Mystic Pizza
Ivoryton Playhouse
By: Karen Isaacs - Jul 10, 2024
Do you remember the summer of Mystic Pizza? It was 1988. The film was a hit but not a smash. The rom-com film has three young women working at a pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut, though many of the scenes were filmed in Stonington. Today, the film is best remembered for turning Julia Roberts into a star. But Matt Damon made his film debut as the brother of one of the love interests.
Mystic Pizza was and is a real pizza parlor, but the story is purely fictional. It focuses on three young Portuguese American waitresses over the course of six months. Kat and Daisy are sisters and diametrical opposites. Kat is about to become a freshman at Yale with a desire to be an astronomer. She works multiple jobs – at the pizza parlor, overseeing rental houses, and at the whaling museum – to help pay her tuition. Daisy is older, is convinced she is “dumb,” and is self-conscious about her ethnic background as a “townie” in a summer resort town. She is more interested in having a good time, which includes dalliances with young men. The third woman is JoJo – she wants to marry and have children, but not quite yet, even though she is set to marry Bill.
Ivoryton Playhouse is presenting the Connecticut premiere of the musical version of Mystic Pizza through Sunday, July 28. The musical version was planned for 2019, with Melissa Etheridge composing the score. It debuted in 2021 at the Ogunquit (Maine) Playhouse with some original music by Etheridge.
Along the way, it became a jukebox musical of ‘80s and ‘90s songs and has had productions throughout the country. A national tour was recently announced that will stop at Waterbury’s Palace Theatre next June.
Why turn the movie into a musical? Very few musicals of popular films have been successful whether they have new scores or draw from familiar material. You can think of the ho-hum versions of Tootsie, Pretty Woman, Groundhog Day, and others. The successes are few and far between.
The creative team – book by Sandy Rustin and musical arrangements and orchestrations by Carmel Dean – have integrated the selected songs effectively into the story. There’s no indication of who made the song choices. Adding the songs has turned a brisk under two-hour film into a two-hour and 30-minute show, including intermission.
At times, you just wish they would get on with it.
While Ruskin claims she has brought a more feminist approach to the show and made the young women older, it wasn’t clear. If Kat is going to enter Yale as a freshman, it is difficult to imagine that she isn’t 18 years old.
The Ivoryton production has definite pluses.
The scenic design by Cully Long provides a fishing village vibe with a dock, shingled buildings, and buoys everywhere. Long doesn’t attempt to hide the dock when the scenes are indoors. There’s also a “widow’s walk” that is used effectively for scenes at the Whaling Museum’s observatory. You can truly imagine this is a New England village. The scenic design is aided by the lighting by Marcus Abbott and the uncredited projections of Mystic village.
Another plus is David Madore’s music direction. Although Ivoryton’s six-piece band is hidden away, they infuse the show with the appropriate period sound. The costumes by Liz Saylor are reminiscent of the period but don’t stand out. The night I saw it, some sound issues created problems. At times, it seemed as if body mics weren’t turned on.
Brian J. Feehan directed and choreographed the work. The stage is small, and the cast is large (16 members), which can sometimes be crowded.
The show depends on the charm and abilities of the actresses playing JoJo, Kat and Daisy. Here, Ivoryton scores. Each creates a real person with whom you become involved. You hope each will have a happy ending.
Ariella Kvashny is Daisy (the Julia Roberts role); she combines brashness with vulnerability. Perhaps more than the others, you see Daisy’s doubts about herself. During the musical, she slowly emerges into a more confident version of herself. By the finale, she realizes that she can do anything. Alyssa Giannetti is less effective as JoJo – who loves Bill but doesn’t want to rush into marriage and children, which is her expected role in life. The role is one note. Carina Hernadez is Kat – studious and obsessed with astronomy.
I wished there was more chemistry between each character and the man in their lives. While the plot tells you they are attracted to each other and may love each other, it did not seem real. Perhaps this will develop as the show progresses (they only have two weeks of rehearsal).
Will Clark as Bill, Isaac Kueber as Diasy’s love, Charles Gordon Windsor, Jr., and Michael Ferraro as Tim Travers, the man Kat falls for, is good, but each is hampered by the character’s limitations. Clark has the biggest role and does a good job with it. Leenya Rideout, as the pizza shop owner Leona, is effective. Special mention to Josh Powell who plays the over-the-top, pompous food critic. His moments in the role (he plays multiple other roles as well) are a delight.
You will recognize the tunes that are well integrated into the plot – “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Addicted to Love,” “I’m the Only One,” “Into the Mystic,” “Lost in Your Eyes,” “Smalltown” and “Never Gonna Give You Up,” among others.
What struck me about Mystic Pizza is the amount of sexual activity alluded to between JoJo and Bill, Daisy, and Kat with Tim, the architect she falls in love with. Given the plot lines, Kat is well under 21, yet beer is constantly being consumed.
Mystic Pizza has an energetic cast and a charming summer vibe.
For tickets, visit IvorytonPlayhouse.org
This content courtesy of Shore Publications and Zip06.com