possibly simply do extra justice to those songs than Buffett did.

Shuster and Mills are the comedian romantic duo in order that they get to have enjoyable with songs like We Are the Individuals Our Mother and father Warned Us About and Cheeseburger in Paradise. Shuster and Mills are so likable they make being dimwitted seem to be a advantage.

The rest of the solid consists of Cecilly Day’s sassy lodge proprietor, Doug McKeag’s drunken lecherous previous sailor and David Andrew Reid’s explosive odd-jobs man who present the mandatory tomfoolery and raunchy one-liners whereas the remainder of the ensemble makes certain the vitality by no means flags.

Julie Tomaino has staged Escape to Margaritaville so the refrain members change the set items as a part of their dances thus conserving all the pieces vigorous. The choreography is catchy relatively than demanding however it’s executed with slick assurance. As creative as she is, particularly within the first act, Tomaino can’t discover something novel to do with the sequence wherein Tully turns into a well-liked singer who would possibly simply be a clone of Jimmy Buffett himself.

Maintain your expectations in verify if you go to Margaritaville and the extra enjoyable you’re going to have.