Hive Mind

There was a joke making the rounds in the 1970s to the effect that if you remembered Woodstock, you probably weren't there.  I'm beginning to think the same thing might be said of the 1960s.  Certainly when Pamela Hunt, the director and choreographer of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis's delightful production of Beehive the 1960's Musical, writes that it "was an innocent time and often the biggest worry was having a date for the prom or having enough hairspray to make it through a rainy day", I think I'm justified in suspecting that she either hadn't been born yet or was too young to know what was going on.

I, on the other hand, was born in 1948, so I remember the 1960s pretty well.  Innocent they weren't - even here in the Midwest.

That said, you'd be hard pressed to find a more entertaining or more pleasantly nostalgic show than Beehive.  Ms. Hunt and here supernaturally talented and energetic cast do full justice to Larry Gallagher's dewy-eyed tribute to the great female performers of the 1960s, from the classic "girl groups"  to the full tilt boogie of Janis Joplin.

The show runs through April 10th and even if you have no memory of the 1960s at all, I think you'll find it (to quote a more recent song) "simply irresistible".  Get your tickets at the Rep web site.  And while you're at it, consider subscribing.  With public funding for the arts under relentless attack from the neolithic right, local arts organizations (which are, after all, community-based small businesses) need your support more than ever.

Sorry to get all radical on you there at the end.  That's just my 1960s side reasserting itself.