‘I don’t want to see my mother when I see my own face,” sings Melissa Manchester, no less, in “Hats!” “Don’t want to see hairs in a brand new place.”
Who would? But because no one has found a cure for our incontrovertible collective march toward the grave, we might as well get a sense of humor. Such, at least, is the premise of “Hats!” — the relentless affirmative and quite charming new commercial musical that has landed at the Royal George and deserves a decent summer run in Chicago.
The basic gestalt of this chipper, polished, chin-up, 90-minute show can be summed up by another of its lyrics: “Age doesn’t matter. Unless you’re cheese.” Or, if you prefer: “The older the fiddle/The sweeter the tune.”
Frankly, logic dictates otherwise. But we’re all inclined to participate very willingly in this rose-colored view of aging.
“I thought it would take so much longer to get here,” says Manchester’s character, MaryAnne, on the cusp of her 50th birthday and about to be shaped up by the rest of the cast. No kidding (and I’m only 43). You don’t need a Samuel Beckett play to remind you how fast life passes.
Many of us approached “Hats!” with some trepidation. Members of The Red Hat Society (an irreverent social club for women of a certain age) can often be seen at theaters and other events around town. To stage a Red Hat musical seemed rather like staging a musical about the Rotarians in the hopes that Rotarians would show up to see them selves and their points of view venerated. And indeed, this is a show aimed at a quite precise, and disproportionately theater-loving, demographic. These producers are no fools.
But although red headgear of all kinds was very much in evidence at Sunday night’s opening, “Hats!” is a great deal more than a vanity show. It’s no formative groundbreaker, God knows, but it’s a classy little music-and-comedy celebration, produced at a laudably high level. The entirely original collection of musical numbers — and know that this show is basically a set of songs about being 50 and fabulous — were penned by some of Broadway and cabaret’s brightest lights, including Henry Krieger (“Dreamgirls”), Carol Hall (“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”) and Amanda McBroom (“The Rose”). Unsurprising then, many of these numbers are melodic, insightful and easy on the ear.
Director/choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett (“Swing” on Broadway) has assembled a boffo, big-voiced cast of mostly Chicago actresses, who sell this show as if they’ve got all kinds of things to prove. Not only are the likes of Rosalyn Rahn Kerins, Vickie Daignault, Nora Mae Lyng, Laura Walls and Kate Young very glamorous and funny, better yet, they don’t run away from the show’s darker moments (Manchester is here for a little star-power, but the show would be perfectly fine without her). The fast-paced revue is vivaciously staged and, just as important, it knows not to outstay its welcome.
In the best moment of the night, the redoubtable Marilynn Bogetich had me in tears in the number “Celebrate,” a wonderful piece about the familiarity with loss that invariably comes with maturity. Such sincerely performed moments as this prevent the show from feeling like a self-help convention. Frankly, it could do with a few more of them.
Mostly, though, “Hats!” is supposed to be good fun propagated by one’s peers. It will make a lot of people feel empowered. It does so with integrity, craft and heart.
“If 40 is the old age of youth,” goes one line, “then 50 is the youth of old age.” I’m not sure what that means, but it makes you feel good, wouldn’t you say?
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cjones5@tribune.com
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“Hats!”
When: Through June 10
Where: Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Tickets: $49.50 at 312-988-9000
