GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – After twenty-something years, Let Me Be Frank Productions still has tricks up its sleeve. It could be called extraordinary, but that’s a dirty word in the show troupe’s double-entendre-filled latest venture that opened Friday night at Meyer Theatre.
The trick: Around the theme of songs related to “Lady,” each of the eight singers in the troupe sings a different song in rotation one after another. It’s eight songs, eight styles, backed by a live band that seems to be able to play anything in the popular music realm. You’re not going to see that musical trapeze act in anything but “Baxters Where Everybody Knows Your Name.”
The troupe did something similar in the previous “WOMA Algoma, You’ve Struck Gold” with six songs in rotation by brother acts. This ups the ante with the clever idea.
Also special in this production is “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Singing the fun song while moving in synchronized fun movement – “Egyptian style” – are Sarah Galati, Kasey Schumacher, Amy Riemer and Lisa Borley. The piece is a tricky trick times four.
Overall, the show is another elaborate tale that sets the plate for singing, this time featuring songs of the 1980s pop charts, mostly. It tells of corporate espionage through behind-the-scenes shenanigans at a chain restaurant that existed in Green Bay from 1981 to 1987.
In his show introduction, troupe namesake Frank Hermans says he waited tables there for seven months in 1983 before getting fired. One night, he brought in $100 in tips, he says. He also played on the restaurant’s baseball team. Thirty-eight years after the fact, he wears his team uniform in the show.
Most of the people in this Frank Hermans/Pat Hibbard story have personality disorders.
The setup is two people from the TGI Fridays chain have come to Baxters to check out all the menu and theme ideas that are being stolen by Baxters. The man (Paul Evansen) is chauvinism on the hoof, and the woman (Kasey Schumacher) is a walking encyclopedia who corrects pronunciations and everything else of the lame-brained manager (Frank Hermans).
The wait staff runs from sweet (Lisa Borley) to sour (Sarah Galati) to spicy (Amy Riemer).
In the kitchen are the insistent cook (Pat Hibbard) who insists he is not just a cook but a finesse-filled chef and his assistant (Tom Verbrick) with a Spanish accent with a self-appointed mantel of lady killer.
The menu is laced with hormonal jokes along with delicious byplay between the characters.
The sound is set too LOUD, again, for my taste, but my complaint falls on deaf ears. I guess the volume adds excitement to the revved-up style of music.
Weaving through the story are COVID-19 references. This show was originally scheduled in 2020 but postponed because of the pandemic. Frank Hermans says he had to change some lines from back when – which he notes seems so long ago. Lisa Borley has a line that touches on that, telling someone, “It’s so 2020 of you.”
The singing catches the styles, one song after the other. The music aura of the time is somewhat eh in depth. But the color is certainly there for the singers to impress and add group action as for Paul Evansen’s lead in “Stray Cat Strut,” Amy Riemer’s lead in “Single Ladies” and Kasey Schumacher’s lead in the finale, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot.”
After being “hospitalized” for the pandemic, this show comes out healthy.
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Running time: Two hours, 14 minutes
Remaining performances: 7:30 p.m. June 11, 17, 18; 1 and 7:30 p.m. June 23; 7:30 p.m. June 24; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. June 25
Info: meyertheatre.org.
Company: Frank Hermans, Pat Hibbard, Tom Verbrick, Paul Evansen, Amy Riemer, Lisa Borley, Sarah Galati and Kasey Schumacher, with Dennis Panneck (guitar), Pat Hibbard (bass), Tony Pilz (keyboards), Andrew Klaus (drums), Ross Loining (lights) and Kelly Klaus (sound)
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Songs
Act I
“Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Cheers Theme)” (Gary Portnoy) – All
“It’s a Heartache” (Bonnie Tyler) – Sarah Galati
“You Really Got Me” (Van Halen) – Tom Verbrick
“Because the Night” (Patti Smith) – Kasey Schumacher
“Help Is on Its Way” (Little River Band) – Paul Evansen
“Mr. Blue Sky” (Electric Light Orchestra) – Frank Hermans
“Call Me” (Blondie) – Amy Riemer
“Dreamboat Annie” (Heart) – Lisa Borley
“Stray Cat Strut” (Stray Cats), Paul Evansen, all
Act II
“No Time” (The Guess Who) – Pat Hibbard
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” (Bonnie Tyler) – Lisa Borley
— “Lady” medley —
“Lady (You Bring Me Up)” (The Commodores) – Frank Hermans
“Dark Lady” (Cher) – Kasey Schumacher
“Lady” (Kenny Rogers) – Tom Verbrick
“The Lady is a Tramp” (Ella Fitzgerald) – Sarah Galati
“Lady” (Little River Band) – Pat Hibbard
“Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” (Beyoncé) – Amy Riemer
“She’s a Lady” (Tom Jones) – Paul Evansen
“Shallow” (Lady Gaga) – Lisa Borley
—
“Jack & Diane” (John Mellencamp) – Paul Evansen
“Turn to Stone” (Electric Light Orchestra) – Frank Hermans
“Find Another Fool” (Quarterflash) – Amy Riemer
“Walk Like and Egyptian” (The Bangles) – Sarah Galati, Kasey Schumacher, Amy Riemer, Lisa Borley
“Hit Me with Your Best Shot” (Pat Benatar) – Kasey Schumacher, all
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NEXT: “Menoma Mia! Here We Go Again,” July 22-Aug. 20.
THE VENUE: Stop and look around the place. Meyer Theatre’s auditorium is an eye full. Located at 117 S. Washington St. in downtown Green Bay, the Meyer is one of the state’s colorful historic theaters. In its current form, the Robert T. Meyer Theatre opened Feb. 27, 2002. It seats approximately 1,000. The building dates back much farther. It opened Feb. 14, 1930, as one of the palatial Fox movie houses. The place is picturesque. The theater’s interior aura was its saving grace toward the end of the 20th century, when the building was faced an uncertain fate. The architectural/decorative style is defined as Spanish Atmospheric. The auditorium is designed in the manner of a Moorish courtyard of old. The eclectic mix of architectural styles and colors carries throughout the lobbies.
THE PEOPLE: Robert Meyer was president and chief executive officer of Tape Inc. of Green Bay. The theater took his name at the behest of his wife, Betty (Janet Elizabeth) Rose Meyer, whose financial contribution at a crucial time helped revitalize the building. The Rose family has a history of deep commitment to and involvement in the well-being of Green Bay. Robert Meyer died in 1984, Betty Rose Meyer in 2008.
