Elvis Gets "All Shook Up"

Today’s post begins with a fractal image called Threads. I chose it because I will be reviewing a stitched-together musical called All Shook Up. Read on and I’m sure you’ll find it singularly appropriate.
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RECIPE: mix together equal parts As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night add a dash of Footloose, a little racial tension and 25 Elvis Presley hits from the 1950s. Shake for two hours and fifteen minutes and you have one of Broadway’s latest “Jukebox Musicals”--All Shook Up. Unlike “Reviews” (which frames songs from a single performer but doesn‘t try to mate them with a plot) a “jukebox musical takes the songs and actually tries to tell the story. Some shows (like Mama Mia featuring the music of Abba) are stunning successes. Some (like Good Vibrations which features “Beach Boys” music) are complete disasters: All Shook Up falls somewhere in the middle.
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The story gives us Chad (about an “un-Elvis” name as you can get), a roustabout who drifts into a sad little town and turns the place upside down. Natalie, a tomboy mechanic, is instantly smitten with Chad while her best friend Dennis loves her from afar. Chad, alas, only has eyes for museum curator (huh?) Miss Sandra. In parallel stories Dean, (the Mayor’s son) comes home from Military School and falls instantly and totally in love with Lorraine the daughter of bar owner Sylvia (who has it bad for Natalie’s Father Joe--who has a thing for Miss Sandra.) Oh and did I mention that Sylvia is black and that Mayor Matilda is pretty much anti-everyting? Dennis helps Natalie disguise herself as a boy to get close to Chad (who finds himself strangely attracted to newly-minted “Ed.” In the end all complications are resolved and everyone (and I do mean everyone) gets paired up by the end of the show.
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All Shook Up isn’t about the plot: the story (such as it is) merely serves to get us from one song to the next: the transitions are frankly forced and often just plain lame. Still, the songs are gems and the performances are interesting even if they are a lot more “Broadway” than “Elvis.” This is a musical for the “American Idol” generation: every song is belted out at top volume (even though tunes like “Can’t Help Falling In Love” and “Love Me Tender” aren’t well served by this approach. It’s a testament to the music that the songs survive their Broadway re-working.
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Joe Mondragona (Chad) doesn’t even come close to filling Elvis’ blue suede shoes: “he’s almost the “Anti-Elvis”. He shows some fine comic timing in Act Two and his voice is fine for Broadway. Jannie Jones (Sylvia the Bar Owner) has a spectacular “soul-sister” voice that stops the show every time she sings. Jenny Fellner plays Natalie well but is none-to-convincing Ed (but she’s not supposed to be) and has a fine voice. Dennis Moench (Dennis) is a fine comic actor and ex supermodel Susan Anton (the tallest person in the show!) shows off some amazing vocal chops and some decent dancing as Miss Sandra. (Even though she’ll never see fifty again she still looks stunning.) The sets and costumes are adequate and the five-piece band gets a pretty good “rock and roll” sound.
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All Shook Up is a fine show for women who don’t like Broadway-style musicals. Elvis fans will probably enjoy it. True, there is virtually no content but it’s a fun, ultimately-disposable experience.
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FINAL GRADE B-