MAPLETON – As someone whose teen years happened during the 1970s, I was really looking forward to the Drayton Festival Theatre’s third production, Yesterday Once More. And I wasn’t disappointed.
The title comes from a Carpenters song, one of 45 songs of the ‘70s that are performed in this musical retrospective.
But this is not a sentimental ode to days gone by; this is a fun, energetic, and sometimes silly homage to the wide variety of music that we of a certain age grew up with.
The most refreshing thing about this production is that the lead is a middle-aged woman. Although middle-aged women are everywhere in real life, they tend to be invisible in popular culture unless they are the grandmother, the crazy aunt, or the old witch.
But here Ann Mantini, a gifted veteran of Drayton Entertainment productions, just shines as a woman reminiscing about the music that she listened to when she was a teenager.
She becomes that teenager too, and it was easy to relate to her memories of listening to the radio, waiting for that one hit song that would be played every couple hours.
We could also relate to dancing to that music in our rooms, swooning over album covers with pictures of our heartthrobs, and singing along loudly to our favourites, until our parents yelled at us to keep it down.
Mantini embodies her teenage self with the earnestness and silliness that we all had at that age, when our music and its performers were so important.
The cast of Yesterday Once More is a talented foursome: Justin Bacchus, Callandra Dendias, Michael Hughes, and Kate Suhr, backed up by another talented foursome of musicians: Jim Hodgkinson, Bob Hewus, David Robilliard, and Daniel Steduto.
Together, they had the audience clapping and humming and singing along to many favourites, from Top of the World to Superstition, Crocodile Rock to Desperado, Let Me Be There to Big Yellow Taxi. And so many more. Callandra Dendias’s rendition of Aerosmith’s Dream On was a work of art, although each performer had their moments where their talent had a chance to shine.
Whether listening to an old plastic radio waiting for a favourite hit song, or sorting through a collection of LPs or 45s, the show touched on a time when everyone listened to the same songs and now have the same feelings of nostalgia for where we were when those songs were playing.
The set was a groovy mix of bright oranges, reds and pinks, and the teenage bedroom had the mod touches of a lava lamp, bedspread decorated with large flowers, and of course, a portable record player.
Yesterday Once More was created and directed by David Rogers. There are various afternoon and evening shows, Tuesday to Sunday, at the Drayton Festival Theatre until Aug. 31. Call the box office at 519-747-7788 or toll-free at 1-855-drayton (372-9866) or online at draytonentertainment.com.