All Shook Up at Flat Rock Playhouse
Flat Rock Playhouse’s production of All Shook Up, Joe Dipietro’s gleeful jukebox musical built on the songs of Elvis Presley, is just audience-winking corny enough to stave off groans.
Tuned in to that inviting wavelength, the attendees at the Saturday, July 27, evening performance filled the venerable theater with laughs at practically all of the show’s plentiful humorous lines, visual gags, and physical humor, thoroughly in sync with the energetic cast.
Similar to the manner with which recent music-centric films Yesterday, Rocketman, and Bohemian Rhapsody remind viewers of the generous number of hit songs that The Beatles, Elton John, and Queen respectively gifted the world, All Shook Up pleasantly cements Elvis’ legacy as a conduit of tunes that continue to bring joy to multiple generations.
Following a slightly rickety opening in which Presley stand-in Chad (Steven Grant Douglas) and his fellow inmates repeatedly step on each other’s singing, All Shook Up nimbly segues to relatable struggles in an unnamed Anytown, U.S.A. and its population of comforting, familiar character types.
Among these lovable sad sacks is tomboy mechanic Natalie (Natalie Storrs) and her widower father Jim (Scott Treadway); nerdy Dennis (Steve Raymond), who has secretly crushed on Natalie his entire life; and bar owner Sylvia (Alana Cauthen), whose 16-year-old daughter Lorraine (Katelyn Bowman) pines for a great love that has thus far eluded her.
Handcuffed by a poorly developed Footloose-esque law by Mayor Hyde (Linda Edwards) that makes it illegal to dance, neck, or have most anything resembling fun, the townsfolk are jolted awake by Chad, who swoops in, shaking his magical hips that awaken broken jukeboxes and nearly everyone’s dormant libidos.
Predictable life lessons and eventual romantic pairings await, but the flimsy narrative’s inevitabilities don’t interfere with the show’s spirited path, which proves a sufficient foundation from which to have a blast experiencing Elvis’ greatest hits.
The motif of a character contracting lust at first sight and freeze-framing everyone onstage as she or he bursts into “One Night With You” works every time, while fun bits of dialogue, such as Chad instructing onlookers fond of his blue suede shoes not to step on his footwear, highlight Dipietro’s Elvis knowledge and sense of humor.
Steve Raymond (Dennis), Steven Grant Douglas (Chad) and Natalie Storrs (Natalie) in All Shook Up.
Douglas and Storrs are cheery, robust leads and the reserved supporting characters who take risks and discover what truly makes them happy elicit complementary charms. Cauthen’s emotional second-act belting of “There’s Always Me” is arguably the show’s apex, and it’s an absolute delight to see Treadway shake off his comforting but well-worn nebbishness and comically embrace attempts at being a hip, cool dude in pursuit of his dream woman. It’s also no surprise to read in the cast bios that the vocally dextrous Raymond and Daniel Plimpton (as Lorraine’s love interest/Mayor Hyde’s sheltered son, Dean) both have Book of Mormon touring experience.
On the technical side, Ashli Arnold Crump’s varied period-appropriate costumes convincingly evoke the ‘50s, beginning with third song and first large ensemble number “Heartbreak Hotel” — a rousing number where director/choreographer Amy Jones’ gifts in orchestrating a large cast are most apparent — while Dennis C. Maulden’s impressive backdrops likewise offer one transportive scene after another.
Working in tandem with these tactile achievements is the visible backing band at the rear of the stage, a nice change to the usual invisible pit orchestra and a choice conceivably meant to act as an identifiable rock ensemble that compliments the peppy singing happening mere feet in front of them.
Katelyn Bowman (Lorraine) and Daniel Plimpton (Dean) and the ensemble in All Shook Up.
Less laudatory, however, is All Shook Up’s jumbled sexual and racial politics, which finds Natalie going undercover as an apparently authentic-looking man named Ed in order to win Dean’s heart — huh? — and her implausible decision’s romantic impacts on multiple formerly self-confident heterosexual figures.
In these oddball moments and Mayor Hyde’s commentary on interracial romance, Dipietro appears confused about the message he seeks to deliver, but considering Elvis’ own controversial re-appropriation of black music, perhaps the discomfort is ironically appropriate.
These stumbles aside, All Shook Up blasts forward to its hyperbolic romantic finale with nothing but happiness on its agenda. The mood is so overwhelmingly positive that the Playhouse may as well offer theatergoers a satisfaction guarantee.
All Shook Up runs through Aug. 18 at Flat Rock Playhouse in Flat Rock. For schedule, directions and tickets, visit flatrockplayhouse.org.
(Photo by Scott Treadway/Treadshots, courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse)
Steven Grant Douglas (in leather coat) and the ensemble of All Shook Up.
