Glendale Centre Theatre stages musical ‘The Andrews Brothers’
The Glendale Centre Theatre will stage “The Andrews Brothers,” a jukebox musical light on story but filled with more than 20 1940s-era songs.
The show was created by Roger Bean and tells the story of three brothers working as stagehands at a World War II USO show that have to replace the Andrews Sisters, who are quarantined after a case of the chickenpox.
Bean is also the creator of the off-Broadway hit “The Marvelous Wonderettes” and its sequels.
Tim Dietlein, executive producer of the Glendale Centre Theatre, said he knew he had to present the musical locally as soon as he saw it.
“I saw a production of [“The Andrews Brothers”], and I just laughed so hard I was crying,” he said. “I thought we just had to do this — our Glendale audience would eat this stuff up.”
Dietlein is now producing the musical, which is directed by Danny Michaels and Orlando Alexander. The Andrews brothers are played by actors Patrick Foley, John David Wallis and Jason W. Webb, the latter two making their return to Glendale Centre Theatre.
Although the fictional brothers spend the first half of the musical as competent USO stagehands, they end up in full drag when convinced to impersonate the Andrews Sisters by a Hollywood starlet played by Colette Peters.
“The nostalgia factor of this piece, the music and characters, will really resonate with audiences of all ages, but especially older audiences,” Dietlein said. “They don’t know it, but when they come, they are going to want to come back and see it again and again.”
“The Andrews Brothers” opened at the Glendale Centre Theatre, 324 N. Orange St., on Friday and will continue through Aug. 12, with mostly weekend performances.
For information about prices and showtimes, visit glendalecentretheatre.com.
Twitter: @JeffLanda
