'Beehive' is a bad trip through the '60s hit parade

Many people who lived through the 1960s profess they don't remember much of it. If only the same were true of "Beehive, the 60's Musical," now at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Musically, the 1960s was an amazingly adventurous era, from the clean pop of Lesley Gore through the Beatles, Motown, and the psychedelic rock of Jimi Hendrix. Capturing the feel of all this in a musical revue is nearly impossible, so the creator of "Beehive" focuses on the women who stood out. Fair enough; we get to hear songs made famous by Connie Francis, Brenda Lee, the Supremes, Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, and lots of others. In addition, one of the eight-member cast plays the narrator, offering a faux story line to keep the audience on track for wherever we're supposed to be in the decade.

The problem is, in this national touring production, few of the performances sound much like the originals. Reinterpreting a song is not a crime, but if you're trying to re-create an era, you might want to listen to the recordings a few times, at least to get a sense of the rhythm. There's a basic disconnect in this production, and the weakness is apparent in the second song, "The Name Game," made famous by Shirley Ellis, but also a popular kids' tune. The rhythm is off on this simplest rhyming song, as the five-piece band never seems able to pull it together.

One of the hallmarks of '60s music was the ace studio session players who performed on many songs. With their tight teamwork, such players gave Motown's rhythm section its classic groove and provided crisp backgrounds for singers. But it's not clear the bass player and percussionist on the Cutler Majestic stage have ever been introduced, they operate so separately from each other. The lead guitarist and bass player are also often wearing headphones, presumably to hear themselves better, but based on their performances, they might have been listening to the Red Sox game instead.

Watching the band struggle to play together was at least a distraction from the surreal performances by the singers, who wear a collection of costumes that give new meaning to the terms "tacky" and "ill-fitting." Let's not even speak of the wigs. "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" becomes a petulant phone call, "Where Did Our Love Go" is tinny torture, and "It's My Party" is a ridiculous excuse for a bad comedy sketch. Suddenly, the popularity of hallucinogenic drugs in the '60s makes perfect sense.

By the end of Act I, the revue disintegrates into a combination of the perky group Up With People doing a '60s medley and a bad day at an "American Idol" audition. But Act II never tries to be anything more than an odd karaoke night at a bar. The version of "Proud Mary" was laughable, but when the Janis Joplin impersonator sang a section of "Ball and Chain" that was utterly unrecognizable, I began to long for "The Gong Show." I know it was from the '70s, but the desire to bang the gong and end this misery was overwhelming.

WGBH is airing lots of oldies tributes in which the original performers play their songs. Stay home and check them out and save yourself from this "Beehive."