'Summer of 42' a fizzy tonic

The modest staging by Minneapolis Musical Theatre lets the nostalgic, lightweight story speak for itself.

By GRAYDON ROYCE, Star Tribune

Last update: March 10, 2008 - 9:20 PM

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SUMMER OF '42

What: Book by Hunter Foster, music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum, based on the film by Herman Raucher.

When: 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sun. (plus March 24). Ends March 30.

Where: Hennepin Stages, 824 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.

Tickets: $25-$28, 612-673-0404, or www.aboutmmt.org.

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Minneapolis Musical Theatre jumps ahead of the season with "Summer of '42," a frothy confection dipped in warm romance -- even if it is not substantial enough to chase the winter chill with conviction. Director Kevin Hansen's production, which opened last weekend at Hennepin Stages in Minneapolis, has a pleasant atmosphere with its slightly homemade modesty -- just good enough to draw out the poignant nostalgia of a momentous summer.

Cade Bittner, Nick Sahli and C. Ryan Shipley portray three young bucks fixated on peeling back the mystery of puberty as they hustle through the sandy beaches of Nantucket in 1942. Herman Raucher, the original writer of the film and subsequent book, found his genius in the ordinary conversations that demonstrate the humorous contradictions of the 15-year-old brain. Rarely has the mix of innocence and thumping testosterone been so perfectly expressed than when Bittner's Hermie tells Sahli's Oscy that he'll gladly return a borrowed condom when he's finished with it.

Bittner's Hermie, of course, is the central figure, a string bean of wide-eyed wonder wandering into this carnal awakening. Still a prisoner of childhood, he defines his lust in a schoolboy crush on a twentysomething bride whose husband has left for the war. Bittner acts and looks the part with the right affect of youth. His voice, though, is woefully underpowered, at times overwhelmed by the orchestra.

As the object of his desire, Dorothy, Jennifer Eckes has a plain-spoken charm and a good voice. That decency carries her through this lightweight piece until the moment when she learns her husband has been killed in action. Fortunately for Eckes, the pathos is brief.

Three young women form a kind of Andrews Sisters counterpart to the three horny lads. Mariya Maragos, Courtney Miner and Colleen Somerville blend well in their singing voices. Somerville and Maragos acquit themselves well as cardboard foils for the fumbling romantic attempts of Hermie and Oscy.

As a puzzle of theater to solve, "Summer of '42" has a two-dimensional level of difficulty, and Hansen plays it safe. The choreography is simple and brief, there is little flair or bounce to the staging and the set is serviceable at best. But this fizzy tonic goes down easily, manipulates the heartstrings and diverts our attention from the bleak March winter.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299