Gidget Grows Up, Into a Coppola Musical

Keri Carrell grew up loving Gidget. Heck, she was Gidget--hanging at the beach, babbling sunny girl-talk and peeking at surfers from behind her shades.

“Yes, you could say I was a typical [Southern California] kid,” said Carrell. “I went to all the Frankie and Annette movies and, of course, was crazy about that one with Sandra Dee.”

That one was “Gidget” (1959), starring Dee as the beachy and bouncy teen. Now, more than four decades later, Carrell found herself at Los Alamitos High School Thursday night catching a curl of nostalgia and indulging some big-time curiosity.

The 56-year-old from Seal Beach joined about 600 others for a first look at an odd musical teaming--Academy Award-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and a fictional smiley surfer girl.

The director of “The Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now” has been tuning his project the past few weeks with a cast of 35 students from the Orange County High School of the Arts. “Gidget--The Musical” was presented as another step in the long workshop process.

Coppola has said he sees it as a coming-of-age tale, sort of “A Catcher in the Rye” for girls, especially those with sand in their shoes. As for enlivening it all with song and dance, he points to the Hollywood tradition of musical as forum for innocence and family values.

He wouldn’t mind creating a “Grease” for the West Coast lifestyle, and that sounded fine to Carrell. “If it’s fun,” she said, “then why shouldn’t he do it?”

Her friend, Cathy Ray, 49, of Long Beach, had something else in mind. “Do you think he’ll actually make an appearance?”

A Hawaiian-shirted Coppola was there, all right, keeping a low profile. He met briefly with the technical team at the back of the theater, then watched as Gidget, played by student Krysta Rodriguez, romped with Moondoggie, LaRue and the Big Kahoona, played by Dermot Mulroney (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”). Girls shrieked when Mulroney appeared as a disheveled, bare-chested beach bum in surfer shorts and a bathrobe.

At intermission, Coppola said he was pleased with the show’s progress, but derailed speculation that a solid movie or stage deal is in the works.

“We’re just seeing if it can have a life of its own” before considering if Gidget has commercial appeal, he said. “I want to see if it holds together . . . it would be great if we could do it in London.”

Coppola said there were no arrangements overseas, but that it would be interesting to toss beach culture headlong into an English milieu.

He also was obviously proud of the production’s 12 tunes, which he co-wrote with veteran composer John Farrar, who penned “You’re the One That I Want” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You” for “Grease”.

It might seem odd for the auteur known for his darkish cinematic take on man and his motivations to be excited by writing breezy Broadway-style lyrics, but Coppola said his affection for musicals goes back to childhood--and he did direct “Finian’s Rainbow” (1968), starring Fred Astaire.

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In his opinion, musicals make great narrative devices. “This is a good ‘ugly duckling’ story,” he said. “Gidget--The Musical” follows the movie closely, with the score tagging gamely along.

A sampling of the surf-tinged rock ‘n’ roll tunes: “When Will It Happen to Me” (in a hormonal rush, Gidget longs to grow up); “Man Hunt” (more hormonal rushing as boys “hunt” girls and vice versa); “Beat Girl” (Gidget in a coffee house, digging Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” and dancing with some way-gone beatniks in black); and “I Want to Belong to You” (more hormones and a sweet little moment of romance for Gidget and Moondoggie).

After the standing ovation, Carrell and Ray compared impressions.

“I was surprised [that it was as satisfying as it was] but I guess I shouldn’t be,” Carrell said. “I mean, he has a lot of clout and you know what he’s done [in the movies]. You’d expect it to be strong, even here. The songs have something going for them.”

Ray agreed, but said Mulroney needs to polish the pipes. “His acting was good, funny [and] he looks good up there. But the singing--he has to work on that.”

* “Gidget” continues through Sunday at the 600-seat Los Alamitos High School’s Margaret A. Webb Performing Arts Center, 3591 Cerritos Ave. 2 and 8 p.m. today and Sunday. All shows are sold out. (562) 596-1435, Ext. 554.