‘Do Wah Diddy’

What do the Jelly Beans’ “I Wanna Love Him So Bad,” The Raindrops’ “What a Guy,” Lesley Gore’s “Look of Love” and Darlene Love’s “(Today I Met) the Boy I’m Gonna Marry” have in common?

The ‘60s hits all are featured--

with many better-remembered songs--in “Leader of the Pack,” a musical playing through this weekend at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza and featuring current members of the rock ‘n’ roll revival band Sha Na Na.

Tying the songs together--

“Maybe I Know” and “Do Wah Diddy” among them--is that all were co-written by Ellie Greenwich, whose biography (or something like it) forms the story’s backbone.

As Anne Beatts’ script (adapted for this production by Mark Edelman) has it, Greenwich as a young girl growing up on Long Island, N.Y., dreamed of moving to the big city and becoming a hit songwriter.

A chance meeting with a “big producer” (a composite named Gus Sharkey) led to said dream’s coming true, marriage and ultimate heartache. Along the way, she became, as the play would have it, the first woman to write, produce and sing (backgrounds, mostly) a series of hit records.

The story is related onstage by Sha Na Na’s Donny York to his “niece,” Nora, a teenage punkette and aspiring songwriter engagingly played by Heather Gilbert. Nora is more interested in Pearl Jam than in songs several years older than she is, but Uncle Donny and the boys set her straight, as scenes from Greenwich’s life are acted out by other players, with members of Sha Na Na stepping into occasional roles (John “Jocko” Marcellino playing Sharkey, for instance).

The story isn’t wholly true, either through omission or alteration of facts (Greenwich did graduate from college) or its strong implication that Greenwich either worked alone or with her husband, Jeff Barry, thus ignoring such collaborators as Phil Spector and George “Shadow” Morton. Or even through its claims of Greenwich’s uniqueness--it’s as if Carole King, who was doing the same things at the same time--didn’t exist.

But as a rack upon which to hang a string of songs, it’s just fine.

*

Elyse Wolf, who plays Greenwich, slightly resembles the singer-songwriter and has an appealing voice. Tony Spinozza doesn’t remotely resemble Barry (gaunt and very tall), but handles himself well onstage. Although several of the supporting cast are fine singers, honors go to Melodye Perry, who sings--among others--most of the songs made popular by her aunt, Darlene Love, who was in the audience Tuesday. That might have intimidated Sha Na Na’s “Screamin’ Scott” Simon, entrusted with her signature song, “(Christmas) Baby Please Come Home.”

Wisely, and in keeping with its use in the show, Simon treats the song tenderly, avoiding comparison with Love’s thundering original.

Other members of Sha Na Na in the cast are singer Reggie Battise and members of the group’s band.

Most of the other songs are performed in arrangements close to the originals, and perfectly adequately, although the sound mix Tuesday almost obliterated the instruments for most of the first half.

Keep in mind that, songs notwithstanding, this is mounted as a Broadway-style show under Richard Kline’s direction. Thus, Sha Newman’s choreography and the colorful costumes by Tom Phillips and Larry Watts are more reminiscent of “Grease” (or the old TV variety series “Hullabaloo”) than “American Bandstand,” and the music is performed a little more politely than you may remember.

Taken as such, though, it’s fun and may even send you back to your collection of 45s, dusting off the labels to read the small print that constitutes the writers’ credits.

DETAILS

“Leader of the Pack” closes Sunday at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Auditorium, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. Performances are at 8 p.m. today through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $29.50 to $38.50, available through Ticketmaster outlets, via telephone at 583-8700 or from the Civic Arts Plaza box office. Special rates are available for groups of 20 or more; call 522-8010. For further information, call 449-2787.

Todd Everett can be reached at teverett@concentric.net.